Shiloh Creek

Shiloh Creek Installment #1 Chapters 1-10 ____________________________ DISCLAIMER: I own the rights to this story and all of its installments exclusively. This story contains strong sexual content involving minors and/or adults, strong and/or vulgar language, violence, and some references to drug/alcohol use. This story is not intended for minors (<18, or <21 in some places), so if you are underage, please do not read any further. If you, in any way, offended by this sort of material, please do not read any further. ____________________________

Chapter One

Shiloh Creek, New Hampshire April 1999

Another hit and miss for the Shiloh Creek High School baseball team. The Harlow Dragons had slaughtered the Shiloh Creek Raiders; and just as the Raiders had somewhat recuperated from last week's devastating defeat against the Lorensville Groundhogs. Sixteen year old Ryan Gamble lounged tiredly in the dugout with his friends/co-players Jack Whitehead and Davy Scottson; cool sweat being dispensed from every pour on Ryan's body after such a rough and tumble game. The three teens reminisced deliberately out of Coach Sullivan's hearing range, each boy broadcasting to the others their eagerness about the end of baseball season. Such a tough year for the Raiders, and certainly not enough time to recover from it. Ryan expressed his desire to bolt from the team considering playing this season bordered within the realm of pointlessness, Jack and Davy agreeing with him absolutely. The end of the season would arrive pretty soon, along with the end of the school year which was always greatly anticipated, so the boys agreed to stick it out as best as possible with as much enthusiasm as they could muster, knowing it would all come to a very appreciated end soon enough.

After resting up and what the three boys generally labeled as a "bitch fest," they got up and headed into the locker room to grab their bags and depart. Ryan said his goodnights to his friends as they paced out into the gravel parking lot behind the uncovered, aluminum bleachers. Still sporting his dirty, smelly baseball uniform, Ryan climbed into his old beat up rust-colored Chevy and drove home. As he pulled into the dirt driveway to the right side of his house, he noticed his father's girlfriend's car perching on his spot on the driveway next to his father's Dodge Ram. Knowing Janice (his father's girlfriend) would be staying overnight and both his father and Janice would be leaving for work in the morning before Ryan left for school, Ryan knew he couldn't park his truck behind either of their vehicles. Rolling his eyes in frustration, Ryan put the truck in reverse and drove backward to park next to the curb. After parking the truck, he got out of the truck and walked towards the front door of the house dreading having to fulfill his obligation of making small talk with Janice. Before entering the house, Ryan inhaled as deeply as his lungs would allow him, held his breath for several long seconds, and let the air steadily escape through his mouth and nostrils. He placed his hand over the bronze doorknob, dreading the impending event that was spending time with his father and Janice. Even thinking about it made his blood boil with resentment. His dad used to be cool. After Ryan's mother skipped out of town with another man twelve years before, Ryan and his father became very close, almost like best friends. Until Janice's intrusion into their lives a few months prior, Ryan and his father did everything together. They worked in the yard together, they watched movies together, they ate at the Shiloh Creek Soul Café every Sunday afternoon after church, Ryan helped his dad stay "cool" by helping him pick out the trendy men's clothes at the Walmart, Ryan's father helped him practice before all of his baseball games, but now everything was utterly different. All because of what's-her-face. To Ryan, Janice was nothing short of a nuisance, a fruit-fly buzzing and hissing in his face on a scorching, humid day, but Ryan's father persisted in striving to present Janice as the mother he practically never had. Ryan wanted no part of that though. He had lived the largest portion of his childhood without a woman in his life to call "Mom" and that was suitable enough for him. Ryan was used to the temporary presence of women within his home every now and then, but Janice didn't seem to want to go away as the rest of them did. She hung around, awaiting the day that Jed Gamble would finally pop the question. Ryan could almost sense that day approaching, the trepidation of it all swelling exponentially within his mind with every passing thought about it. He knew the day was quickly drawing near; that his father would finally convey the stomach-churning news that Ryan would be "gettin' a new momma." Just for his father, Ryan would go along with it, of course. Not that he had a choice in the matter anyway. Ryan would agree to participate as one of the groomsmen, he would act as if thrilled at the notion of getting a new mother, he would smile and exhibit a mask of happiness in front of others, and he would even pose willingly for the ludicrous wedding photographs, but never in a million years would he ever refer to Janice as his mother.

Deciding he had finally acquired enough bravery, Ryan opened the front door and entered the house. As soon as the door swung open, he immediately wished he had never turned the damn doorknob. The revolting display in front of him singed his mind and he yearned for an ice pick to pluck his eyes out with. In front of him, his father and Janice were making out fervently; Jed pinning the woman up against the wall and grinding himself into her sensually, and Janice sighing and moaning like a helpless animal. Ryan gaped at the sight in front of him, his jaw dropping as far as it could go. They kept at it though, evidently failing to acknowledge Ryan's presence at the threshold of the front door. To gain their attention, Ryan cleared his throat as loudly as he could, the sound of it piercing the entire room. With that, Jed and Janice immediately stopped making out and groping and they pushed each other away as if acting like Ryan had seen nothing at all. The sudden awkwardness in the room was almost unbearable. Ryan realized he could never think of this room as his living room anymore; it would be known to him now and forevermore as the room where he had seen his father grinding his clothed groin against the thankfully covered pussy of some slut-bag hussy who was trying to take Ryan's father away from him. Ryan now hated the room with a passion he wasn't sure how to harness. No amount of painting, re-flooring and new furniture would ever nurse this room back to health. The room was officially damaged goods, never to be repaired again. Ryan stared into the almost petrified eyes of his father, just waiting for him to say something to avoid the subject of what Ryan had just seen. Sure enough...

"Hey buddy," Jed said, out of breath. "You win the game?"

"No?" Ryan said simply. "Looks like you're doing a little scoring of your own though."

"Oh dear, we're sorry about that, Ryan, honey," Janice said, her seemingly fake nice persona showing through like a bright light. "We truly thought the game didn't end for a little while."

"It's cool," Ryan said as he slowly made his way towards the hallway that led to his bedroom. "I'll just go take a shower and let you guys get back to your... your... yeah."

Without saying another word, Ryan walked into his bedroom and shut the door behind him. As he walked down the hallway towards his bedroom, he could almost feel the eyes of his father and Janice bore into his back, neither of them entirely sure what to say. Up until now, Ryan had never witnessed a single display of affection between the two of them; not that he was unaware of its occurrence when he was elsewhere. Either way though, he knew he could've lived his entire life without having to see anything like that and be perfectly happy regardless. He had never been so contented as he was now that he decided to wait until his arrival at home to take a shower after a game, just as long as he didn't have to watch his father and Janice grope each other like that ever again.

Feeling somewhat nauseated, Ryan sat down on his bed and collected himself mentally, striving very hard to wash out the memory of what he had just seen. Using only his heels and the fronts of his feet, he kicked off his baseball cleats and nudged them towards the side of his dresser which set beside his bed against the wall. After regaining the plentiful amount of sanity back that had been temporarily misplaced, Ryan stood up, grabbed some clean clothes from his dresser drawers, and walked into his bathroom to take a shower. For the first time in years, he was sincerely thankful to have his own bathroom so that he wouldn't be forced to walk out of his room even for a few seconds and potentially have to see his father and Janice making out again. Even if they weren't making out presently, he still had no desire to see them or talk to them. Although it seemed rather pointless considering his bedroom door was already shut and locked, Ryan went ahead and locked his bathroom door as well before getting undressed for his shower.

While in the shower, Ryan decided he would walk down the street to talk to his "invisible friend" after dinner. At the end of Ryan's street, there was a rather large park: a small playground at the entrance to the park, a soccer field behind the playground, followed by bike trails and hiking trails that were hidden within the hilly, tree covered terrain of the typical New Hampshire state park. In order to reach his "invisible friend," Ryan had to walk down the street, around the playground and soccer field, and he had to follow the hiking trails through the vast forest for about a mile and a half until he reached a junction in the trail; one direction following the official trail deeper into the forest and the other direction -- a smaller, almost indistinguishable trail -- leading to the back of a relatively old suburb. Ryan would follow the trail to the back of the suburb; a huge, tall stone wall gating the way between the park and old residential community. Behind that huge stone wall was where Ryan's "invisible friend" dwelt; behind that wall where not even the tops of the houses could be seen. Ryan's "invisible friend" happened to be a boy, a younger boy at that. About eight months prior, before winter had settled in for a time, Ryan had been following the trail one day and came up behind the huge stone wall, having heard a particular noise which Ryan assumed was someone playing the harmonica; rather badly at that. Ryan sauntered over to the wall, trying to figure out which yard the sound of the harmonica was coming from. When he finally deciphered the whereabouts of the sound, he leaned up against the wall to listen to the person playing the harmonica. Ryan was intrigued by the sound, seeing as how he could remember his grandfather blowing his old harmonica while resting in his wooden porch chair on the back porch before he passed away. Ryan had always loved the hum of a harmonica, regardless of how badly it was being played. No matter how out of whack the sounds were, it always seemed smooth and unblemished to Ryan. After listening for several minutes, Ryan decided to leave, but as he turned to walk away, he accidentally tripped over a loose stone from the wall and landed on top of a random sheet of wood, which made a rather loud thud along with the sound of the "Ugh!" that reverberated from his vocal chords as he fell. The playing of the harmonica ceased and the person playing said "Hello!?" from behind the wall, a voice from behind the wall that was unmistakably that of a young boy's. Starting then, the boy behind the wall and Ryan began to talk to each other; the boy on the inside of the huge stone wall and Ryan on the outside. For months, Ryan and the boy, his "invisible friend" as he referred to him, talked to each other a few times a month. And they would reminisce about everything under the sun: school, summer vacations, books, movies, families, and anything else they could think of. Ryan and the mysterious boy would talk for sometimes hours on end and within time, the two boys began to confide in each other. Ryan would discuss his problems dealing with his father and his father's new hussy or problems with different schoolmates, and the boy would complain about his grandmother making him attend a private school that she technically couldn't afford, or how his mother was never around anymore, or how his gay uncle always pretended to act as his father. Ryan and the boy behind the wall had never exchanged names with one another and they never saw each other face to face. Between both of them, there seemed to be a mutual understanding that they could never meet face to face. There was something particularly powerful about their limited relationship though. Ryan couldn't put his finger on it, but something made this bizarre relationship acutely desirable to him. To be able to ramble on about his life issues to a talking wall made the whole idea more appealing. The catch in speaking with a counselor was that you have to speak face to face with the counselor, but in this way, Ryan could speak to a faceless voice, free of judgment, free of guilt, with nothing to lose, but quite a bit to gain. Ryan assumed that the boy felt the same way, because for months, neither of them had asked for the name of the other and neither one showed any interest in meeting face to face. After seeing what he just seen between Janice and his father, Ryan felt as if he needed some serious counseling; even if it came from a young boy. With that, Ryan decided officially to go talk to the boy behind wall after he finished dinner with Jed and Janice.

Chapter Two

Eleven year old Gavin Summers had just finished reading another book: Boy's Life by Robert R. McCammon this time. Gavin wasn't sure why, but every book he finished left him with a feeling of emptiness, as if he hadn't achieved what he was going for in the first place by reading the book. He always sensed that there should be something more to the end of his books, something more concrete and tangible within the last few sentences, something that would leave him with a sensation of utter fulfillment, but it never happened. Reading Boy's Life, as with every other book he had read previously, left him feeling void although it was such a great book. How he wanted his books to end was something he was uncertain about; all he knew was that he craved something different.

After finishing the book while reclining lazily on his bedroom's padded window bench, he closed the book and lied it on his lap, staring out from his second story window past the huge stone wall that separated his neighborhood from the vast New Hampshire forest behind the wall. He inhaled and exhaled deeply, wishing that he could experience the kind of life he read about that the boys had in Boy's Life or Man Without a Face or The Body by Stephen King. He wished he was brave enough to pursue an adventure finding a dead body next to the train tracks, or courageous enough to investigate a murder, or loveable enough to experience real affection from someone; even if that someone had a burnt face. Gavin's books allowed him to escape the real world; the world in which he lived with his overbearing grandmother, his frequently absent mother, his bossy, pretentious gay uncle and occasionally his uncle's bum of a boyfriend, the world in which his mother was always either working or off shopping for useless department store items in places like Manchester, Montpelier, Boston, and sometimes even New York City; the world in which he attended an overly expensive private school and put up with a headmaster that made his grandmother's dictatorial personality seem as threatening as Kermit the Frog's just so his grandmother would have the satisfaction of knowing that the evil public school kids aren't influencing him to take drugs or drink alcohol; and the world in which he mostly just felt lonely and somewhat unloved. He knew he was loved by his grandmother, definitely his mother, and his uncle, but he was more than less convinced their love for him was obligated as opposed to genuine. He was, at best, the result of an unsupervised drunken college frat party; however, he was family, so they were basically required to love him.

The only satisfaction Gavin experienced was in conversing with the "stonewall guy" every week. For a better part of a year now, he had been talking to what he assumed to be an older teenaged boy who would come talk to him from the other side of the tall stone wall. The older boy was very nice to him and treated him as a normal human being. The two of them would talk back and forth, complaining to each other about their individual problems or issues and assisting the other by coming up with helpful suggestions on how to make the situation better. Although Gavin had tried many of the suggestions the older boy had given him to make his school life and home life better for himself, Gavin found the most contentment out of just speaking to the older boy. He was so wise and understanding for a teenager, which was very contradictory of his grandmother's description of normal teenagers. Gavin hoped sincerely that the older boy would come tonight. He hadn't come to talk to him in almost a week, so the chances of him coming today were very likely. When he did come, it was always between seven and nine o'clock at night and to let Gavin know he was there, he would throw a red and black soccer ball straight over the tall stone wall and wait for Gavin to come out and throw the ball back over the wall. With such a colossal wall in the way, it was rather difficult to communicate with each other unless they were each standing on either side of the wall.

"Gavin!!" called Grandma from downstairs. "I need you to come and set the table please!"

Without any question or response, Gavin lied his book down on the other side of the bench where his feet had lain and headed downstairs quickly to set the table. While carefully placing his grandmother's fine china, silverware, and glasses on the dining room table, Gavin glanced over into the den and saw his Uncle Jason and Jason's current boyfriend Louie sitting on the couch facing each other, whispering sweet little words of love to one another and kissing each other's cheeks tenderly. Apparently Gavin had been staring too long, because all of a sudden, he felt someone slap the back of his head rather roughly. Reaching back to hold his sore spot with his hand, he looked over his shoulder to see his grandmother staring him down austerely. Gavin could never get over how his grandmother -- the woman who claimed to all of the ladies at church that she was the happiest person she knew -- always looked so pissed off at the world. The expression on her face certainly told a different story than the one the ladies at church heard constantly.

"How many times do I have tell you not to stare? It's rude!" Grandma said firmly. "Jason! Louie! The boy's down here now, so knock it off!"

Gavin gazed over into the den to see Uncle Jason separate from Louie quicker than an unsuspecting finger does from a heated pressing iron.

"Sorry, little man," Uncle Jason said. "Didn't realize you were in here."

"You'll do well to be more attentive, Jason," Grandma said condescendingly.

"Yes ma'am," Jason said. Gavin noticed his uncle roll his eyes with frustration once Grandma averted her eyes from him and Louie. Louie just smiled in a way that immediately caused Uncle Jason to smile back and temporarily forget his mother's tyrannous manner. With that, Gavin continued to set the table.

After the table was set with the fine dinnerware and food, Gavin, Uncle Jason, Louie, and Grandma sat down at the table; one chair at the end vacant of Gavin's mother, which was beginning to become a normal occurrence. For the past few months, his mother had been spending extra time away from home. What she was doing was beyond Gavin, but he assumed she was off shopping in some luxurious New York City mall buying anything pretty she could afford (or that her credit card could afford). Or perhaps she was at her office even though this was a Sunday and technically her day off. Or maybe she was with her boyfriend today. Gavin's mother was not very good at conveying where she was at all times.

"Okay, your mother's not coming home for dinner tonight once again, so we'll go ahead and eat," Grandma announced mostly to Gavin. "Let's pray."

Grandma forced everyone to hold hands and she gave the blessing; praying for the food, that God would forgive the transgressions of those deliberately living in sin (Uncle Jason and Louie, obviously), that God would help others to see that living for God is much better than living for the material self (Gavin's mother, obviously), and that God would help other people realize that life is sometimes unfair and that being submissive to authority and obeying the will of the Lord is the best way to live (Gavin, definitely). Gavin always enjoyed his grandmother's subtlety within her prayers. It was her personal way of expressing her feelings about the family sins without saying it herself; in other words, hiding behind God in order to convey her thoughts about everyone in the family. Gavin wished she would allow others to pray every once in a while. He figured it would be an eye-opener to her to hear what others in the household had to say to the Lord in prayer. Once the prayer was over, they released each other's hands and began to eat dinner.

Chapter Three

Ryan sat perfectly still and quiet at the dinner table, striving very hard to avoid facing his dad and Janice. They all three ate in total silence for about five minutes, the only sound being that of the jingling and jangling of forks and knives against the glass plates and cups being placed back down on the wooden table. Ryan could feel the occasional glances of his father and Janice. He felt completely awkward, wishing he could just leave the table and not come back.

"So, Ryan, how many more games do you have?" Janice asked daringly before taking a swig from her wine glass. Ryan made a mental note to ask his father later why he and Janice were drinking wine all the time. He had never seen his father drink anything alcoholic other than beer or the occasional crowned cola.

"Three more games," Ryan said simply before roughly sticking his fork full of stabbed pork in his mouth.

"You know, bud, Janice's job is to do PR for the Mets right here in New Hampshire," Jed said, trying to make Janice seem cooler. "She's met Kenny Rogers, Bobby Jones, and all those guys."

"Hmm, neat," Ryan said, purposely trying to sound disinterested.

"Uh, yeah, Ryan, if you want, I could take you with me sometime to New York and maybe you could even meet them yourself," Janice offered. "They're all really nice guys."

"Sure, maybe," Ryan said. Although the idea of meeting the Mets pleased him internally, he wasn't about to let that show on his face. He couldn't give in that easily.

"Ryan, I'm sorry you walked in on your father and I like that," Janice said. "You shouldn't've had to see that. It was wrong of us to allow that to happen."

"It's alright."

"We're both really sorry, bud," Jed said.

Ryan glanced up from his plate and both his father and Janice were staring at him, making him feel tremendously self-conscious.

"Uh, I'm not really that hungry," Ryan said. "I'm gonna go for a walk."

"You sure?" Jed asked. "You want me to save you any of this food? I'd hate to see all of this delicious food go to waste."

"Yeah, okay, go ahead and save it then," Ryan said, not wanting to sound like a brat.

With that, Ryan excused himself from the table and headed back to his bedroom to slip his tennis shoes on so he could leave. Once he had his shoes on, he put on a Chicago Cubs baseball cap after having just thrown his similar New York Mets cap into the trash can that set by his computer desk. He felt rather guilty for acting so rashly, but he quickly brushed away those thoughts as he grabbed the red and black soccer ball from his closet that he would use later to get the attention of his "invisible friend." With that, he exited his bedroom, rushed past the dining room without a word spoken to the adults and then left out through the front door.

Ryan made his way down the street to the park. In the playground, there were young boys and girls running around wildly and parents scolding their kids for acting up and whatnot. In the soccer field behind the playground, the middle school girls were playing an evening soccer game while families and friends all sat on the sidelines in their lawn chairs. Ryan walked around all of it, trying to avoid getting found by anyone he may know or who may know him. One thing about Shiloh Creek; everybody knew everybody almost, even if official meetings had never ensued. Shiloh Creek was a small enough town that everyone was moderately involved in each other's business, but large enough that half the people around could still be labeled as strangers. Ryan pressed on towards the hiking trail that would eventually lead him to the tall stone wall. Passing a few expert and wannabe-expert hikers with a wave and a smile, Ryan kept on his way towards the wall. About fifteen minutes later, he arrived behind the huge stone wall in which he had become so familiar with over the past few months. He glanced at his watch to make sure his timing was right: a little after seven-thirty in the evening -- perfect! Ryan aimed the red and black soccer ball at about a seventy-five degree angle towards the top of the wall, trying to avoid hitting the tree branches that were in the way. Finally, he forcefully lunged the ball over the wall.

Chapter Four

Gavin had been sitting in his reclining lawn chair next to the pool waiting for the "stonewall guy" to arrive; just hoping upon hope that he would show up tonight. Gavin made a habit out of sitting in that same lawn chair reading a book just about every evening, especially on weekends, waiting for the "stonewall guy." Since it had been about six days since his last visit, Gavin was sure he would come tonight. He usually came on Sunday evenings like this evening or on Saturday evenings. Occasionally, he would show up on a weekday evening, but not very often. Gavin had finished reading the very first page of his new book and just as he was flipping the page to move on to the second page, the painfully familiar red and black soccer ball came crashing down from over the wall, knocking Gavin in the back of the head. He began to wonder if the fates had something against the back of his head this evening as he got up dizzily from the lawn chair to retrieve the ball that had bounced off of his head and rolled over towards the shed, which was lodged a few feet from the wall. Gavin grabbed the ball from next to the shed and threw it over as hard as he could to let the "stonewall guy" know that he was here and ready to talk. Once the ball was over the wall, Gavin walked into the small area between the stone wall and the large wooden shed and sat down on the blanket he had lain out earlier for him to sit on while speaking to the "stonewall guy." It was quickly becoming a routine for him.

On the other side, the soccer ball landed in the large tree that stood about ten feet taller than the stone wall. The ball bounced down from branch to branch, knocking the dead or lazy branches off their mother branches towards the ground. Finally, the ball landed close to Ryan on the ground and Ryan grabbed it. He walked back over and sat down, leaning his back against the wall.

"You there?" Ryan asked dumbly.

"No, no," Gavin said from the other side. "Mr. Nobody decided to mess with you a little and throw it over just to humor you."

"Shut up," Ryan said with a chuckle. "How're you doing?"

"I'm okay, I guess," Gavin said with a shrug, albeit Ryan could not see the shrug. "Just finished dinner with my grandmother, uncle, and his boyfriend. That was a real hoot. What about you?"

"Eh... I'm alive, I guess," Ryan said. "Not totally sure how good being alive is right at the moment, but that's my current status."

"I know what you mean," Gavin said. "Once again, my mom wasn't at the table for dinner. No telling where she was."

"Well, here's the rundown of my day," Ryan began. "First off, I had to go to church this morning with my dad and his girlfriend. Usually me and my dad go together by ourselves, and now he asked her to go with us. Dad said it would be a good idea so that me and his girlfriend could have some `bonding time' (Ryan said this in a very sarcastic voice and used quote signs with his fingers) and whatnot. Then later, I lost, yet again, another baseball game -- this time against the fucking Dragons from Harlow. Then when I got home from the game, I walked in on my dad groping that whore of his right in the god-damned living room! Then I came here."

"Wow," Gavin said first off. "Sorry it was such a crap day for you. I have really nothing to compare that with. I guess my mom not showing up for dinner was the worst thing. Oh! My grandmother slapped me on the back of the head and she caught me watching my uncle and his boyfriend making out. Not to mention, you just bonked me on the head with your stupid soccer ball."

"I hit you with the ball?" Ryan asked.

"Yep. Have the bump on the back of my head to prove it too."

"Yeah? Well, come on over the wall and let me see it!" Ryan said halfheartedly.

Suddenly, a silence took over from the other side of the wall, as if the "invisible friend" was afraid to respond to the remark.

"Hey, I was just teasing is all," Ryan said.

"Oh okay," Gavin said with a chuckle.

"But you know, how I am ever going to know that you're truly not invisible unless I actually see you?" Ryan asked curiously, but jokingly.

"Invisible?" Gavin repeated with a chuckle, humorously considering the absurd notion of being invisible.

"I call you my `invisible friend,'" Ryan admitted. "Since I'm technically talking to a wall here, it feels like I'm speaking to an invisible person."

"Making a habit out of speaking to invisible people, huh?" Gavin asked.

"What do you mean?" Ryan asked, his face grimaced.

"You said talking to me feels like talking to an invisible person," Gavin reminded him. "I'm just kinda wondering how you know what talking to an invisible person feels like."

Ryan laughed.

"I actually call you the `stonewall guy,'" Gavin said.

"'The stonewall guy' -- I like it," Ryan said with a grinning sneer on his face, mulling over the name his "invisible friend" had given him. "But seriously, how come we've never met face to face? Or at least give each other our names?"

"I dunno," Gavin said simply. "I guess... I guess it's just that it... always seemed right -- better -- not to share our names or meet or anything like that. I thought you said you felt that way too the last time we talked about this."

"Well I do, sort of," Ryan said. "Or at least I did. All I know, it's like you're really the only real friend I have. I mean, I have friends at school and whatever, but... none of them know me like you do. And it just seems sad that the one person who knows me better than anyone doesn't even know my name or anything, much less knows what I look like."

"I feel the same way," Gavin said. "But... I don't know, it just seems better to me this way. I can't explain why, but it just seems like this is how it should be."

"I guess you're right," Ryan said. "I do think we should at least meet someday though. Maybe not soon, but someday."

"We will eventually," Gavin said. "But right now, this is better."

Ryan just nodded his head in agreement, although he realized the boy on the other side of the wall couldn't see the gesture anyway. With that, the two boys moved on to another subject. They continued talking to each other the same way they always had before; in the same judgment-free and carefree way they always spoke to one another. As there conversation dwindled down finally, Ryan glanced up at the sky and noticed that the sun was completely out of sight and the sky had transformed from its normal baby blue color to various shades of bright orange, pink, dark purple, and then finally midnight blue clear on the other side from the bright orange. He looked at his watch: 8:57 pm was the time. Knowing the boy's curfew was drawing seriously nigh, Ryan dreaded having to say goodnight and go back home. He could only hope Janice and his father were nowhere in sight. After taking a deep breath, Ryan spoke up.

"Well, I guess it's about time for me to go," Ryan said. "You only have a few more minutes until your grandmother will call you in and everything."

"That time already, huh?" Gavin remarked, seeing as how he didn't own a watch.

"Unfortunately," Ryan said. "Well, I guess I'll probably come back on Saturday or maybe Sunday. Just depends."

"I'll be here waiting for you," Gavin said.

"Goodnight then," Ryan said.

"Goodnight," Gavin said.

Gavin could hear the "stonewall guy" standing up and walking off through the woods; the sound of leaves crackling and twigs breaking under the boy's feet. With that, Gavin stood from his spot next to the shed, grabbed his book from the lawn chair by the pool, and retreated into the house.

Chapter Five

It was midnight. Ryan lied in his bed beginning to believe he would never gain an ounce of sleep; not with the obnoxious sounds coming from his father's bedroom that reverberated throughout the entire house, particularly the four walls of Ryan's bedroom. He felt like vomiting. The sounds coming from down the hall were horrible. Ryan could hear Janice groaning and moaning erotically and he could his hear his father breathing really hard and occasionally groaning. To make matters even worse, Janice would occasionally utter the words "yes" or "oh" excitedly, which made Ryan want to slice off his own ears Van Gogh style. To block the horrid sounds, Ryan got out of his bed, grabbed an old three-speed fan from the depths of his closet, and set it to its highest speed after plugging it into the wall. The constant sound of the fan drowned out most of the sex sounds coming from his father's bedroom, but not completely. After Ryan climbed back into his bed, he folded his pillow over his ears, trying to block out the sounds even more.

The next morning, Ryan stood in the kitchen buttering his toast, wearing nothing but a pair of Homer Simpson boxer shorts. All of a sudden, Janice walked into the kitchen wearing just a short, black, silk nightgown that looked as if she had purchased it from Victoria's Secret. The room automatically filled with awkwardness, Ryan kept preparing his breakfast, striving hard to avert his eyes from Janice.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Janice said too sweetly. "Didn't realize you were in here."

"It's cool," Ryan said, keeping his eyes off the woman.

With that, Janice walked out of the room. Several minutes later, while Ryan was sitting at the dining room table eating his breakfast, Jed walked into the room, wearing only a pair of blue boxer-briefs. Ryan stared at his dad for a second, as if something that needed be said was already uttered just with the mere glance the two exchanged. Ryan went back to eating his breakfast and kept silent. Jed walked over to the table and sat to the side of his teenaged son. After he sat down, he stared at the boy, suddenly realizing how much Ryan reminded him of himself; the same long, thick, dark blown -- almost black -- hair Jed had at that age, the same dark brown eyes, the same slightly olive-colored skin that proved their distant Italian heritage, and the same manner of movement -- the way he carried himself physically. However, the bull-headedness and stubbornness was a trait of Ryan's that was most definitely passed down by his mother, although Ryan was not very aware of it. Jed had spent so many years trying to wash out the negative thoughts about his ex-wife, to portray Ryan's mother to him more constructively, although she hadn't called or checked up on Ryan in over ten years.

"How're you doin' sport?" Jed asked his son.

"Sport? You haven't called me sport in forever. What gives?" Ryan asked.

"Janice told me what just happened," Jed said.

"What happened?" Ryan asked dumbly. "She walked in looking like a floozy and left the room. That's all that happened."

Jed's face hardened. He wanted to yell at Ryan for saying that, but he knew not to press the situation any further than it had already gone. Ryan was not just going to accept this new woman into his life that easily, so Jed knew not to push too hard.

"Ryan, I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't speak that way about her," Jed said. "She's honestly been trying to reach out to you. I'm not saying you have to accept this right now, but I do want you to understand that Janice isn't going away any time soon."

"So buck up and get used to it, right, Dad?" Ryan asked with a certain hardness in his voice that almost shocked Jed. "Is that what you're telling me?"

"Ryan, what is it that you want?" Jed asked sincerely.

"I just... I want things to go back to normal," Ryan said honestly. "You know, you've gone without a woman for twelve -- almost thirteen -- years now. Why can't you wait another three years until I'm off to college or wherever?"

"That's awfully selfish of you, Ryan, you realize that?" Jed asked rhetorically.

"Okay, fine!" Ryan said, all of a sudden getting up from his chair and slamming his chair into the wooden table. "Go ahead and stay with Janice for all I care! Get married, have some little annoying babies and make a new family, see if I give a rat's ass, Dad!"

With that, Ryan stormed out of the room towards his bedroom. Just as he was preparing to slam his bedroom door shut, Jed came up from behind him and stopped the door from slamming using his hand. Jed pushed the bedroom door open, a serious scowl on his face, which sort of shocked Ryan. Jed slowly walked into the bedroom and slammed the door behind him himself to give him and Ryan privacy to talk.

"You know what, boy!?" Jed said. "Sit the hell down on the bed, now."

Without any objection, Ryan sat down on the side of the bed and folded his hands between his spread legs, afraid of this sudden anger radiating from his father. Jed took a few seconds to calm down from his momentary fury, afraid of what he would do if he spoke out or even acted out in his anger, and then he sat down next to his son on the bed. Jed took a few deep breaths, still striving to calm himself down. He thought back to when he was teenager. He had talked back to his father and his father slapped him in the face with the end of a loose extension chord as hard as he could. The last thing he wanted to do was to hit Ryan that way. In fact, he generally wouldn't hit Ryan at all, ever! He had whipped Ryan with a belt one time when he was in the fourth grade, and that was because Ryan followed a few of his friends into the school courtyard during lunchtime and they mooned the entire administration while the superintendent was visiting the school. Other than that one time, Jed had never laid a hand on Ryan. Usually, Ryan was a very good kid. As Jed sat there staring at his son's profile, he thought back to the days when Ryan was just a young boy; back when it was just the two of them after his wife left them. Ryan had only been four years old when his mother walked out on them for a man twenty years older than her. Jed was just barely twenty-one years of age by then himself and he was so suddenly left with the responsibility of taking care of a four year old boy and working almost seventy hours a week just to support them. By the time Ryan was seven years old, Jed had established a job as an assistant manager for a construction company, which was great, because he was able to work forty hours a week and still have enough money to support himself and his son. Back in those days, he and Ryan had such a good time together. Jed loved those days; he often missed them. He taught Ryan the alphabet song, he taught him how to write his name, he taught Ryan how to ride a bike, he taught Ryan how to work on cars, and he explained the birds and the bees to Ryan when he started puberty. Things were much simpler then. Everything they did, they did together. Jed always picked out the boy's clothes up until he was a preteen; then Ryan was the one who picked out clothes for the both of them. Jed recalled the times Ryan had sleepovers or birthday parties and how much fun they all had. When it came right down to it, Jed just missed his little boy terribly. He loved Ryan just as much now as ever, but now that he was almost grown up, everything was becoming different.

"You could really use a haircut," Jed said, suddenly noticing how long the boy's thick hair had become. He remembered Ryan saying a few months before that he wanted to grow his hair out, but Jed couldn't get used to it.

"You grew up in the eighties," Ryan argued. "You're telling me you never had long hair?"

"I did actually," Jed said. "I was about thirteen years old and I decided to let my hair grow out. I mean, all the boys were doing it right? My dad -- being the total hair-nazi he was -- told me to go to the barber shop and get it cut. In fact, he told me for weeks and weeks to go get it cut. And I never did. Finally one night, my dad pulled me out of bed at about one o'clock in the morning, took me out to the shed, shaved my head completely bald, and then he whipped me bare-assed with a weeping willow branch."

Ryan glanced over at his dad, his facial expression draped with disbelief.

"He whipped you for that?" Ryan asked. "And shaved your head bald?"

"Damn straight he did," Jed said. "I know you don't remember your grandpa very well, but take from someone who grew up around him; he was one vicious son of a bitch."

"I didn't realize he was that way towards you," Ryan said sympathetically.

"Oh, it was horrible, Ryan," Jed said. "Hmm, I wasn't going to tell you this for another year or so, but when I was seventeen and your grandpa found out me and your mother were expecting a baby, he took me out into the front yard before God and all of the neighbors and he beat me up against the side of my mom's car. When he finally beat me down to the ground, he kicked me in the stomach a few times and finished it all off by grabbing a two-by-four and slamming me in the face with it."

Ryan's eyes widened in utter disbelief. He couldn't comprehend how anyone could beat up his own son that way.

"You see this scar above my eye?" Jed asked, pointing to a rather long scar that stretched from his right eyelid and traveled up and ended about an inch over his eyebrow. "You asked me before where I got this scar and I believe I told you that I fell off a tree when I was a kid, but no, this was from that infamous two-by-four that your grandpa used hit me with."

Ryan stared at his dad, his expression being one of complete shock and compassion. Ryan didn't hear much about his grandpa's behavior towards his own kids. He had always known he was a rough man to live with, but he never realized how rough he was.

"I'm sorry," Ryan said sincerely. "W-why are you telling me this though?"

"Well, mostly because I want you to understand that I would never dream of doing anything like that to you," Jed said. "And also, I guess it's to assure myself that I'm a better dad than he ever was. After your mother left, he told me I'd never be capable of taking care of you by myself and that I'd never amount to anything as person. He went on to say that you'd never amount to anything either because you have such a deadbeat dad. I'd like to think he was wrong about that, you know?"

"He is though," Ryan said. "I mean, you're a construction manager. You make good money. And I don't do too bad in school and stuff. At least, I hope I make you proud."

"Of course you do, sport," Jed said. "That's not even a question. Every day, you make me prouder and prouder. You and I... you know, we had a lot of good times together, didn't we? We had a lot of fun when you were younger."

"Until you started dating anyway," Ryan said, a hint of bitterness illuminating his voice as he spoke.

"Buddy, my dating does nothing to change how I feel about you," Jed said. "Not ever. I know this is hard for you. I realize that. I can't say I know how you feel, because I've never been where you are now. My parents didn't separate or anything. But I do understand what it feels like to feel unneeded or unimportant. Trust me; I know."

"I'm sorry I screamed at you like that," Ryan said.

Jed stared into the boy's eyes and saw the genuine apologetic expression on his face. With that, Jed draped his arm around the boy's shoulders and brought him in for a side hug. Ryan laid his head against the man's firm arm. When the hug was over, Ryan sat back up and the two of them sat in silence for a few seconds.

"You're growing into fine young man, Ryan," Jed said honestly. "Now, about this thing with Janice. Look, I apologize for what you've seen lately. Bad timing is all I can figure at the moment. But nevertheless, you need to try to accept the fact that she's not going away. She's really a very sweet woman, Ryan, and I wish you'd at least give her a shot. Eventually, she wants you to meet her son, but she doesn't wanna do that unless she and I feel like you're comfortable with the situation."

"I didn't know Janice has a son," Ryan said.

"Oh yeah, she's a single mother just like I'm a single dad," Jed said. "But buddy, I really love Janice. As much as I hate to talk to you about the way I feel towards your mother, your mother and I were never in love. We were a couple of stupid kids in high school who ended up pregnant after spring fling. I didn't even really know your mother very well when she ended up pregnant, but we were forced to stay together for a while. She never loved me. And I never really loved her. Not the way a happy couple should love each other. And that's why we didn't last. But Janice on the other hand... you'll find that whoever you fall in love with eventually, you just know it's love. It's like fireworks going off in your head, a million at a time. You know the true love when you see it and you should never let anything stand in the way of that. When you love someone that powerfully, you should do everything possible to keep that love going; no matter what it takes."

"Oh. Well... I understand," Ryan said.

"Really?" Jed asked.

"Yeah," Ryan said sincerely. "I do. I may not like it right now, but I guess I'll give this whole thing a shot. I'll try to get along better with Janice."

"That's all I ask, buddy. I don't expect you to love her the way I do, but I would love for you to at least get to know her and try to like her."

"I'll try my best, dad. Really."

With that, Jed embraced the boy tightly and Ryan returned the hug. Ryan felt like a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders. He now understood that he hadn't lost his dad. His dad was still just as much there for him as he had always been. As for Janice, Ryan wasn't too sure what he thought about her just yet, but he figured that he should at least give her a shot since his father loved her so much. After all, she was really sweet towards Ryan, as if she really wanted to get along with him. Once the hug was over, Jed had a look of sudden remembrance on his face.

"What?' Ryan asked.

"We gotta get ready!" Jed said. "You're gonna be late for school. I'm gonna be late for work."

"Oh crap," Ryan said, realizing how late they were becoming.

With that, they began to quickly get ready for the day. Ryan generally hated Monday mornings, but he suspected that this week would prove to be better than the previous few weeks. Now that he and his father had talked, he felt that everything would turn around quite a bit. Not to say that life would be perfect by any means, but Ryan felt that things would start getting better now.

Chapter Six

Gavin stood in front of his full length mirror, fully clad in his private school uniform: a white, short-sleeved, button-up shirt, a pair of tan khaki shorts, a blue blazer jacket with polished gold buttons, a satin red tie, mid-shin length black socks, and black Dockers. He looked himself over very carefully, making very sure everything was straightened and clean. He wanted desperately to pass his grandmother's morning inspection. She had been so persnickety about his appearance over the years that Gavin had instinctively become obsessive compulsive about it himself, mostly so that his grandmother would leave him alone. Once he was sure he looked okay, he grabbed his backpack from his desk chair, slung it over his shoulder, and headed downstairs where his grandmother was straightening up the living room as she usually did before leaving the house; as if expecting someone to drop by the house while she was gone to scrutinize her cleanliness factor. He took a few deep breaths and walked into the foyer to wait for her as he usually did. His grandmother finished straightening up the living room and made her way towards him to begin her routine morning inspection of his uniform. Automatically, Gavin placed his backpack on the floor so that his grandmother had full access to evaluate every inch of his body.

"You know, I wish you'd comb that mop of hair a little better," Grandma said as she walked up next to him and began rubbing her spit through his hair, trying to make the cowlick on the back of his head lay down. "I'd have it all chopped off into a clean crew cut if your mother wasn't so persistent about you being able to choose your own hairstyle. Children should not have that kind of freedom."

"I like having longer hair," Gavin spoke out.

"Well, unfortunately for you, your opinion doesn't make a bit of difference until you're eighteen," Grandma said. "Doesn't make that much of a difference even then."

Gavin wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew he'd be slapped for it, so he just mentally rolled his eyes and made a note to himself to actually roll his eyes later for it.

"Ugh, Gavin, that tie has a spot of toothpaste on it!" Grandma complained. "How many times do I have to tell you? Do not wear your clothes when brushing your teeth. I want you wearing either your pajamas or just your underwear when brushing your teeth and if I have to, I'll start enforcing that, you hear?"

"Yes ma'am," Gavin said, knowing he would never win if he argued anyway.

"Speaking of which, did you put clean underwear on this morning?" Grandma asked.

"Yes, Grandma," Gavin said.

"If I go look in your clothes hamper upstairs, will I find your dirty underwear close to the top? If I don't, you and I are gonna go round and round, you got it?"

"Yes, Grandma," Gavin said with a sigh, wondering why it even mattered if he was wearing clean underwear or not. The only people who ever saw him in his underwear were the other guys he changed with for PE in the locker room.

"Go get in the car. We're late," Grandma said sternly.

With that, Gavin grabbed his backpack from the floor and headed out the front door, his grandmother directly at his heels the whole time. As Gavin got in the car, he realized how terribly he missed his mother. He felt like he never got to see her anymore. She was always working or shopping or hanging out with her boyfriend, whom he had only met once a couple of months before. When she was around though, she spent as much time as she could with Gavin, but she was very busy more times than not. He was just thrilled that she'd be home that evening. Gavin missed her so much.

Later that day during math class, Gavin sat in his desk next to the window staring out dreamily at the sky and the forest. Instead of paying attention to Mr. Sticklewithe, he was having a particularly vivid daydream. He fantasized that he was living in the days of the Salem Witch Trials. He lived with his perfect parents in his perfect forest cottage where they could live a forest life with plentiful sunshine entering through the leafy canopy of treetops. He visualized working in the tomato garden one sunshiny spring day, the temperature perfect, not a cloud in the sky. And then all of sudden, a witch suddenly swoops from the treetop canopy riding on an old broomstick and all of a sudden, Gavin is being captured by the wicked witch who wants to use his soul to regain her long lost youth. Gavin imagined that she tied him up on a huge wooden post in her lifeless front yard, hundreds of white, lighted candles on black steel posts scattered throughout the area. The old witch was chanting in Latin and sauntering around him, trying to complete the spell to steal his youth. And then all of a sudden, Gavin hears the rapid galloping of a horse approaching. He glances up in time to see a helmeted knight in beautiful armor ride in on a white horse, the knight's flaming sword drawn and ready to strike as swiftly as a bolt of lightning across a stormy sky. The dauntless knight and his valiant steed jaunt in on the scene and without hesitation, he strikes at the witch with his sword, slashing her head off of her body with one sudden slice. Once the witch was lying dead and headless on the ground, dark blood beginning to puddle around her lifeless body, the knight leaped off his gorgeous white horse and began to walk towards Gavin, who was tied up on the wooden post tightly. The knight walked behind the boy and drew his sword once again. With that, he sliced the ropes off which had bound Gavin to the post. The knight then walked around the post to face Gavin, and without any difficulty, the knight lifted the boy up off his feet and embraced him sweetly. Gavin thanked him sincerely for saving his life and then asked to see the glorious face of the man who had saved him. The knight invited Gavin to take his helmet off, so Gavin placed his hands on either side of the helmet. He began to slowly lift the helmet off the knight's head and just as the knight's face was about to some into view...

RIINNNNGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gavin snapped back into reality, finding himself back in math class. The bell had just rung and the other boys were beginning to shift hurriedly out of the classroom. Feeling rather scatterbrained and disoriented after such a lucid daydream, Gavin hastily stuffed his papers into his folder, threw them into his backpack, and started out of the classroom. Just as he walked past the teacher's desk, Mr. Sticklewithe called his name.

"Gavin, may I have a word?" the man asked, not that Gavin had any other option.

Remaining silent, Gavin turned around to face the man from where he stood.

"Are you alright, son?" Mr. Sticklewithe asked, a genuine expression of concern draped across his aging face.

Gavin shrugged apathetically.

"Sure, I'm fine," Gavin said. "Why do you ask?"

"Eh, just wanted to make sure. Here lately, you've appeared a bit... off, let's just say. Are you sure there isn't anything wrong?"

"Positive," Gavin said unconvincingly.

"Well, alright then. In that case, remind me sometime very soon that I need to give you the lecture in which I tell you to stop daydreaming in class," the man said with a halfhearted grin on his face.

Gavin grinned slightly at that comment.

"You can count on it," Gavin said.

"Good. Have a nice day."

With that, Gavin walked out of the room feeling a little better than he had all day. As he journeyed to the locker room to change for PE, he began to reflect on his daydream. He had never quite dreamt of anything like that before. He knew girls were usually quite gung-ho about knights in shining armor, but Gavin had never thought about that for himself before. In fact, he never really thought about love at all. He knew of its existence and he was fully aware that it would eventually play a vital role in his own life, but this seemed different, not quite normal. Had he been imagining that he was the knight in shining armor saving some damsel in distress from a wicked witch, that would be considered normal. But to visualize himself as the damsel in distress being saved from a knight, whom Gavin assumed to be a man... something about this just wasn't adding up. Why did he dream about a man saving him? Furthermore, why did he get that weird, tingly sensation around his middle while he was dreaming about it? That feeling was very odd. He felt an impulsive need to touch himself during his daydream, which was something he didn't quite understand. He felt like he needed to talk to someone about it. Maybe the "stonewall guy?" Gavin figured he could talk to the "stonewall guy" without any judgment being passed on him. As he walked into the locker room, he decided to try to put these thoughts from his mind for the time being.

Gavin paced into the locker room where over a hundred boys from ages eight to twelve were in various stages of undress or even completely naked preparing to take showers. Gavin glanced around at the different boys in the room with a fascination he had never known before. Boys pulling off their shirts, boys letting their khaki shorts fall to the ground, boys who were pulling their PE shorts up, boys wearing only their underwear, boys who were completely naked and heading for the shower... Gavin suddenly felt that same tingly feeling around his middle as he had earlier during his daydream. He felt very awkward all of a sudden. He tried to force himself to look away from all the boys. He could not figure out what his problem was. He had never before stared at the boys this way before. Gavin changed for PE in this room almost everyday; he had seen all of these boys naked or close to naked more times than he could count. But this was different. In all those times before, he had never paid any attention to the boys in the way that he did now. He walked past many of the boys, trying hard to avert his eyes from them as he made his way to his locker, which was, of course, on the other side of the massive locker room. When Gavin arrived at his locker, his best friend Adam LeShay, who was Gavin's locker neighbor, was sitting on the bench untying his shoes and preparing to change into his PE clothes.

"Gavin," Adam greeted the boy as Gavin walked up.

"Hey Adam," Gavin said. "What're we doing today in PE, do you know?"

"Flexibility stuff as far as I know," Adam said. "I heard Coach Arnold telling Sam Sanders about it."

"Ah. Well I guess that's better than having to run around the track for an hour," Gavin said as he slipped his blue blazer jacket off.

"Anything's better than that crap," Adam said as he began unbuttoning his white shirt. Gavin caught a glimpse of his best friend taking his shirt off and felt as if he was about to blush with shame.

"Too true," Gavin said.

Adam unfastened his khaki shorts and pulled them off, leaving him wearing nothing but his green briefs. Gavin immediately felt that tingly feeling in his middle again as he gawked at his best friend. He couldn't count how many times he had seen Adam without any clothes over the past few years between school and sleepovers, but yet again, this seemed much different than normal. Gavin felt an attraction towards his friend that he didn't quite recognize; as if something wild and untamed had crawled inside of him and was now controlling his mind, making him have thoughts he never knew existed. Gavin shook it off as best he as he could and stripped off his own clothes until he was down only to his small, white FTL briefs. As he began to take his PE clothes out of his backpack, Gavin glanced over at Adam who was staring at him and had the strangest expression on his face. Not only that, but Adam wasn't staring at Gavin's face; he was gazing towards Gavin's middle. Gavin's face contorted as he wondered what Adam was looking at.

"What're you looking at?" Gavin asked, almost impatiently.

"You're horny," Adam almost whispered so no one else would hear him.

"What?" Gavin asked, having never heard that term before.

"Just get your pants on, quick," Adam warned concernedly. "I'll tell you later."

"What're you talking about?" Gavin asked.

"Trust me on this, Gavin," Adam said, still whispering. "Just put your pants on and hurry up. I'll tell you what it means later."

Remembering that Adam was, after all, eight months older than Gavin and that he always seemed to know what he was talking about, Gavin trusted the boy and quickly pulled on his PE shorts. Once the boys were dressed out for PE, the two of them headed out together towards the school's smaller, secondary gym. In gym class, Coach Arnold had all the boys do various flexibility exercises such as the cat, the sit-and-reach, the groin stretcher, and numerous other kinds of exercises. Gavin didn't mind these exercises too much. They didn't take too much exertion and they weren't difficult or strenuous. Once PE was over, Gavin and Adam headed back to the locker room to take their showers and Adam advised Gavin to keep his back turned from the rest of the boys when they were in the showers. Gavin wasn't sure why Adam said that to him, but he decided once again that Adam probably knew what he was talking about.

Once Gavin and Adam were in the showers, Adam led Gavin to the very far corner of the shower away from as many of the boys as possible. Gavin was more confused than he had ever been before. He wasn't sure why Adam was so insistent on him staying away from the other boys now, but he knew it had to had something to do with his previous daydream or the tingly feeling he had been experiencing around his middle. As Gavin showered, he glanced around at the other boys; over twenty stark nude boys showering and playing around in the hot water, their exposed bodies soaked with the warm shower water, their testicles hanging loosely within their scrotums due to the heat of the water. As Gavin stared, he felt that tingly feeling once again. Wondering what in the world was causing that feeling, he looked down at his own eleven year old boyhood. It looked particularly different than normal. It looked... bigger? It looked hard! Gavin reached down and touched the shaft of his penis with his index finger. It was hard; very hard! Gavin looked up at Adam; his friend's facial expression one of knowing and understanding. It seemed as if Adam knew exactly what was wrong with Gavin, and that's why he told Gavin to stay out of sight of the other boys. Things were beginning to be put into perspective, although Gavin had no idea what was happening to his body.

"Think of something disgusting," Adam said. "Like an old, naked, fat lady or... or meatloaf."

"Why?" Gavin asked.

"Just do it," Adam said forcefully.

Gavin thought of something repulsive just as Adam had instructed him to. He thought about the time he walked in on his grandmother wiping her butt after taking a dump. Just that memory alone made Gavin cringe with abhorrence. After thinking about that, he actually felt his penis falling limp once again. Gavin glanced down and watched as his hairless boyhood shrank back down to its normal size, his own small balls hanging loosely inside his scrotum, and his now flaccid shaft dangling lazily over his scrotum between his balls. Gavin stared at it in bewilderment. He had never noticed his penis do anything like that before. He never realized that it could do that. The first question he had for Adam was very obvious and Adam expected him to ask it.

"Does yours do that?" Gavin asked.

"All the time," Adam admitted. "It always happens when you least want it to."

"When would you want it to do that?" Gavin asked curiously.

"Let's go to the clubhouse after school," Adam said. "I'll show you what I mean."

Chapter Seven

After school, Ryan, Jack, Davy, Jack's girlfriend Ashley, Davy's girlfriend Rachel, and Ryan's potential girlfriend Hillary all walked out together to the student parking lot. Once Ryan and Hillary said their goodbyes to the others, Ryan walked Hillary to her used Camry that she had received from her grandmother for her sixteenth birthday a couple of months before. When they made it to the car, Hillary climbed into the driver's seat and Ryan climbed into the passenger seat. Hillary had written him a note earlier in English class saying that she wanted to speak to him after school, so they agreed to meet in her car after school so they could talk things over, whatever she wanted to talk about. Ryan already knew what she wanted to talk about, but he decided it would better to hear her out instead of having to deal with the drama that would evolve if he denied her this. While he sat there in the car, he hoped this conversation would end quickly.

"Ryan, why don't you call me your girlfriend or anything?" Hillary asked.

"I..." Ryan started, but was cut off.

"I mean, we're together all the time at school, we hang out a lot after school with Rachel and Jack and everybody, we kiss all the time, and we even have sex sometimes...you know... so why can't we call each other boyfriend and girlfriend? It would just make sense."

"I..." Ryan started, but was cut off again.

"I mean, is there something about me you don't like? I always thought you and I were good together. I mean, we've known each other for like forever; almost nine whole months! And when we do it, I think you actually love me, but most times, you ignore me and you act like I'm not even around. Did I do something wrong or something like that? I mean, if I did you can tell me. Is it anything like that?"

"No. I..." Ryan said.

"Well, that's good! I'm glad you don't like have like a problem with me or something like that. I just mean that you and me are very good together and we're a very cute couple you know? Everybody thinks so. Even the teachers think so. So if we just work on our relationship a little, do you think you'd be comfortable calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend? I mean, we can be very happy together, Ryan."

"Well, I..." Ryan said.

"I'm glad we talked this over, Ryan. And I'm sorry to have to gripe at you like this and everything, but I love you so much and I just want you to be happy with me. Now... how about I make this up to you?"

Ryan glanced over at Hillary, knowing exactly what she meant. Just as he thought, Hillary reached over and placed her hand on his jean-covered crotch. She began to rub his limp cock through his jeans, trying to make him hard. Ryan gaped out the window to make sure no one was looking. The student parking lot had just about cleared out by now. Ryan, Hillary, and their friends had stayed after school to help set up the main gym for the spring fling that would be taking place next Friday night, so most of the students had left already anyway. Knowing he would just have to endure, yet again, another sexual encounter with Hillary, he decided to just try and enjoy it. Ryan closed his eyes while Hillary rubbed his clothed crotch, imagining that instead of Hillary rubbing him, it was Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys rubbing him.

"Ewh, that was fast," Hillary said in her sexy voice, referring to Ryan's now hard cock. "It usually takes longer than that."

"Hillary, sshhh..." Ryan said, frustrated that her voice was wrecking his fantasy about Nick Carter fondling him.

"Sorry," Hillary apologized, remembering suddenly how he liked silence during sex.

With that, Hillary unfastened Ryan's belt and jeans and firmly gripped Ryan's rigid cock through his Homer Simpson boxers. Hillary wanted to comment on how cute his boxers were, but she knew not to talk while they were in the process of having sex. For some odd reason, Ryan always wanted silence when they were having sex or if she was fondling him or giving him a blowjob. She never quite understood why, but she decided it was better not to ask. Not that she was fearful of the answer she would receive, but mostly because she didn't find it necessarily a bad thing. She continued to rub Ryan's cock through his boxers for several more minutes, listening to his heavy breathing.

Ryan understood that Hillary was the one rubbing his boner, but he kept imagining that it was Nick Carter rubbing him. He imagined that the tremendously cute teen idol was sitting naked in front of him, his own lovely hard-on aching to be rubbed and sucked. This fantasy made Ryan even hornier. He felt like exploding right then and there almost. The sensation of Nick Carter rubbing his hot teenage boner made his cock even harder if that was physically possible. As Hillary continued rubbing the boy's rigid penis, Ryan refused to accept that it was Hillary rubbing him instead of Nick Carter.

Feeling that it was time to take this further, Hillary stopped rubbing Ryan's cock and then hooked her thumbs under the elastic waistband of the boy's boxers. Without any hesitation, Hillary began to pull the boy's underwear down. Ryan lifted his butt up so Hillary could pull his pants down. Hillary pushed Ryan's jeans and boxers down to his knees, his rock hard, beautiful teenage cock now in full view. Hillary stared at Ryan's stiff boyhood hungrily as she moved towards it slowly. With that, Hillary eagerly stuck her moist tongue out and licked off the small amount of sweet and salty precum that had collected at the tip of his dick. Afterward, Hillary leaned forward a little more and allowed Ryan's hard shaft to enter her mouth, her lips completely closed over the boy's hard penis. At the mere sensation of Nick Carter's mouth over his boner, Ryan, his eyes still tightly closed, felt his orgasm beginning to develop, very quickly too. Hillary began to suck harder on the boy's shaft, her head beginning to bob up and down on it, as if she was sucking on a popsicle.

Chapter Eight

With his grandmother's hard-to-get permission, Gavin was allowed to ride his bike over to the park behind their neighborhood -- the same park in which the "stonewall guy" walked through to come talk to Gavin. Since the stone wall behind Gavin's house was way too obnoxiously tall to climb over without a twelve-foot ladder, the park was essentially inaccessible from his backyard. Gavin had to ride his bike to the front of the home development and around the wall to the main entrance of the park, which was a good two mile bike ride from his house at the very least. From the entrance, he rode his bike around the playground. At the side of the huge soccer field, Adam was parked while sitting perched on his own bike talking to his older brother and few of his friends who were throwing a football around. Gavin called Adam's name and Adam said goodbye to the older guys as he began to ride his bike in Gavin's direction. When the boys met with their bikes, they rode together towards the bike trails. As they rode, Adam was in front of Gavin and Gavin noticed his friend sporting a backpack on his back. He wondered what he could possibly be carrying inside that bag; Adam had never brought a backpack with him to the clubhouse before. It took the boys about fifteen minutes of riding on the bike trails through the forested area before they finally made it to the hidden trail that led to their clubhouse. When they arrived at the area where the hidden trail began, they both hopped off their bikes and looked around making sure no one was around or could see them. Once they were positive nobody was looking, Adam and Gavin walked over to a certain large bush to the side of the bike trail. This was one bush amongst hundreds of others, but this particular bush had an old white ribbon tied subtly on one of its branches, which helped Adam and Gavin or any of the other guys find where the hidden trail began. The boys took their bikes and pushed past the bush with the ribbon on it plus a few more bushes behind that one. After pushing through about six or seven bushes, light scratches beginning to collect on the skin of both boys' arms and legs, they came up upon the hidden trail, which was actually a dirt road, or what used to be a dirt road. The road now was merely a pathway of loose rocks that was mostly covered over with wild grasses and weed, but the rocks sufficed well enough to lead the boys to where they wanted to go. They climbed onto their bikes once again and followed the bumpy gravel path for another ten minutes or so until they finally arrived at their clubhouse.

The clubhouse was actually an old wooden shack with an aluminum roof and a glass window on the side that had remained unbroken through all of these years. Adam and his older brother John had stumbled across this shack years before and Adam was deeply intrigued by it. The fact that no one owned it or claimed it made it free to him, which was an awesome feeling to Adam. So from then on, Adam, Gavin, and their friends used this shack as their personal clubhouse. The shack looked as if no one had used it for over thirty years or so. Judging by its basic architecture and size, it appeared to have been built in the 1940's or 50's and Gavin had always assumed it had once been used as a storage facility. About forty feet south of the shack, there was a large empty area where a cement foundation was still laid, as if a house had once been set atop that foundation. Why the shack had been left and the house destroyed was a mystery to the boys, but they figured it didn't matter too much. The boys had a shack to call their clubhouse, which was all that really mattered to them.

Once they arrived at the clubhouse, the boys were less afraid of being caught by others. They were more than positive that they and their friends were the only ones who really knew about this shack and how to get to it. Gavin and Adam got off their bikes and parked them on their kickstands close to the shack. Afterward, they walked into the shack together and sat down on the floor, leaning their backs against the wooden wall. Gavin was sort of nervous about what he and Adam had come here for. He was anxious to find out what the cause was of why he had suddenly turned into such a freak, but he hoped that maybe Adam could tell him something that would make it all different, or better.

"So what did you want to tell me?" Gavin asked as they sat side by side in the shack.

"Okay," Adam started in an intense tone of voice. "What I'm about to show you, you can't tell anyone about it... ever?... or I'll knock your head right through your socks, I swear to god. Got it?"

"Well what is it?" Gavin asked.

"You have to swear!"

"Fine! Okay! I swear on my pet turtle's grave. Now what is it?"

Adam sat up and took his backpack off from his back and slung it around to set it down on his lap. He unzipped the bag and began rummaging through whatever items he had stashed inside it. Gavin watched with a great intensity, wondering what in the world Adam had in there that was so secretive. He watched as Adam pulled two magazine-looking books from his bag. Gavin's eyes widened when he got a glimpse of the picture on the back of the second magazine while Adam placed his bag aside between the two boys' legs. Adam pitched one of the magazines onto Gavin's lap. Gavin looked down at the magazine and on the very front, there was a picture of a bare naked blonde woman, her legs spread wide eagle, covering the nipples of her breasts with her long hair and covering her... her... lady private with her forefingers.

"Hoooooly shit," Gavin said simply as he stared at the magazine's front page, realizing he had just uttered a forbidden four-letter word.

"Oh that's nothing! Flip the page over," Adam said.

Gavin did what he was told. He turned the page and what he saw caused his jaw to drop as far as it could go. It was a picture of the same blond woman from the first page, still naked, her nipples and lady private completely exposed now. Her legs were still spread wide eagle. Gavin realized that as a boy, he should find the sight of a naked woman desirable and attractive, but he mostly found it repulsive. The sight of the woman's vagina actually made Gavin ill at his stomach for some reason. Out of the corner of his eye, Gavin noticed a motion going on. He glanced over and saw Adam rubbing his crotch through the fabric of his black soccer shorts while staring at the same picture that Gavin was looking at.

"Isn't it awesome!?" Adam asked as he continued to rub his own crotch through his shorts. "Turn to the next page."

Feeling a bit queasy, but curious at the same time, Gavin went ahead and turned to the next page. Now this page was a bit different. This large picture depicted the same blond woman from before. She was kneeling on her knees, her mouth wide open, in front of a naked man with spiky brown hair. What got Gavin's attention was the size of the man's penis. It was huge! And... it was... hard? It looked very, very hard. And what was that crazy naked lady doing? Was she waiting for him to pee in her mouth or something? Gavin found himself quite confused, but as he continued staring at the picture, he felt that tingly sensation inside his own shorts once again just like he had earlier that day. He placed his hand on top of his crotch and it felt hard again.

"It's all hard again, just like before," Gavin said to Adam.

"So is mine," Adam said.

"It is?" Gavin asked curiously, quite surprised.

"Yeah, here!" Adam said as he stood up from his spot.

Adam slipped his shorts and green briefs off without hesitation, his hard penis exposed to Gavin. Gavin stared at it with utter fascination; his mouth watering as if he was staring at a glass of lemonade in the middle of a scorching July day. He found himself admiring the boy's penis. It looked almost as desirable as a piece of chocolate pie. It wasn't nearly as big as the man's cock in the magazine; not even close. But it was hard. It was big for Adam's size. His balls seemed a little too big in proportion to the size of his shaft, but Gavin didn't see that as a bad thing really. Gavin had seen Adam's penis on numerous occasions before, but never like this.

"See? It's not a bad thing," Adam said. "And you can have a lot of fun when your thing gets hard like this."

"What do you mean?" Gavin asked.

"Is yours hard now?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Pull your pants down too and I'll show you."

Trusting his friend as usual, Gavin stood up and unfastened his jean shorts. He pushed them down to his ankles, hooked his thumbs under the waistband of his white FTL briefs, and pushed them down as well, exposing his own hard penis to his friend. Gavin quickly sat back down, actually embarrassed for his hard penis to be seen, even by Adam. Gavin and Adam had seen each other naked more times than either of them could possibly count or even remember, but this time seemed different to Gavin. For the first time, as far as Gavin's memory served him, he felt somewhat embarrassed about his best friend staring at his nakedness. He assumed it was because neither of them had ever deliberately paid attention to one another's nakedness before. Their reasons for being naked in front of each other before consisted of changing for PE, taking showers afterward, swimming in the Shiloh River during the summer, or changing during sleepovers and whatnot. This was much different though. They were purposely taking note of each other's most private body parts now. What was supposed to be kept to himself and meant for no one else but maybe a wife someday was now being totally exposed in front of his friend in a way that didn't seem natural, so because of that, Gavin felt a little shy standing naked in front of Adam. What was strange though was that Adam didn't seem to feel that way at all. The way he moved physically and the way he acted; it seemed as if he had done things like this before, as if it was a routine.

"Okay, now I'm gonna show you how to have fun with your boner," Adam said as he said down again next to Gavin, his boyhood still at full salute.

"Boner?" Gavin asked, confused by the term.

"It's what you call your penis when it's hard, dude," Adam said, wrapping his left hand around his shaft. "Now... put your hand around yours like I'm doing to mine."

Gavin did as he was told and mimicked what Adam did by wrapping his left hand around the shaft of his own penis. With that, Adam used his other hand to prop the magazine picture up on his backpack where both boys could clearly see it. Adam began to move his hand up and down on his stiff shaft and nodded for Gavin to follow suit. Gavin understood the nod and imitated what his friend was doing. As Gavin began to move his hand in an up-and-down motion, he found that the feeling was utterly delightful. He wasn't sure what this would lead to or what the whole point was, but he really liked the feeling it gave him to rub his penis like this. He glanced over at Adam who had just begun pumping his cock in a quicker motion. Gavin copied what his friend was doing and it felt even better.

Chapter Nine

Ryan's throbbing teenage cock was thrust deep inside Hillary's aching vagina, his eyes closed and imagining that he was fucking Nick Carter up the ass. Up and down, up and down, in and out, in and out, fast and hard, fast and harder, fast and harder and harder and harder. The teens were screwing as roughly as they ever had in the backseat of Hillary's Camry. Both teens were completely naked; Ryan's head banging continuously on the thankfully cushioned backseat headrest, and Hillary's young, supple breasts bouncing up and down with every motion of their forceful humping. Hillary was whimpering like a helpless animal as Ryan thrust his cock into her pussy as hard as he could, almost bringing tears to her eyes. Ryan strived to block out the annoying sounds of her whimpering, still trying to fantasize that he and Nick Carter were having sex.

Ryan's orgasm was coming very soon and he knew it. With that, he thrust his dick inside the girl's pussy even quicker and harder than before, using every last ounce of energy he had left in his teenage body. He felt his boyhood tense up dramatically inside the girl's vagina. The throbbing sensation was so intense that he wasn't sure if he could take it any longer. All of a sudden, his warm boy juices spurted from the tip of his dick inside the condom. He moaned erotically as his orgasm took over his whole body, making him shutter with absolute pleasure. After his orgasm ended, he took a very deep breath as Hillary carefully pulled off from the boy's limping penis. With that, the boy and girl lied down together on the backseat of the car, both of them still completely naked. Ryan removed the condom and cleaned himself off with the boxers he had discarded a little bit before.

"That was nice," Hillary said, her breathing very labored. "As always. Did you think so, baby? It was very nice, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, sure it was," Ryan said, trying to catch his own breath. "I hate to fuck and go, but I really need to get home. My dad wants to take me to the movies tonight or something since his girlfriend's gonna be with her kid tonight or whatever."

"Okay, baby," Hillary said sweetly.

With that, she leaned in and softly kissed him on the lips. After the kiss ended, they both sat up and began to shuffle around the backseat trying to sort through all of the clothing they had discarded. Once they were both dressed, Hillary kissed him one more time and then they said their goodbyes. Ryan got out of the car and walked to his truck, which was parked a few parking spots down from Hillary's car.

As Ryan drove home, he thought about what had just taken place. By the standards of any other normal guy in school, Hillary was a total babe. She was sexy, in every sense of the word. She had long blonde hair, nicely tanned skin, nice, supple breasts, and a gorgeous complexion. But to Ryan, these qualities were simply not enough to cause him to love the girl. In fact, these qualities in any girl in general wasn't enough to make him fall for a girl. Ryan had recognized his homosexuality about three years before after he and his friend Brad messed around one weekend when Ryan slept over at Brad's house. Since then though, Brad left the state seeing as how he was part of a military family and was frequently stationed to different places, and Ryan hadn't been with another male in a sexual way. He often thought about it and dreamed about it, but he knew he could never actually come out and say he was gay. Knowing how his father was against homosexuality, along with the rest of the people in town and school, Ryan was aware that the chances of him ever having the opportunity to come out in style were nominal. Ryan found it terribly simple to attract girls in school. His involvement with the baseball team gave him a reputation in his school, and his boyish good looks helped increase his popularity with the girls in school. Ryan had been asked out by several gay guys in his school who could obviously sense his homosexuality without much difficultly. That frightened Ryan to his core, knowing that other gay people could almost automatically tell he was gay. Ryan was never sure what gave it away to them though. In school and at home, he strived to appear as straight and narrow as possible. He didn't have that easily distinguishable accent that was so stereotypical of the gay male either. So why other gay people -- not just gay guys, but sometimes girls -- were able to tell he was gay bothered him. He wasn't sure at all what he did to give off that particular vibe, but at least with his friends and family, he was able to hide it very well. While he had sex with girls though, the only way he could even make himself hard was by imagining he was with a cute guy, such as Nick Carter: a particular favorite fantasy buddy of his.

When he arrived home, his father was working under his truck on the dirt driveway; his white t-shirt and faded blue jeans completely stained with black grease and dirt. Ryan sat down beside the truck close to where the lower half of his father's body was poking out from under the truck and they began talking about their movie plans for the night. Ryan was actually somewhat excited about this outing with his father, since they hadn't done anything like this together since he and Janice started dating. If any of Ryan's friends had been able to sense his excitement about this, they would probably pick fun at him for it, because in the world of normal teenagers, boys Ryan's age should hate their fathers and avoid them at all cost. But Ryan wasn't like that at all. He actually enjoyed the time he got to spend with his dad, especially now that they rarely got the time to spend together since Janice came around.

"So what movie you wanna see?" Jed asked from underneath the truck.

"Well... The Matrix just came out a couple of weeks ago," Ryan suggested, knowing how his father felt about science fiction movies.

"You'd really let your old man sit through that piece of shit, wouldn't you?" Jed said from under the truck, the clanking sound of wrenches and pliers harmonizing with his voice.

"Come on! It's looks so freakin' cool?" Ryan said excitedly.

"Ugh... Well, I suppose I can deal with the torture this once," Jed gave in. "After all, it's only fair since I asked you what you wanted to see. But..."

Silence. Ryan lowered his head with a contorted facial expression, as if willing his father to finish his sentence. Finally, he obliged.

"But... what?" Ryan asked.

"Sorry. I was trying to tighten this last nut. I hate these damn metric bolts. Umm, anyway, but you'll have to go with me to see Varsity Blues here pretty soon if I agree to see The Matrices with you."

"The Matrix, Dad!" Ryan corrected the man.

"Well, what-the-hell-ever," Jed said apathetically.

Ryan nearly shivered at the thought of sitting through Varsity Blues, but he figured it was only fair considering he was making his dad see The Matrix with him.

"So, Ryan, I had something I wanted to ask you," Jed started. "Now, I'm leaving this decision completely up to you. If you're not comfortable with the idea, then we'll just save it for another time. But Janice and I were talking about it and... we were thinking... how about if she was to bring her kid over tomorrow night for dinner so you two can meet?"

"Umm..." Ryan began, thinking seriously about the proposition. "Well, I don't guess that's a problem. I mean, I barely even know Janice though. I just don't know how well it would go to meet her kids already."

"She only has the one kid," Jed said, still messing around underneath the truck. "And like I told you, I'm leaving this decision up to you. I know Janice really wants to get to know you, and we both think it would be a good idea for you and her son to meet. Maybe you can get to know Janice a little better like that and all."

Ryan thought about it for a few quiet seconds. What could be the harm in just meeting Janice's kid? He was pretty sure the kid was younger than him by several years at least, so he knew he shouldn't feel threatened in any way when it came to him. Plus, he knew his father really wanted things to work out with Janice, and after their conversation this morning, Ryan felt as if he needed to help his father accomplish that goal. In all honesty, Ryan was satisfied with Janice. She seemed to have a sparkling personality that always lifted his father's spirits and most certainly brightened up his face every time he looked at her. Ryan could tell he was in love with the woman, and getting rid of her was totally out of the question no matter what Ryan did to change things, so he thought he might as well start going with the flow.

"Dad... are you... d-do you... wanna marry Janice?" Ryan asked.

Jed slid out quickly from underneath the truck after he was sure he heard his son's question correctly. He sat up to face Ryan, his face dark gray with grease and dusty filth and his dark, greasy hair matted down with sweat and oil. They stared into each other's eyes for several long seconds as Jed considered the boy's question. Finally, the man spoke.

"Ryan, I want you to understand that Janice and I are not planning to rush into anything," Jed said. "After all, we've only been together a few months now. That's certainly not enough time to decide whether you want to spend the rest of your life with anyone; not even if you're sure that you're in love. Now, I do love Janice. More than I've ever loved any other woman before. But... before we go and get married -- if we ever get married -- we both wanna make sure we're ready for that. Not only that, but we want to make sure our kids are ready for that: you and Janice's son. That'll be a long time coming, if ever. Okay?"

Ryan nodded, understanding of what his father had just told him.

"Okay," Ryan said. "Dad, I'd like to meet Janice's son."

"You would?" Jed asked, a little surprised by his son's sudden change. This morning, Ryan had expressed words of hate towards him and Janice and now everything seemed to be moving in a totally different direction. He was relieved and glad that he and Ryan had had that conversation this morning after there small yelling match. It seemed to have helped immensely.

"Yeah," Ryan said. "It wouldn't be so bad, I don't think."

"Well... great! Great! Yeah, that's... that's, that's great. I'll tell Janice to come over tomorrow night and bring her son. I've only met him once, but he seems like a pretty good kid; a quiet kid, but good all the same."

Ryan nodded approvingly.

Chapter Ten

Gavin sat on his window bench reading his book, as he often did. His concentration level was at a minimal while he was reading though. He couldn't get his previous adventure with Adam out of his mind. He had followed his best friend's lead by stroking his own hard boyhood for a few minutes and then all of a sudden, he felt like he had to pee. He had expressed to his friend how he felt down there, and Adam excitedly urged him to continue and not to worry about that feeling. He assured Gavin that he would love the feeling that was about to come. Gavin continued stroking his little boy boner, the feeling that he had to pee growing stronger and stronger with every passing second. Within seconds, his whole body began to quake uncontrollably. His breathing became harder. And then finally, he felt the pee about to come out. He glanced down, still stroking his boyhood, expecting to see his yellow urine began to spring forth from his penis. But instead, nothing came out. He watched as his penis convulsed wildly, and the feeling he had was absolutely amazing, something he had never felt before in his whole life. He let his head fall back freely and his head banged against the wooden wall of the shack. He could feel a shooting pain on the back of his head, but he paid no attention to it, seeing as how the feeling down there outweighed the pain in his head exponentially. After the feeling ended, he looked down at his boyhood, which was beginning to shrink back to it's normal size again. To boot, there was nothing to clean up. He could feel something come up and spurt out of the tip of his penis, but nothing actually came out at all. Weird. A few seconds later, Adam yelled out "I'm about to cum!" and then all of a sudden, a white, transparent liquid emerged from the tip of Adam's hard boycock. Gavin's jaw dropped, watching the display in front of him with enthrallment. After Adam's feeling was done like Gavin's, Adam pulled a hand towel from his bag and wiped the sticky-looking liquid from his belly and around the base of his now shrinking penis. Gavin asked why he didn't shoot liquid like that and Adam explained to him that he would eventually, but he just wasn't old enough yet for it. Adam said it would probably happen soon enough and Gavin trusted him as always. Gavin was excited now that he found something to do that could be both pleasurable and entertaining.

Now, at home, Gavin was waiting for everyone to go to bed so that he could do it again in bed. He loved the feeling he got from rubbing his penis like that, so he was anxious to be able to do it again as soon as possible. He glanced away from the muddled words of his book to look at his clock. The evening was still quite young, so he would have to wait a couple of more hours to do it again. Until then, Gavin was just glad his mother would be home soon. His grandmother had been driving him crazy with questions since he arrived home a few minutes late from the clubhouse: questions about where he was and what he was doing (like Gavin would tell her the truth). Gavin settled for telling her that he and Adam played video games at the local arcade and he accidentally lost track of time. Gavin was now officially grounded from going to the arcade for a week. He was so ready for his mother to get home.

About thirty minutes later, he heard the front door open.

"Hey everybody!" came Gavin's mother's voice from downstairs. "I'm home."

Gavin closed his book and quickly made his way downstairs, excited to see his mother finally after almost three solid days. Without ever stopping, Gavin ran down the carpeted stairs, through the foyer towards the front door where his mother was standing, and straight into his mother's inviting arms, which were already prepared to accept Gavin's loving embrace. His mother hugged him tightly and kissed him repeatedly on his cheeks, his forehead, and even his neck. Gavin's mother had always been tremendously affectionate towards him, which was a very welcome attribute to Gavin. He loved his mother quite a bit; although, he had lately found himself angry with her because she was always gone, leaving him with his tremendously unaffectionate grandmother.

"Oh, my sweet, beautiful boy!!" Mom said as she kissed Gavin continually. "Oh, I love you so much, you gorgeous boy!!"

"I missed you!" Gavin said after kissing his mom on the cheek. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Mom said genuinely. "I promise you I'll be around more often. I've missed you too much as well, baby. Ugh, you're getting so big! I swear, here in the next couple of years, you'll be almost as tall as me!"

"That'll be awesome!" Gavin said, the smile on his face completely authentic.

"Sweetheart, I wanted to ask you something," Mom said as she walked over to the guest sofa in the foyer, leading Gavin with her by hand. "You remember my boyfriend that you met a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah," Gavin said.

"Well, he's invited both of us to come over to his house tomorrow night," Mom explained. "He wants you to meet his son, Ryan."

All of a sudden, Grandma's booming voice vibrated through the walls.

"Gavin!" called Grandma from the kitchen. She walked into the foyer from the kitchen. "I need you to come and set the... oh, hey Janice. Didn't hear you come in."

Janice just smiled at her mother and then glanced back at her beautiful boy, who was staring up at her with a sweet grin.

_____________________________________ END OF FIRST INSTALLMENT; CHAPTERS 1-10

NEXT: Second Installment; Chapters 11-20