Shiloh Creek

Shiloh Creek Installment #2 Chapters 11-20 ____________________________ 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, 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 offended by this sort of material, please do not read any further. ____________________________

Chapter Eleven

Ryan finally figured out what to wear. Standing in front of his mirror wearing a rather form-fitting, orange, polo shirt and a pair of blue jean shorts and flip-flops, Ryan decided he looked decent enough for dinner this evening with Janice and her son. Ryan found himself somewhat nervous, which was odd to him. He had seen Janice quite a bit lately, but for some reason, meeting her son made him feel uneasy. He was sure it had nothing to do with actually meeting the boy; Ryan figured it was because he knew meeting the kid of his father's girlfriend meant that his father and Janice were comfortable enough to make their love for each other public, at least within the eyes of their children. He realized that this meant he would be spending more and more time with around Janice and he further realized that eventually – if everything went well – he would be around Janice every day.

Deciding he looked good enough for this evening, Ryan walked out of his bedroom and into the kitchen where his father was standing next to the sink draining the spaghetti noodles that he was attempting to prepare for tonight. Ryan chuckled; the sight of his father trying to cook was humorous to him. He recalled the Thanksgiving of 1993 when Ryan was ten years old; his father decided he wanted to try to cook the Thanksgiving dinner for the family at his house. As a result, he burned the turkey to nothing but basically a large block of charcoal, he accidentally glazed the ham with fat instead of honey sauce, he managed to undercook the yams and overcook the marshmallows on top of the yams, and then to top it all off, he dropped a whole bowl of green bean casserole while trying to place it down on the table and the bowel shattered causing the casserole to spill out all over his mother's finest Thanksgiving table spread. Needless to say, Jed was never allowed to prepare any more meals for the family, due to his natural clumsiness in the kitchen. Since then, Jed was massively hesitant about cooking anything. But when he did cook now, he was overly cautious, which was probably a good thing.

"Anything I can do to help?" Ryan asked his dad.

"Nope!" Jed said excitedly. "Just drained the noodles, so my kitchen duty is done. Janice is bringing the meat sauce. Can you believe she didn't trust me to do it?"

"Hmm..." Ryan sounded off, acknowledging his father's sarcastic remark.

"Well, I guess we can..." Jed started, but was interrupted by the knock at the door. "Oh, they're here already."

Jed and Ryan walked out of the kitchen and paced towards the front door. Ryan stood a few feet away from the door as Jed began to open it. As soon as he opened it, the unmistakable sound of Janice's sweet and somewhat vivacious voice came rushing past the threshold of the front door.

"Hey baby!!" Janice said animatedly as she leaned in to kiss Jed on the lips.

Ryan saw Janice's son standing behind her. Once Janice and Ryan's dad finished kissing, Janice grabbed her son's hand and led him over the threshold. Ryan automatically liked the boy just upon seeing him. He was so cute. He was rather short, but he was completely adorable. He came in wearing a red Nike t-shirt with a pair of blue jean shorts and red and white tennis shoes, his white socks pulled up as far as they could go, which was a few inches above his ankles. His beautiful, longish, dark blond hair looked as if he had left it uncombed after taking a shower, but this unkempt, messy hairstyle worked for his tremendously cute facial features. His face was the sweetest part of his whole little body. His face appeared very smooth and clean; his lips full and pink, his penetrating eyes as deep green as the New Hampshire spring forests, his nose small and button-like, and his ears and forehead mostly covered by his long hair.

Once Janice spotted Ryan, she immediately walked over to him and gave him a tight hug, her little boy standing directly behind her the whole time as if on a leash. Jed was standing next to the front door, a huge smile draped across his face as he watched his son striving to get to know his girlfriend and now about to meet her son.

"How're you doing, sugar!?" Janice asked Ryan.

"I'm fine, how're you?" Ryan asked, trying to at least halfway match the enthusiasm in his own voice that Janice had revealed in hers.

"Good! Good! Ryan Gamble, I want you to meet my little boy, Gavin Summers. Gavin, this is Ryan Gamble; Jed's only son."

"Nice to meet you, dude," Ryan said coolly, sticking his hand out for the boy to shake it. Gavin obliged and shook Ryan's hand in a seemingly nervous manner. The mere touch sent a shiver of delight throughout Ryan's entire body. He wasn't sure what it was about this boy that was so charming, but Ryan was completely intrigued by this boy.

"It's good to meet you too, Ryan," Gavin said as he shook Ryan's hand.

At the very moment Gavin spoke, Ryan immediately recognized the boy's voice from somewhere; he was sure he had heard that voice before. In general, Gavin sounded like any other eleven year old boy. Gavin's voice was rather high-pitched considering he wasn't yet of age for his voice to begin deepening and it was as smooth as the voice of a professional opera star. But there was something about the boy's voice that was quite distinctive from the others, mostly his natural accent that made him sound rather like a surfer. Ryan was absolutely positive he had heard this voice somewhere before. Perhaps he had met Gavin before at church or something and forgot? Perhaps...

"Gavin, Ryan has some video games in his bedroom," Janice said to the boy. "If you ask nicely, maybe he'll let you play them."

"Pumph, don't worry about asking nicely, Gavin," Ryan said, which caused Janice's shoulders to go limp as if Ryan had just taken a needle and burst a balloon she was holding in her hands. "You play N64 at all?"

"Yeah!" Gavin said excitedly.

"Okay, well, why don't you boys go play some games while Janice and I finish up making dinner?" Jed suggested.

"Come on," Ryan said, motioning for Gavin to follow him.

Ryan led Gavin down the hallway to his bedroom. Ryan shut the bedroom door behind them after they walked in, leaving the door unlocked. Gavin seemed a bit uneasy, but Ryan felt that a few minutes of playing video games would loosen him up a bit. To Ryan, Gavin seemed quite introverted, as if he usually was kept to himself reading books or possibly playing video games by himself all the time. Gavin gazed around Ryan's bedroom, taking in the sights of all the cool things Ryan had: a computer, a TV, three or four different game systems, a VCR, a shelf with lots and lots of movies and CDs, countless posters and pictures of bands, baseball players, and novelty posters draped on all four walls, and Ryan even had his own bathroom! Gavin sat on the edge of Ryan's king-sized bed and watched as Ryan routinely set up the Nintendo 64.

"What games you like?" Ryan asked. "I have Zelda: Ocarina of Time, GoldenEye 007, Mario Kart, Doom 64 – which I'm sure your mom would totally disapprove of – uhhh, Battle Tanx, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Banjo and Kazooie, All Star Baseball 99... and lots of others. Any of those sounds good?"

"What's Banjo and Kazooie?" Gavin asked curiously.

"Oh, it's this really obnoxious game about a talking bear who carries around a really annoying chicken in his backpack. Umm, the bear's little sister gets kidnapped by some random old witch and then the bear and the chicken have to save the sister from the witch... it's a whole melt-the-wicked-old-witch thing. It's kinda funny. Wanna play it?"

"Sure, why not?" Gavin said. "Sounds educational."

"Awesome," Ryan said. "Now, it's just a one-player game, so I'll just kinda tell you where you need to go and whatnot. Cool?"

"Okay," Gavin said, his awkwardness still quite evident.

Ryan placed the game cartridge into the Nintendo 64 console and pressed the start button. He unwrapped the long cord from the controller and handed the controller to Gavin, who was still sitting quietly and seemingly uncomfortably on the edge of the bed. As Ryan handed over the controller, he caught a glimpse of Gavin's slight grin as Gavin accepted the controller. Ryan found himself captivated by that grin, as if nothing else in the world existed but that boy and his cute grin and of course. his deep green eyes. The boy was magnificent in every sense of the word. Ryan had seen boys Gavin's age before and thought they were cute in a kid way, but what he thought about Gavin was quite different than that. Gavin was tremendously cute, but not just in a kid way. He was most certainly an adorable child, but no, there was something else about the boy; something that Ryan couldn't quite recognize, something mysterious that Gavin radiated from his body like heat, but even that was too literal to make the sense Ryan was trying to make out of this.

Ryan cleared his throat, before speaking, as if his words were caught in the crevices of his esophagus.

"Umm... you just move that gray stick around to walk or run or whatever," Ryan began to explain the controller.

"I know," Gavin said. "I have an N64 too."

Brief silence.

"Oh," Ryan responded simply, his voice sounding rather croaky as if his entire throat was full of phlegm. Ryan cleared his throat once again.

Once the game started, Ryan sat down on the edge of the bed about fifteen inches away from Gavin's small, boyish body. Ryan helped Gavin set up his own profile, so that he could start from the beginning. The game started off with the humorous beginning scene of Banjo's sister being kidnapped by the wicked witch and Kazooie freaking out as he always did. Gavin laughed as he watched this, which caused Ryan to laugh as well. Ryan listened to the boy's sweet, high-pitched laugh, relishing in the sound of it as if listening to the sound of a thousand laughing angels. Once the first scene ended, Ryan guided Gavin through the first couple of levels of the game, helping him along as much as he possibly could. Gavin seemed to enjoy playing the game, and Ryan most definitely enjoyed sitting next to Gavin watching him play with such intensity. Ryan observed how Gavin slightly chewed down on his bottom lip while fighting against any foe on the game, how his whole body slightly twitched when he pressed the A button to punch his opponent as if physically preparing himself for a real fight, and how he flipped his dark blond hair away from his eyes every couple of minutes. Ryan was completely mesmerized by this boy. And just to think; not even twenty minutes before, Ryan hadn't even met Gavin.

As Gavin played Banjo and Kazooie, he was beginning feel more comfortable sitting next to Ryan. After all, the older boy seemed pretty cool. Gavin had Ryan pegged as the type of guy who was probably very popular in school. He had that infectious outgoing personality, the boyish and fairly charming good looks, and great taste in video games. As Gavin played the game, he noticed Ryan staring at him every now and then, which made him feel a little uneasy and self-conscious at first, but he didn't think too much about it as he continued playing. Gavin thought about Ryan's voice as he moved through the levels of the video game. He was quite sure he had never seen Ryan before, but there was something particularly distinguishing about the older boy's voice; just his voice though and nothing else. Gavin knew he had heard that voice before. He couldn't put his finger on it though. He figured it was merely a coincidence though. Maybe one of the older guys at school had a voice similar to Ryan's and Gavin was just associating that voice with Ryan's voice. Perhaps...

"Ryan! Gavin! Dinner time!" came Janice's voice from the kitchen.

"Ah, horsefeathers," Gavin said, not wanting to pause the game while he was in the middle of fighting against a foe.

"Horsefeathers?" Ryan asked, a contorted grin on his face.

Gavin glanced at Ryan with an expression of slight embarrassment.

"I say that sometimes," Gavin said. "Well, it's better than cursing, right?"

Ryan chuckled a bit.

"Sure, buddy," Ryan said, humoring Gavin. "Here, we can pause the game and come back to it after dinner."

Chapter Twelve

Ryan, Gavin, Jed, and Janice sat around the table in the dining room feasting on the spaghetti and meat sauce, broccoli and cheese, steamed carrots, and buttered garlic bread. The food was delectable and the four people seemed to be enjoying each other's company without the presence of awkwardness. Jed was sitting on one end of the rectangular table, Janice sitting to Jed's right, Gavin sitting to Jed's left, and Ryan sitting next to Gavin. They all conversed back and forth about anything that came up; mostly questions that Janice directed towards Ryan or questions that Jed directed towards Gavin, the adults striving to get to know each other's kids.

"So Gavin, what do you like to do in your spare time?" Jed asked the boy.

"I read a lot," Gavin said simply before taking a bite of his rolled up spaghetti.

"He likes reading those awful horror books," Janice said.

"Oh yeah?" Jed asked. "You like reading Stephen King books?"

"Mmm, The Shining's my favorite of his," Gavin said.

"I read that a few years ago," Ryan said. "Loved it! Except for that part about the bathtub lady. That was a bit much for me."

"Oh come on, that part was cool," Gavin said.

"Do you like reading a lot, Ryan?" Janice asked, her voice still as bubbly as usual.

"Not as much as I used to," Ryan replied. "I read a lot when I was like Gavin's age, but not so much anymore."

"Hey guys, I was thinking... how about we all go to Canobie Lake Park this Saturday?" Jed suggested. "It just opened back up not too long ago since it's getting warmer and all. What do you think, pumpkin?"

"That sounds like fun," Janice said. "Good idea. What do you boys think?"

Gavin and Ryan seemed pleased with the idea. They seemed to get along with each other well enough, so they at least didn't cringe at the thought of spending an entire day together. In fact, both and Ryan and Gavin were somewhat content with the notion. Ryan looked forward to it, because it meant he would be able to stare at Gavin all day and get to know the cute boy a little better. Gavin looked forward to it, because he liked Ryan and he liked the idea of spending a whole day with him. Ryan was really cool and so far, Gavin enjoying being around him.

"Sounds awesome," Ryan said.

While continuing to feast on the delicious dinner that Janice and Jed – mostly Janice – had prepared they began to plan their Saturday outing. Since the park was about a two-hour drive from Shiloh Creek, they planned to leave on Saturday morning at around nine o'clock. As they continued talking about it, Gavin found himself becoming rather exited about it. He had originally planned on reading all day in the backyard and waiting for the "stonewall guy" to come and talk to him like he said he might, but he figured he would come back to talk to Gavin on Sunday evening instead since he wouldn't be there Saturday. Maybe the "stonewall guy" would come sometime during the week and then Gavin could inform him that he would be gone on Saturday evening.

Once they were finished with dinner and making plans for Saturday, Ryan and Gavin headed back to Ryan's bedroom to play some more Banjo and Kazooie while Jed and Janice began clearing the table and cleaning up the kitchen. As Jed brought dirty plates, cups, pots and pans into the kitchen, Janice stood by the sink washing all of the dishes. Jed walked behind her, placed two empty cups next to the sink and kissed the woman on the neck.

"Hey you," Janice said sweetly, a big smile on her face.

"You know what?" Jed said. "Strangest thing happened to me today."

"And what's that?" the woman asked.

Jed wrapped his arms around the woman's waist sweetly, resting his chin on her shoulder and gently kissing her on the neck between words.

"Today, this really gorgeous woman – more gorgeous than any other woman I know of, I might add – came into my kitchen and saved me from destroying a perfectly good bowel of spaghetti. And you know what else she did? She actually made this really good meat sauce to go with the spaghetti. It was the best meat sauce I've ever had, actually. I mean, what're the odds? A beautiful woman coming into my kitchen and making me a delicious dinner? Let me tell ya. It doesn't happen very much."

"Hmm, well, I'm sure she saw that you were about to destroy the spaghetti, so what other choice did she have?" Janice said.

"I really like you," Jed said.

Janice smiled, turned around to face Jed, swathed her arms over his broad shoulders, and leaned in to kiss the man on the lips. After the kiss, she rested her head against his firm chest and they danced together to a slow classic rock song that was playing on the radio Jed had playing in the kitchen.

"I'm so happy everything's gone so well," Janice said. "They really like each other, don't they?"

"I think so," Jed said. "Looks like things are shaping up quite nicely. Knock on wood."

Without saying another word, they continued to dance and sway together in the middle of the kitchen; the sound of the classic rock music playing from the radio and the boys in Ryan's bedroom talking back and forth about the game.

Chapter Thirteen

It was about ten thirty at night by the time Janice and Gavin arrived at home. On any normal night, Gavin would have been in bed about an hour and a half ago, but his mother wasn't nearly as strict as his grandmother was. When Janice pulled into the driveway and killed off the ignition, she just sat in her seat and stared over at her son with a bright smile on her face. Gavin couldn't remember seeing his mother this happy before; at least, not in a long time. He knew she was finally at a place in her life where she was actually happy again. Gavin had never met his own father officially. From what he understood, his mother became pregnant with him when she was in college. She still had quite a bit of college left even after Gavin was born, so that's why Gavin and Janice ended up living at her mother's house, so that Grandma could take care of the baby while she was in school. Once she graduated from college, she originally planned to get a PR job and move into her own house with Gavin, but once she did find a PR job, her office was in Manchester, which was a long drive from Shiloh Creek. On top of that, her new job took up a lot of her time and she traveled quite a bit, so she ended up just leaving Gavin in Shiloh Creek with her mother. She rented a small apartment in Manchester for a while where she would stay during the week and then she would come home on weekends if she didn't have to go on weekend business trips. That lasted up until Gavin was about six years old. Finally, Janice was tired of having to be away from her little boy for so much time, so she started making the trip back and forth to Manchester every day, just so she could spend a couple of hours a night with her son before he had to go to bed. Janice and her mother butted heads a lot. They had never gotten along very well and they often quarreled about what was within Gavin's best interests. Janice had at one point decided she was moving back to Manchester and taking Gavin with her, but it was mostly all talk and it never occurred. By now, she was only working four days a week and still making a decent living, but she despised having to be within the company of her mother all the time, so she started shopping all the time and dating just to avoid going home. Gavin knew she missed him terribly and Janice never made any excuses for always leaving him alone, but Gavin felt that things were about to change.

"So... how are you doing, my sweet boy?" Janice asked as she brushed the boy's hair away from his eyes with her fingers.

"I'm good, Mom," Gavin said. "Why?"

"Well, we haven't seen each other much lately, and I just wanted to make sure everything's going okay," Janice said.

"I've missed you," Gavin said honestly.

"I know, baby," Janice said. "I've missed you too. More than you know."

Brief silence.

"But... I want you to know that you and I will be together a whole lot more now," Janice said. "I'm finished shopping all the time. If I go shopping, I'll take you with me. Other than that, you and I are going to be together for a little while pretty much every evening from now on. Okay?"

Gavin smiled sweetly.

"That's awesome," Gavin said.

"So, did you like Ryan?" Janice asked.

"He's really cool," Gavin said. "He said I could borrow his games anytime I want."

"Ryan's a sweet boy," Janice said. "I'm glad you like him. Do you like Jed okay?"

"Jed's cool," Gavin said. "He acts like an older version of Ryan, sorta."

"Yeah, I guess he does," Janice said. "Well, sweetie, I guess I should get you inside so you can go to bed. Looks like your grandmother's still up waiting for us."

"I love you, Mom," Gavin said.

"I love you too, baby," Janice said.

With that, Janice reached over and hugged her little boy and kissed him on the cheek. Afterward, the two of them got out of the car and headed for the front door, Janice holding the small hand of her boy. When they walked into the house, Grandma was in the living room sitting in her recliner reading her Bible. She heard Janice and Gavin walk in and she placed her Bible down on the coffee table as she stood up to face them.

"Well, it's about time you get home," Grandma said. "Gavin, go to bed. You should've been asleep over an hour ago."

"Goodnight, Mom," Gavin said, ignoring his grandmother's harping.

"Sleep well, darling," Janice said and then she leaned down and kissed her son on the head.

After that, Gavin left the room silently and headed upstairs to his bedroom without saying anything to his grandmother.

"Gee, I love how he just ignores me now," Grandma said.

"Well, maybe if you didn't act like that to him, he'd have a little more to do with you," Janice said as she walked into the kitchen and placed her purse on top of the counter.

Grandma followed Janice into the kitchen, a wretched scowl on her face.

"Act like what with him?" Grandma asked.

"The same way you've always acted, Mother," Janice said as she poured herself a glass of wine.

"Well, I'd say I've been quite lenient with you and your brother," Grandma said. "After all, I let you drink in the house and I even allow your brother to bring his `boyfriends' in the house."

"You make your feelings about all of it perfectly known as well," Janice said.

"Well, I obviously can't do much to stop you two from ruining your lives the way you do these days," Grandma said.

"What do you mean `ruining our lives,' Mom?" Janice asked.

"Look at yourselves, Janice," Grandma began. "Your brother dates men instead of women, you don't even stick around to be with your own son, and of course, who's the one that takes care of everything? Me!"

"Jason does what makes him happy, Mom," Janice said. "Whether you agree with it or not is irrelevant. And I can assure you that I'll be spending a lot more time with Gavin from now on."

"Yes, now that you have a man in your life, you need Gavin to parade around like you're just the mother of the year, huh?" Grandma said smartly.

Janice took a sip of her wine and gently placed the glass down on the counter. She glared at her mother with an expression that could potentially stop traffic. For as long as Janice could remember, she and her mother had never been close. Her mother was always very strict and set in her ways. Janice sometimes wondered how it was that neither she nor her brother turned out like her. In fact, they had strived most of their lives to live as polar opposites from their mother.

"Mother, you know it's not like that," Janice said.

"Don't I?" Grandma asked. "You shop and work till your heart's content and you don't need Gavin. But then as soon as a man comes into your life, then you decide Gavin should have a spot in your life, just to make you look good."

"Screw off, Mother," Janice said just before storming out of the room.

Janice left the kitchen and began to journey up the stairs, her mother following her angrily. When they reached the top of the stairs, her mother started in on her again.

"Don't you talk to me that way, young lady!" Grandma yelled.

"I'm thirty-two years old, Mother!" Janice said as she walked into her bedroom across the hall from Gavin's bedroom, her mother following her inside.

"Then act like it!" Grandma shot back. "I swear, I sometimes think you and your brother stopped maturing past your teenage years!"

"Well, stop acting like a bitch and we won't have those problems!" Janice yelled.

"Oh, I did NOT raise my daughter to speak to me that way," Grandma said angrily.

"You didn't have to, Mom," Janice said. "Just took the years and years of shit you've put me and Jason through!"

"You know what? Fine! I want you out of my house at the end of the month. And that's final!"

"Don't worry about it! That's fine by me and Gavin!"

"You're not taking that boy away. He's staying here with me."

"Oh-ho, I don't think so, Mother! If I'm leaving, he's coming with me."

"You're not equipped to take care of that boy!"

"I make plenty of money and he's old enough to watch himself when I'm not around. So by all means, I'm equipped enough, thank you very much."

Without saying another word, Grandma walked out of Janice's bedroom, slamming the door shut on her way out. Janice rolled her eyes and sat down on the edge of her bed, angry with her mother and with herself partly. Because she couldn't keep her mouth shut, now she and Gavin would have to move out. After a few seconds of thought about it though, Janice began to believe that this would be better for Gavin and herself really. Janice was sick of Gavin being ordered around by her mother as she had been her entire childhood. She wanted Gavin to look back on his childhood and have no regrets. So moving out and starting a life of their own was probably just what they needed. With that thought in mind, Janice got up and began getting ready for bed.

Meanwhile, across the hall, Gavin was standing up next to his door, his ear pressed up against the wood of the door trying to hear if anything else was being said between his grandmother and his mother. He heard his grandmother tell his mother to move out and he heard everything else after that. So he already knew and he and his mother would be moving out, which Gavin felt content with. He hated living with his grandmother and he truly believed life would be better if he didn't have to grovel at the feet of his grandmother every day anymore. It would just be him and his mother from now on. Feeling like his future was certainly opening up for him, Gavin walked back to his bed, clad in an oversized white t-shirt and black nylon shorts, and fell asleep without any problem.

Chapter Fourteen

Ryan spent his entire Wednesday at school thinking about Gavin. He replayed the events from the evening before over and over in his mind. Of course, nothing much had taken place, but he just enjoyed Gavin's company all evening; playing Banjo and Kazooie, talking back and forth getting to know each other, taking in the sight of the cute boy for as long as he possibly could... It was such a lovely evening. He found himself eager for Saturday to arrive; when he'd have the entire day to spend with Gavin. He hoped that Gavin thought highly enough of him as well. Ryan had strived all evening long yesterday to establish a good reputation with Gavin, and he desperately hoped it worked. Ryan knew he'd find out this weekend though. He couldn't wait.

When school ended, Ryan walked out into the parking lot with Davy and Jack, trying to avoid an encounter with Hillary. Since Monday, Hillary had been blabbing to the whole school that she and Ryan were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, and Ryan was already too bombarded with the congratulations of the entire popular ring at school, so he couldn't deny it now. Ryan knew Hillary and his friends' girlfriends were in the gym helping to prepare a little more for spring fling, which would be taking place Friday evening. He dreaded that dance with every fiber of his being. He would have to wear a penguin suit, buy his "girlfriend" and himself corsages, and then possibly have to have sex with her afterward. Every part of this event was definitely going to suck. Until then though, Ryan was enjoying his time away from Hillary and thinking nonstop about Gavin. After saying goodbye to his friends, Ryan climbed into his truck and drove home.

He arrived home to find Janice's car parked in his spot once again. If he wasn't trying to like Janice, he probably would've pitched a few curse words under his breath, but he was trying very hard to like Janice (mostly because Gavin would be around as long as Janice was around), so he just backed up and parked on the side of the curb once again. After parking his old truck, he wondered if maybe Janice had brought Gavin with her. He grabbed his backpack and quickly headed inside the house. He walked inside and saw his father and Janice sitting on the living room sofa speaking to one another, the looks on their faces telling that they were in the middle of an important conversation.

"Hey buddy," Jed said as Ryan walked in.

"Hey guys," Ryan said. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, sweetie," Janice said. "I'm just venting to your father is all."

"Okay," Ryan said. "Did you bring Gavin with you?"

"Uh, no," Janice said. "He's at home doing his homework right now actually."

"Oh, alright," Ryan said, disappointed that the boy wasn't there.

"I'm so glad you boys like each other, Ryan," Janice said. "You have no idea how relieving that it to your father and myself."

"Yeah, bud, it's really a great thing," Jed reinforced. "Umm, would you mind going out and mowing the backyard if you don't have anything going? Janice and I need to finish our conversation, okay?"

"Okay," Ryan said. "Sure, that's cool."

Ryan was rather saddened that Gavin wasn't there, but he understood why. Knowing his father and Janice wanted privacy to discuss whatever it was they wanted to discuss, he went to his bedroom and changed into an old pair of blue jeans and a sleeveless, white muscle shirt so he could mow the lawn. After he was changed, he slipped on a grass-stained pair of tennis shoes and an old baseball cap and headed out of the house through the back door. He pulled the lawnmower out of the shed, poured some fuel from the red gas container into the gas compartment, and began mowing the lawn; thoughts of Gavin flooding his mind the whole time. Mowing the backyard was no small task. For one, their backyard was huge in comparison to other normal backyards. Secondly, there were twenty-two trees in the backyard and Ryan had to mow around every tree carefully. Thirdly, the whole yard sloped up and down, so Ryan was usually either mowing uphill or downhill. Altogether, it took Ryan almost two hours to mow the backyard. When he was finished, he was absolutely exhausted. He pushed the lawnmower back into the shed and headed inside he house. Janice was no longer there and his father was lounging on his recliner watching the new episode of Everybody Loves Raymond.

"Janice already leave?" Ryan asked as he walked into the living room, sweat dripping from his hair and all over his body.

"Yeah, she had to get home," Jed said.

"Oh, is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah... everything's okay," Jed said. "Janice's mother is kicking her and Gavin out of the house though."

"Oh. Hmm. I didn't even know they lived with her mother."

"I thought I told you. Guess I didn't, huh?"

"Nope. Well, so I guess she's gonna get an apartment or something?"

"Well... that's what she's talking about anyway."

"Ah. Okay, well I'm gonna go take a shower now. I smell like something that just crawled out of the sewers."

"Yeah, I wasn't gonna say anything about that, but..."

"Shut up, old man!"

Jed laughed aloud as Ryan walked down the hallway to his bedroom. He glanced at the clock: 6:18 pm. As Ryan kicked his old tennis shoes off, he decided that he'd get dressed after his shower and walk over to visit with his "invisible friend" for awhile and let him know that he'd be gone on Saturday evening. Ryan stripped off his sweaty t-shirt and blue jeans and stuffed them into his hamper that set right inside his bathroom. He walked back into his bedroom, grabbed a pair of clean boxers from his underwear drawer, and went back into the bathroom to take his shower.

While in the shower, Ryan thought some more about Gavin: the boy's perfect little body, his gorgeous green eyes, his perfectly disheveled dark blond hair, his smooth-looking skin, his flawlessly beautiful legs... Ryan's wet penis began to rise to full attention as he stood under the stream of hot water. Just thinking about Gavin made Ryan very horny. He wrapped his hand around the shaft of his hard, wet cock and began stroking it back and forth, thinking about Gavin. He imagined that he was back in his bedroom sitting on the edge of the bed next to Gavin who was playing a game on the Nintendo 64. He imagined placing his hand on the boy's knee and glancing up to see Gavin staring at him with a bright smile draped across his cute face. Ryan stroked his cock a little harder as his imagination began to soar. He imagined that he began to run his hand under the leg of Gavin's small blue jean shorts, the feeling of Gavin's smooth skin against Ryan's fingers driving him crazy with lust. Ryan closed his eyes while fondling his own teenage boner. He hadn't experienced an orgasm since he had sex with Hillary several days before, so he knew it wouldn't take him long at all to climax, especially with the fantasies he was having. He imagined that he ran his fingers further up Gavin's blue jean shorts coming closer and closer to Gavin's...

Ryan's body began to convulse wildly as he stroked his dick roughly. His breaths became heavy and labored, sweat beginning to trickle down his face along with the water from his shower. All of a sudden, all of the muscles around his genitals tensed up, the familiar tingly sensation began to build up through his cock like magma traveling up towards the mouth of a volcano, and finally Ryan's sticky white cum spurted riotously from the tip of his dick. The feeling was so intense that Ryan just about lost his balance. Stroking his cock with his left hand, he used his right hand to lean over and prop himself up against the shower tile to help keep his balance as his orgasm continued. Within seconds, Ryan's vigorous orgasm ended, leaving Ryan breathless. His white cum had mostly landed on the floor of the shower and was now being carried towards the drain by the current of the shower water, but some of his thick cum landed on the shower wall in front of him and was beginning to slide down the tiled wall like sap traveling down the base of a tree. Ryan took a few deep breaths to regain himself. Once he felt rested up enough, he opened his eyes and noticed that his cum had landed on the tile of the shower wall. He wiped it all off the wall with his bare hand and placed his hand under the shower water, allowing it to fall off and float down the drain. With that, he began to wash his hair.

After Ryan had showered and dried his body and his hair, he put on a pair striped black and white boxer shorts, a pair of jean shorts, a form-fitting green t-shirt, white socks, and tennis shoes. He walked into the bathroom and squirted a little bit of moose in his thick, dark hair and began shaping his hair the way he liked it, which was typical of any other Backstreet-Boy-like teenager of the late 90's. Once he was ready, Ryan grabbed the black and red soccer ball, walked out, and told his dad that he was going for a walk. Once Jed was informed that Ryan was leaving, Ryan left the house and headed for the stone wall.

Chapter Fifteen

Gavin was clearing the table of all the dishes as his grandmother was arguing back and forth with his mom and Uncle Jason. Louie had joined the family for dinner, but he skipped out as soon as the fight between his mom, Uncle Jason, and Grandma commenced. Grandma had started harping on Janice and then she started in on Jason not too long thereafter. While the three of them were standing in the living room yelling at each other intensely, as if comparing who could yell the loudest, Gavin stayed clear of the argument while cleaning the kitchen as he usually did. He listened to the loud conversation as he stood at the sink washing the dishes.

"It's because of your fucking uptight prudery that I'm a faggot now, Mother!!" Jason screamed out. "You never let me so much as look at a girl or you'd pull the leather strap out on my ass!"

"Don't you dare speak to me that way, Jason!" Grandma yelled. "You may be twenty-eight years old, but you're still living under my roof, you ingrate!"

"I can afford very bloody well to live on my own, Mother!" Jason said. "I've stayed here because I thought you needed company after Dad died! Had I known you were still the same cold-hearted bitch you were through my whole childhood, I would've just left well enough alone!"

"Fine, fine! You two wanna live in sin, do what you want to," Grandma said. "Jason, I want you out of my house by the end of the month as well! You and your sister are nothing but a couple of ungrateful brats, so neither of you deserve what I do for you!"

"That's fine by me!" Jason said.

"Oh that's just great, Mother!" Janice yelled out. "Lose both of your kids because you can't control your tongue! That's just perfect!"

"I've heard enough from the both of you!" Grandma said. "Gavin!"

Gavin's eyes widened after hearing his grandmother call his name. He looked up at his grandmother, waiting for her to tell him whatever it was she wanted to tell him.

"You tell your mother how angry you were that she was always shopping or going out with her boyfriends," Grandma nearly demanded of him.

"Leave Gavin out of this, Mother!" Janice said.

"He's just a boy, Mom!" Jason remarked.

"Shut up, both of you!" Grandma demanded. "Gavin, tell her!"

"Umm... I-I..." Gavin started.

"Gavin, sweetheart, don't worry about it," Janice said. "In fact, leave those dishes alone. I'll get them in a bit. You go on; go outside and play."

"He's fulfilling his chore of cleaning the kitchen, young lady," Grandma said. "I don't appreciate you overruling my authority. Gavin, finish cleaning the kitchen!"

Gavin just stood still and quiet, looking back and forth between his grandmother and his mother, who were both staring at him.

"Umm..." Gavin started and then cleared his throat nervously.

"Leave him alone, guys," Jason said.

"Go on outside, baby," Janice said.

Gavin felt his grandmother's cold stare bore into him as he made his way to the back door, obeying his mother's orders instead of his grandmother's. Uncle Jason ran his hand through the boy's hair lovingly as Gavin passed him on his way to the back door. As soon as Gavin walked into the backyard, shutting the backdoor behind him, the yelling started up again between the adults. Gavin realized he forgot to bring a book and rolled his eyes in frustration. Chances were that he would be hanging around outside for a while waiting for the argument between the adults to cease.

The evenings were beginning to stay warm now that the summer season was approaching. The leaves of the trees in the huge forest were growing thicker and greener than ever. The sun was beginning its daily descent already. Gavin really loved this time of year. The boring, white snow had finally vanished from the grounds, the cold weather had finally revolutionized into warmer weather, the vibrant colors of summer were being revealed, strictly at mother nature's time and no one else's mind you, but this time of year was always very enjoyable.

Gavin walked over and sat next to the pool. He pulled his white socks off and tossed them onto the poolside table behind him that set between two of the reclining lawn chairs. With that, Gavin slowly lowered his feet towards the fresh water. He let his toes hit the water first; the initial chill of the water almost too cold to stand. Gavin finally let his feet fall into the water, just to get the shock over with. He gasped for air after the astonishment of the cold water against his skin. The water level came up to about mid-shin on Gavin's legs and it took him about thirty seconds to get used to the water. He realized it was still way too cold outside to even think about swimming just yet, but he could at least wade his feet in the water now. He sat next to the pool wondering where he and his mother would go once it was time for them to move out. His grandmother had given them – actually, just his mother – a time limit of one month to leave. Gavin had no doubt that now that his grandmother was kicking Uncle Jason out as well that he and Gavin's mother would find a place together where they could all live. Gavin was just happy that his mother promised to stick around again; that she wouldn't go off shopping all the time anymore. A few minutes passed with Gavin just relaxing by the pool, his feet dangling in the cold water. He could vaguely hear the irritating sounds of the adults arguing inside the house, but he tried to ignore those sounds and focus on the gentle sounds of nature: the evening birds singing, the wind breezing through the myriad of green-leafed trees behind the stone wall, and the sound of his feet swishing in the refreshing pool water. All of a sudden, he heard the unambiguous crash of a bouncy ball hitting the ground with a hollow thud. He looked over his shoulder and there was the familiar black and red soccer ball coming to a halt after bouncing through the yard. Gavin glanced over his other shoulder to make sure none of the adults were watching him. When he was sure no one was looking, he stood up and dried his feet with a stray towel that was laying on one of the lawn chairs. After that, he walked into the grass, grabbed the soccer ball, and tossed it over the wall. He walked behind the shed in the far corner of the backyard and sat in his normal spot on the blanket, leaning his back up against the wall of the shed.

"Hey," Gavin said to the "stonewall guy."

"How're you doing, buddy?" Ryan asked to his "invisible friend."

"I'm doing okay," Gavin said. "Just hanging out while my mom's arguing with my grandmother. Like you say sometimes, the shit's about to blow through the fan."

"That's `the shit's about to hit the fan,'" Ryan corrected the boy, realizing that this boy's voice sounded all too familiar, which was exactly what he was thinking the evening before when Gavin and Janice came over for dinner.

"Excuse me. I stand corrected," Gavin said.

As they spoke to each other, Gavin thought also about the voice of the "stonewall guy." His voice was so proverbial. Gavin was sure he had heard this older boy's voice before and not just from the other side of the wall. Suddenly, Gavin remembered thinking that exact same thing the evening before while he was playing video games in Ryan's bedroom.

"So... what's going on with your mom and grandmother, if you don't mind me asking?" Ryan asked, trying to receive as much information as possible that would answer the question once and for all of who the boy was on the other side of the wall.

"Oh, you know how I was complaining about my mom's bad habit of shopping all the time?" Gavin recapped. "Well, my mom's actually been home the last two days and she promised me that she'd be around more, finally. My grandma got all hissy last night because my mom and me came home past my usual bedtime. Grandma and Mom got into this big fight and my grandma told my mom that me and her have to move out of the house by the end of the month. So I'll be moving."

"Ah man, that sucks!" Ryan said, his heart pounding harder as he began to realize who he was talking to. The voice, the familiar scenarios, the same family situation; this could not possibly be some enormous coincidence. Surely not. But Ryan wanted to be sure.

"Yeah, I know," Gavin said. "But at least we still have a month."

"Ga-umm... uhhh... where did you go last night anyway that caused you and your mom to get home so late?"

"Oh, she took me to her boyfriend's house for dinner so I could meet his son," Gavin explained. "He's really cool. He let me play on his N64 all night."

Ryan's eyes widened in disbelief. This was, in fact, Gavin whom he was speaking with. Gavin, that sweet, gorgeous boy, was sitting on the other side of the wall talking to him. This was the same boy Ryan had been talking to for months now! And his father was dating Gavin's mother! Gavin is the "invisible friend!" Ryan placed his hand over his forehead, utterly baffled by this turn of events. He knew that angelic voice sounded all too familiar. He knew it the night before when he was sitting within inches away from the boy, but he hadn't quite connected the dots until this evening.

Ryan cleared his throat before speaking, trying not to give away that he now officially knew who Gavin was.

"Eh-hmm... so, he was pretty cool, huh?" Ryan asked, wanting to know what Gavin really thought about him.

"Oh he's the best!" Gavin said. "He's really nice, he told me I could borrow his games anytime I wanted, he showed me how to play Banjo and Kazooie – have you ever played that game before?"

"Me? No. No. I've never played it before," Ryan lied.

"You should, because it's pretty awesome. The chicken on there is hilarious."

"Sounds like it. So this boy said you could borrow his games, huh?"

"Oh yeah! He was really cool. That reminds me. This Saturday, my mom and me are going with him and my mom's boyfriend to Canobie Lake Park, so I won't be here to talk that evening. But I'll be here Sunday as far as I know."

"Man, Canobie Lake Park is fun. You looking forward to being with that kid all day?"

"I can't wait! It's gonna be awesome! I had so much fun with him last night, so I'm sure we'll have lots of fun on Saturday. Only..."

"Only what?" Ryan asked, almost fearful of Gavin's sudden, doubtful tone of voice.

"I'm just not sure if he liked me all that much, you know? I mean, he's a lot older than me and he was probably nice to me just because his dad told him to. I dunno. I liked him a lot. I just hope he likes me that much is all."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he does, man," Ryan assured the boy. "I mean, why would he tell you you can borrow his games if he didn't like you? Maybe he liked you a lot and that's why he was nice to you. Not because his dad told him to be. Hell, if my dad brought his girlfriend's kids over, I wouldn't let them borrow my games all willy-nilly just because. I'd have to be a classic dumb ass to do that if I didn't like them, right?"

"Well, I guess you're right, but this guy is a jock at his school though," Gavin said, implying that Ryan was a dumb ass just because he was jock.

Ryan's eyebrows furrowed at the comment. Ryan figured he got what he asked for, considering he really wanted to know what Gavin honestly thought about him.

"Hey! Now, what if I'm a jock?" Ryan asked tersely.

"Are you? A jock, I mean?" Gavin asked simply.

"Well what if I am? Does that mean I'm a dumb ass?"

"Not necessarily. Some jocks can be smart. But, I dunno. This guy was cool and all, but he didn't seem like he was the sharpest tool in the shed, you know what I mean?"

Ryan's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in amazement, wondering how Gavin could speak of him that way.

"Hello, Ryan," Gavin finally said, revealing he knew exactly who Ryan was.

Ryan snapped into reality suddenly, his eyes widened even wider if possible. He placed his hand against the side of his face, bewildered that Gavin had pieced all of this together without showing even a little bit of shock in his voice that would give it away.

"Shit!!" Ryan mouthed to himself silently, realizing he had been caught already.

Chapter Sixteen

Hillary was bound and determined to see Ryan tonight, whatever the cost. She had never been to Ryan's house before, because she had never actually been invited, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. She drove up in front of Ryan's house in her Camry and parked the car next to the curb. She noticed Ryan's old truck perched in the driveway. He was home! Hillary had a sneaking suspicion that Ryan had been ignoring her at school today for some odd reason, and she needed to know why. After parking her car, she stumbled out of the car and made her way to the front door. She knocked on the door several times and within seconds, the door opened. On the other side of the threshold stood an older version of Ryan; seemingly a mirror image of Ryan's thirty-second year. Hillary assumed the man was Ryan's father whom she had never met.

"Well, hello there, little lady," the man said nicely. "What can I do you for?"

"I-I'm looking for Ryan," Hillary said. "Is he here?"

"He's on a walk right now I believe," the man said. "The name's Jed."

Jed stuck his hand out for Hillary to shake. Hillary obliged and shook the man's hand.

"Hillary," the girl said as she gently shook the man's hand. "Hillary Finney. I'm Ryan's girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend," Jed repeated, positive that Ryan had not mentioned this to him. He decided to play along, knowing how mad this girl would be if she found out Ryan hadn't even mentioned her to his own father. "Well, well, well. So you're Ryan's girlfriend. He's... he's talked a lot of fine things about you."

"Oh, has he?" Hillary said, intrigued.

"Yes, many fine, fine things, my darling Hillary," Jed said. "He just failed to mention how very gorgeous you are though."

"Hmm, well I can certainly see where Ryan picks up his charm," Hillary said flirtatiously. "He's like a clone of you, almost. Just younger is all. Not that I think you're old or anything, but like you know what I mean, like he's like your son and everything and he looks a lot like you. Any idea when Ryan'll be back?"

"I'm not too sure, actually," Jed said. "He goes on walks all the time, but he never gets back home at the same time."

"Oh, well, where does he go?" Hillary asked.

"That I'm also not entirely sure about," Jed said.

Hillary took a deep breath, frustrated that her boyfriend didn't seem to want anything to do with her. Sensing how irritated the girl was becoming, Jed decided that he needed to do something...anything.

"B-But you're more than welcome to hang out here until he gets back, of course. I'm sure he'll be back soon enough," Jed said.

"Thank you," Hillary said. "I'd appreciate that."

Jed opened the door widely and Hillary entered the house. Once she was inside, Jed shut the door behind him. Hillary sat down awkwardly on the sofa in the living room and Jed offered her a glass of iced tea, which she declined. Jed sat down on his recliner and made the mistake of asking Hillary how long she and Ryan had been together. She began to explain her relationship with Ryan, deliberately omitting the sexual parts, obviously. But everything else about her relationship with Ryan she talked about with Jed. She talked and talked and talked...

Chapter Seventeen

"Well, why did you lead me on like that?" Ryan asked Gavin from the other side of the stone wall.

"I figured it out while you were asking all those questions, so I had to mess with your head," Gavin said.

"Yeah? And how did you know I had already figured it out?" Ryan asked.

"Why would you ask me so many questions otherwise?" Gavin asked rhetorically. "I knew it was you. Your voice sounded too familiar. So if you didn't have it figured out by then, then I would've told you."

"Well..." Ryan said and then cleared his throat.

Ryan couldn't believe how all of this happened. Ryan and Gavin had been talking to each other from opposite sides of the stone wall for a better part of a year now. They had started talking to each other months before his dad and Gavin's mother ever started dating, which Ryan found to be just bizarre. Shiloh Creek was a relatively small town, but there were, after all, still over seven thousand people living in this town, so what were the odds of this happening?

"This is so weird," Gavin said. "I can't believe we just met last night, but we've technically known each other for almost a year."

"I was just thinking that myself," Ryan said. "I mean, a town the size of Shiloh Creek? It just... blows my mind really."

"Same here," Gavin replied. "Well, Ryan, now that we know each other's `secret identities,' I'm not too sure what to say."

"Yeah. Me neither. I can't get over that our parents are dating. And that Janice's son is the one I've been talking to this whole time. You're the `invisible friend.'"

"And you're the `stonewall guy.' Well, I never thought this would happen. I always thought we would meet face to face someday, but I had no clue that we already did."

"Yeah. So do you really think I'm a dumb ass jock?"

"No. Do you think I'm a dork?"

"I never said you were a dork."

"Yeah, but a lot of people at school call me a dork just because I read a lot. Do you think I'm a dork?"

"Of course not. I mean, from what I know of you, you're way smarter at eleven years old than I was. When I was your age, I still found it entertaining to play with bugs."

"You played with bugs?"

"My friends and me used to capture doodle-bugs, crickets, grasshoppers, and ladybugs and we'd see how many bugs we could stick in one jar."

"And how'd that work out for you?"

"Well, we learned that if you pile too many bugs in one jar, they'll start to kill each other off. A bloody massacre it was."

"Who won?"

"Usually the ladybugs, actually."

Gavin's eyes widened as he considered this notion.

"Anyway, Gavin, you just seem to be really smart for your age," Ryan continued. "Not dorky smart, but just sharp smart."

"Well, I don't think you're a dumb jock, Ryan. I meant what I said before though about thinking you were really cool and all? I meant that."

"It's a gift, what can I say?" Ryan said. "Thanks though. I just wanted you to have a good time last night."

"It was a lot of fun, really," Gavin said. "Banjo and Kazooie is a funny game."

"I'm glad you had fun. Man, Saturday's gonna rock! Canobie Park? It's gonna be a blast. Have you been there before?"

"Not since I was really little. I don't remember it all that much."

"Well, you're gonna have a great time. Stick with me, kid, and I'll show you a great time."

Gavin almost laughed at that last comment. He wasn't sure where he had heard a comment like that before, but he was sure he had at some point. Gavin crawled over and glanced around from the corner of the shed to see if his mom, grandmother and uncle were still fighting. Sure enough, they were. They were still standing in the living room arguing just as they were before. Gavin crawled back to his spot and leaned his back up against the shed. Noticing that he had dirt under his fingernails, he started picking at them trying to get rid of the dirt. Gavin was one of the few boys his age who actually strived to stay clean.

"So now that we know who each other is, we can start to hang out face to face instead of on opposite sides of this damn wall, don't you think?" Ryan suggested.

"Sure," Gavin said. "You really wanna hang out with me?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

"I dunno. Just figured you, being like a popular jock and all, would be too busy hanging out with other popular kids to hang out with me is all."

"You know, Gavin, I'm really not all that popular at school. I mean, I guess I am technically, but I never asked to be. It just kinda happened. Besides, why would I come all the way over here every week to talk to you if I was too busy hanging out with other popular kids all the time?"

"I guess that's true. Well, I just don't want you to feel like you have to hang out with me or anything just because our parents are dating."

"God, that's so weird to think about – our parents dating. But it really has nothing to do with that, Gavin. I've gotten to know you over the past year and I think we have a lot in common, regardless of the age difference."

"I'll be twelve soon. So we won't seem so far apart in age."

"Doesn't make a difference to me. You're a cool kid, so I think we'd have a lot of fun hanging out together and stuff."

Gavin smiled brightly, pondering the idea of he and Ryan hanging out together, and face to face as well. A silence overtook both boys, which made them both feel a little awkward. The sudden silence was too overwhelming for Ryan, so he had to speak up.

"You still with me, Gavin?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah! Yeah. Just thinking is all," Gavin said.

"About what?" Ryan asked curiously.

"Well, even though I'll be moving and whatever, this means you and me will still be able to hang out," Gavin said. "Actually, we'll probably hang out a lot more since I won't have my grandmother on my butt all the time."

"Plus, our parents are lovers now," Ryan said in a silly tone of voice.

"Lovers?" Gavin said mockingly.

"Shut up," Ryan said. "It's healthy to come up with creative terms."

"Well, if that means I have to refer to my mom as a `lover,' color me unhealthy."

"Nice. Well, Gavin, I should probably get going. I'm sure your grandma'll be yelling for you to come in soon."

"Eh, she's busy yelling at Mom and my Uncle Jason. She told my Uncle Jason that he has to move out too."

"Damn! Your grandma's really going for the bitch of the year award, huh?"

"Sure seems like it. Well, I guess I'll see you Saturday?"

"Saturday it is," Ryan said. "Goodnight, Gavin."

"Goodnight, Ryan," Gavin said.

Ryan stood up from his spot and began to trek through the woods towards the hiking trails that led home. Gavin headed back inside the house where his mother, grandmother, and uncle were still arguing. Gavin snuck past the three adults and ran upstairs to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He looked at his watch and realized that it was already 9:08 in the evening. He had been outside talking to Ryan for at least five minutes over his curfew, and his grandmother didn't even yell at him from the backdoor as usual. In fact, she didn't seem to even notice him at all when he walked through the living room to go upstairs. Gavin relished in the sudden freedom. At this point, he felt like he could do just about anything and get away with it; maybe run through the house naked, or break one of his grandmother's vases with a golf club, or refill the sugar container with salt. Gavin was aware he was nowhere near that free, but having his grandmother ignore his curfew for the first time ever seemed like a very drastic occurrence.

Gavin thought about this for several minutes and finally decided he should just be a good boy and get ready for bed, just so his grandmother wouldn't have something else to pit against his mother. Gavin grabbed the black nylon shorts and old renaissance fair t-shirt he used as pajamas and a clean pair of white underwear out of his top drawer and quickly made his way across the hall to take a shower. Before turning on the water, he could still hear the adults downstairs arguing back and forth. They were no longer screaming and yelling; the argument was basically just a heated debate now. Gavin turned the faucet handle and the water began to gush out quickly, drowning out the sound of the arguments from downstairs. Gavin stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower once the water had completely warmed up.

After his shower, Gavin slipped into his pajamas and headed back to his bedroom. He lied down in his bed, feeling relaxed and clean in every inch of his body. Gavin loved the feeling of lying down in bed right after a nice, hot shower. The feeling of total cleanliness mixed with the fatigue of an entire day created a nearly euphoric sensation once he lied his head down on the fluffy pillow and felt the cold bed sheets against his warm skin. Once he settled into his bed, he grabbed his current book off the bedside table and began to read. A little while later, Gavin's eyes felt heavy as if bricks were weighting them down. His eyes began to shut involuntarily and Gavin shook his head forcefully, trying to push himself to stay awake so he could finish the chapter he was reading. Just as Gavin's eyes shut extendedly and he began to allow the book to fall over onto his stomach, his bedroom door opened. Gavin opened his eyes slightly to see who had walked in. His mother walked into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of Gavin's bed. Janice gently clutched the boy's hand into her own and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek sweetly.

"Hey sweetheart," Janice said. "You're so damn cute, you know that? I just wanted to kiss you goodnight and tuck you in before you went to sleep."

"Tuck me in?" Gavin said sleepily. "Mom, you don't tuck a boy my age in. You just kiss him goodnight and tell him how manly he looks."

"Oh, my apologies," Janice said with a chuckle as she gently cupped the boy's cheek in her hand. "Okay then. I'm just here to kiss you goodnight then. And yes, you're beginning to shape up to look like quite the little man; a handsome little man at that. I suppose you heard everything going on down there, huh?"

"I heard enough anyway," Gavin said honestly. "What are we going to do, Mom?"

"I dunno yet," Janice said. "But I don't want you to worry about anything, my sweet boy. I'll take care of everything, okay?"

Gavin nodded his head, acknowledging his mother's statement. Janice began to run her smooth fingers through the boy's darkening blond hair, the feeling sending chills down Gavin's spine. Janice watched as her little boy began to fall asleep. His eyes closed slowly, the deep forest green of his eyes disappearing from the sight of the night. She stared at his angelic face, admiring every feature from his dark pink lips to his effortlessly thick eyelashes. She noticed the boy's longish hair beginning to darken. She recalled the little boy with hair as gold as the sun, how vibrant it was. Now, his hair was making that transition from golden blond to brown, which was still very rich and beautiful, but Janice found herself a little dismayed at the fact that he was growing and his body was changing. She knew that here within several years or even possibly months, Gavin would begin puberty and his entire body would change continuously for years to come. She honestly did not look forward to that time. She was nowhere near ready to give up her little boy, but she knew she would have no say in the matter. Gavin's sweet breaths harmonized peacefully as he fell into a deeper sleep. Janice leaned over and kissed the boy on the cheek one more time, taking note of how smooth and soft the boy's skin was. She draped the covers over his body up to his neck, turned out the light on his bedside lamp, and made her way to the door. She quietly closed the door behind her when she made it into the hallway.

Chapter Eighteen

Not entirely ready to go home after his long chat with Gavin, Ryan walked around the park for a little while in the dark thinking about what had just occurred. He still could not grasp the fact that he had been talking to Gavin for so long now; that Gavin had been Ryan's "invisible friend" this whole time. But Ryan was very content with the outcome of the whole ordeal. There was something about Gavin that intrigued Ryan in a way that he did not quite understand. He had feelings for Gavin that he really should have had for someone like Hillary, or just a girl in general. These feelings he had for Gavin were not ordinary, and they certainly would not be accepted in this current society. The feelings Ryan had for Gavin were not only confusingly affectionate, but they were also sexual. Gavin had been the object of Ryan's previous masturbation fantasy, and Ryan had blown his load quicker and more intensely than normal. Ryan was confused about these feelings. He wasn't sure how long he had had them and he certainly didn't understand where they came from; all he knew was that he had those feelings and he had them specifically for Gavin. He couldn't recall being attracted to another boy that age before; at least, not since he was that age himself. He had always been attracted to people his own age before, but his attraction to Gavin – a boy four and a half years younger than Ryan – was a totally new venue. Ryan had struggled with his homosexuality since he was Gavin's age, if not younger. He wasn't sure if he was prepared to come to terms with being a pedophile though. Did having an attraction to a kid four years younger than him make him a pedophile necessarily though? After all, there were countless married couples out there who were ten to twenty years apart in age and no one thinks anything about that.

Ryan decided not to think about it any longer. He knew he would just end up angering himself if he thought about it too much. Ryan took note of his surroundings. The forest looked different during the night; creepier. The wind gushed through the forest, the trees appearing to whisper secrets to each other. The half moon shown brightly overhead, lighting up the forest with it's brilliancy. Ryan could see hundreds of twinkling planets above the heads of the sleepy, whispering giants, assisting the moon in illuminating the earth. During the day, the forest was green, luscious and beautiful, but during the night, the forest was a deep green that seemed almost as dark as evil. During the day, cute woodland creatures such as bunnies and squirrels inhabited the forest, adding peaceful enchantment to already beautiful green world. But during the night, it seemed as if unspeakable creatures of darkness lurked in the shadows, awaiting the moment in which to attack a helpless prey, such as the innocent sleeping woodland creatures or a lone teenage boy. Ryan could hear the familiar sounds of owls hooting and untamed wolves howling in the distance. Ryan stuck close to the hiking trail, realizing that this was not a safe place to be at night. A few minutes later, he finally exited the woods and ended up next to the large soccer field. Ryan glanced up and noticed something standing in the middle of the soccer field; something large with horns. In the bright white light of the half moon stood a huge male deer, his wide antlers showing for all they were worth. The horned deer was wild, feral and beautiful, a king among many in the forest. Ryan stood completely still, cautious of scaring the beautiful deer away. The deer stared Ryan in the eyes, not with fear, but with an undeniable poise that Ryan himself could not even claim. This deer was afraid of nothing. Finally, the deer began to walk away towards his forest, leaving Ryan alone. The deer had completed his mission, making sure everything was right with his world of whispering giants and invisible shadow creatures. Ryan watched as the deer made his way towards the trees and into the shadows. Ryan suddenly felt very secure, as if the king deer had passed on to him a spell of confidence and sanctuary. With that, Ryan began to journey past the soccer field and past the playground into his neighborhood. Before leaving the park, Ryan glanced back at the large forest. No matter how scary or intimidating the forest seemed, Ryan couldn't refute the feeling of absolute freedom he had while journeying through it.

When Ryan arrived at his house, he saw Hillary's car perched in front of the house. Ryan seriously considered climbing into his truck and leaving, but then he realized his keys were still sitting on his dresser in his bedroom. There was really no way around this. He wasn't sure how long she had been there or why she was even there at all, but he knew he couldn't avoid her forever. She would keep coming back for him, like a helpless stray cat who always manages to find its way back into your backyard no matter how many times you scare it away. Ryan took a few deep breaths before walking into the house. He opened the door and there was his father sitting on his recliner, his eyes drooping with boredom and his face exerting a completely frustrated expression, listening to the continuous rambling of Hillary's unclosing mouth. Hillary was sitting on the sofa, having obviously been talking Jed's ears off for a while now. When she saw Ryan walk into the house, she leaped from the couch and ran over to Ryan and wrapped her small arms around the boy's body.

"Where've you been? I missed you," Hillary said.

"Just out on a walk," Ryan said. "What're you doing here?"

"I didn't see you today at school," Hillary said. "I talked to Davy and he said you were busy today and stuff."

Ryan broke away from the hug as quickly as he could.

"Hey Dad," Ryan said, staring at him with an apologetic expression that Hillary couldn't see from behind him.

"Mmm-hmm..." Jed groaned simply.

"Ryan, can I talk to you outside for a minute please?" Hillary asked.

Ryan turned to face her. He knew by the expression on her face what she wanted. She was simply here for sex. She was going to start by telling him how disappointed she was that he wasn't as proud of their relationship as she seemed to be and then she would try to lure him into her car for sex once again.

"Sure," Ryan agreed reluctantly.

With that, Ryan and Hillary stepped outside onto the front porch and Ryan closed the front door behind them. Hillary sat down on the porch swing, making sure to leave plenty of room for Ryan to sit down next to her. Feeling as obligated as physically possible, Ryan walked over and sat next to his girlfriend, wishing he wasn't forced to call her that. He was very sick of this. For months now, Hillary had been latching onto him like a small fish on the belly of a shark. Ryan had tried breaking up with her several times, although they had never officially been together. Even now, Hillary was the only one of the two announcing that they were a couple. Ryan never said any such thing, not even to Davy and Jack.

"Ryan, is there something wrong?" Hillary started. "Because if there's something wrong, you need to tell me so we can work it out. I mean, like we're a couple now and shouldn't avoid each other and like not talk to each other. That's not healthy for such a strong relationship like ours you know? So is there something wrong?"

"Well, I..." Ryan started, but was interrupted as usual.

"I mean, like surely there's nothing wrong already. I know you were probably just like busy and whatever, which is cool. I know you love me and you would never do anything to hurt me. But if you feel that something is wrong, then feel free to tell me because I wouldn't want to like shut you out or anything."

"Okay, well..." Ryan started.

"Well, is there something wrong Ryan? I mean, like if something's wrong, you need to tell me so we can fix it. The whole school thinks we're such a cute couple and we really are. So whatever the problem is, we need to fix it. Don't you think?"

Ryan stayed quiet. He was sure he would be interrupted once again if he said anything at all, so he stayed quiet, hoping they could just jump into the sex and get it over with while the night was still relatively young.

"So you have nothing to say?" Hillary asked.

Ryan considered this quickly. Maybe this was his chance to end this with Hillary once and for all. He was so tired of having to pretend that he liked her. He was so tired of living this fake life that he hated anyway. Ryan decided to go for it since she had officially given him the floor to speak. At this point, he didn't care what he said to her. He was so exhausted of Hillary that he would probably say anything to get rid of her for good.

"I wanna break up," Ryan said simply.

"What? No you don't Ryan," Hillary said simply. "I know we have our problems sometimes, but breaking up isn't the answer. For a couple that loves each other like we do, we should be able to work together to get..."

"I don't love you, Hillary!" Ryan yelled out.

At this point, Hillary stopped talking. Her eyes widened and she fell silent for once, an expression of total anger draped across her face.

"Listen to me, for once," Ryan said. "I don't love you. I never loved you. I never wanted to go out with you. I avoided you today and all those other days before, because I don't like being around you. It's over, Hillary. It's done."

Hillary sat quietly, that same angry look on her face. Ryan saw the look in her eyes, the way she sat perched as if ready to attack him. And then all of a sudden, she started to let him have it. She said things that even made Ryan cringe.

Chapter Nineteen

Jed stood with his ear pressed up against the front door, listening to Hillary have it out with Ryan. She was yelling and screaming at him to the top of her lungs and she apparently wasn't letting up on him either. Jed realized that the cops would probably be called by the neighbors at some point, but he was really sort of enjoying this. He had spent a better part of three hours having to listen to that girl ramble on and on and on, so he enjoyed the fact that Ryan had broken up with her, meaning Jed would never be forced to listen to that girl speak again. And he also enjoyed the fact that Ryan was getting chewed out verbally by this girl. Jed figured that would suffice as a punishment for making him stick around and listen to that girl talk forever while Ryan was off gallivanting around.

After about twenty minutes of yelling at Ryan, Hillary finally left and sped off in her car, mad as a bull who had just seen a red cape. Jed quickly jogged back to his chair, leaped into the seat, and picked up the remote control acting as if he had been watching TV the whole time. Ryan walked into the house and shut the door behind him. Ryan walked over in front of Jed. Ryan pointed at his left eye and Jed noticed the beginning of a shiner starting around his eye.

"Shit," Jed said. "What'd she do to you?"

"I broke up with her, so she yelled at me and then punched me in the eye."

"You didn't hit her back, did you?" Jed said.

"Of course not," Ryan said.

"Good boy. No matter how much a bitch a girl might be, you don't hit them. And besides, at least you have a souvenir to show the other guys who are thinking about hitting Hillary up once they find out you guys broke up. Just tell them `Don't break up with her. She'll do this (Jed pointed to his own left eye) to you if you do.'"

Ryan chuckled.

"Well, I guess this means I won't have to deal with her anymore."

"How come you didn't tell me about her though?"

"Didn't think it was worth telling. She's been following me around for months and getting rid of her has been pretty much impossible."

"Mmm-hmm, tell me about it," Jed said. "I've spent a while now trying to get her to leave, but she never would. So, no offense, but I think that shiner's a bit justified."

"Sorry. She's kinda like a suction cup. You have to pull her off physically to make her go away."

"Well, son, as fun as this evening's been, I'm gonna hit the bed now. I'm tired."

"Alright. Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, buddy."

With that, Jed got up from his chair and headed down the hallway to his bedroom, leaving the door open as he always did. Ryan turned off the TV, shut off all of the lights, and headed to his own bedroom for the night.

Chapter Twenty

The next evening, Janice and Gavin came over for dinner at Jed and Ryan's house once again. Janice and Jed figured that would be okay with both boys since they had gotten along so well the other night. Ryan was especially excited to have Gavin over again. Although it had only been a day since they spoke, he missed the boy terribly. Seeing Gavin again though almost made Ryan feel weak at the knees. Gavin showed up at the house wearing a sleeveless, gray muscle shirt that really accentuated his skinniness as opposed to his muscles and he also had on a pair of blue soccer shorts that were a little shorter than most boys wore their shorts anymore. Ryan thought he may explode at the sight of the short, cute boy dressed that way. Gavin noticed the serious purple shiner that covered the whole area around Ryan's left eye, but decided not to say anything about it. He ended up not having to though, because Janice asked him about it almost immediately and Ryan explained that his now ex-girlfriend went psycho on him and punched him when he decided to break it off with her. Once again, while waiting for dinner to be prepared by the parents, the boys were in Ryan's bedroom leaning up against the foot of the bed playing Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64. Ryan had chosen to play as Wario and Gavin chose to play as Toad. They were playing on war mode, each boy winning about the same number of times. They played hard against each other, each boy striving very hard to win and putting up a good fight. On this particular war level, their characters were driving around on top of a large skyscraper trying to bomb the other player or knock them off the side of the building.

"I almost gotcha!" Gavin said after missing Ryan with a green bombshell.

"Who taught you how to play?" Ryan taunted the boy. "You suck at this!"

"Oh yeah?"

Determined to beat Ryan now, Gavin ran through the rainbow-colored diamond and received three red bombshells from it, which, once released, would follow the other player around until it finally hit him. Gavin released the first red bomb and it hit Ryan, knocking his second balloon off. One more balloon to go. As soon as Ryan was revived, Gavin quickly released another red bomb, this time knocking Ryan off the building. Gavin had won.

"Yes!!" Gavin yelled out.

Gavin stood up and began to sway around wildly in a victory dance. Ryan laughed as he watched the boy dance, realizing that he had seriously loosened up since they met the other day. Ryan had never known Gavin to be this active; not even before they physically met and they were just talking to each other on opposite sides of the stone wall.

"Haha! I beat you, you sucker! Take that!" Gavin said.

"Alright, alright, good fight," Ryan said sticking out his hand towards the boy.

Gavin and Ryan gave each other a high-five and then Gavin sat back down beside the older boy.

"Hey, Ryan?" Gavin said.

"What's up, dude?" Ryan asked as he began to set up for another war game.

"Could you play Zelda for me?" Gavin asked in a boyish, persuading voice, as if knowing he could tell Ryan to do anything and he would do it.

"What, you don't want to play it?" Ryan asked.

"I wanna watch you play it," Gavin said.

"Oh. Okay then. I'll put it in."

Ryan turned the Mario Kart game off and replaced the cartridge with the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time cartridge. He loaded a new game to play and allowed the beginning to scene to run through, because Gavin said he had never seen it before. As Ryan began to play the game, Gavin started to move closer to the older boy. They had started off sitting about a foot and a half apart from each other, but Gavin began to move closer. At first, Ryan hadn't noticed this, but as he continued playing, he noticed a few minutes later that Gavin was sitting within a few inches away from him, there outstretched legs almost touching. Finally, Gavin was sitting so close to Ryan that the sides of their bodies were officially touching. After gaining a bit of courage, Gavin daringly rested his head against Ryan's upper arm. Ryan felt the boy's head resting on his arm and his heart began pounding harder than normal. He didn't want to seem overexcited about this, so he continued playing the game acting as if nothing was different.

"What're those things?" Gavin asked, referring to the monsters on the game that Ryan was fighting now.

"They're possessed flower plants," Ryan said. "They're annoying as hell, but you get a deku stick from them once you kill them. Sometimes you get deku nuts."

"Oh, that's cool," Gavin said.

Gavin became a bit more audacious as the time passed. After Ryan had defeated the boss inside the deku tree and was headed towards the castle to meet Princess Zelda, Gavin began to play with the little blond hairs on Ryan's arm; not pulling at them, but just running his fingers through them and twisting some strands around together.

"What're you doing?" Ryan asked.

"Sorry!" Gavin said, immediately ceasing to play with Ryan's arm hair. "I just... I, umm... I'm sorry."

"It's alright, dude," Ryan said with a chuckle. "I was just wondering what you found so fascinating about my hair arm."

"Your arm's not that hairy," Gavin said. "In fact, my grandma has more hair on her arms than you do."

Ryan's eyebrows furrowed.

"Thanks, I guess," Ryan said.

"Well, it's a good thing. Some guys who are old as you have a lot of arm hair. You have arm hair, but the hairs are small and blond...like little peach fuzz or something."

"You know a lot of hairy-armed guys, Gavin?"

"No. I'm just saying."

With that, Gavin began to play with the older boy's arm hair once again. While doing so, Gavin bent his legs and lifted his knees up closer to his torso, his feet propped flat on the ground and his legs spread apart. The legs of Gavin's blue soccer shorts slid down towards the boy's bottom because of the way he was sitting; a larger portion of Gavin's upper legs now exposed to Ryan. The older boy stared at the boy's perfect legs. His legs showed no sign of fat whatsoever, they showed absolutely no sign of hair above the knees, and there were only tiny – nearly invisible – blond hairs on Gavin's shins and just below the knees. The boy's legs weren't very tan, but they did have some slight brown coloring that was more than likely left over from the summer before.

"Comfy?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, I am," Gavin said with a grin.

"Good," Ryan replied as he continued playing the game. "You know, you have a little bit of hair on your knees."

"You can see them?"

"From here, yeah. The light from the TV is making them show up a little more."

"Well, at least they're not thick or anything."

"Yeah, you could be eleven and have long black hair covering your legs from your feet to your ass."

"Gross! Does that really happen?"

"Not to eleven year olds. Not to any eleven years old I know of anyway."

"When does it happen then?"

"It might not happen to you at all. You can't see because I'm wearing jeans, but I don't really have all that much hair on my legs. I have some on my shins and whatnot, but not much anyway."

"Do you have hair anywhere else?" Gavin asked curiously. "I know my Uncle Jason has hair all over his chest and a lot of hair on his legs and arms. What about you?"

"I don't have any hair on my chest yet, but I do have some around my belly button. Just a little trail is all."

"You have hair on your stomach? Really?"

"Yeah. A little bit. Not that much though," Ryan said, still playing the game.

"Can I see it?" Gavin asked.

Ryan paused the game and looked over at Gavin, the expression on his face one of astonishment and non-understanding. Gavin lifted his head from Ryan's arm and stared at his face, sure that he had pushed too far already. Now Ryan was going to hate him and make him stay out of his bedroom from now on.

"You wanna see my belly hair?" Ryan asked, a bit confused, but excited all at once.

"You don't have to," Gavin said, striving to cover his tracks. "I was just curious about what it looks like."

"Oh. Well, okay. I'll show you, but don't go blabbing to your mom or my dad about this, okay?"

"I wouldn't do that anyway."

"Alright then."

Without hesitation, Ryan lifted the bottom of his navy blue polo shirt, revealing his happy trail, which consisted of a small patch of dirty blond hair that circled the boy's belly button and traveled down in nearly a perfect straight line under the boy's pants. As Gavin observed the sight in front of him, he noticed that this trail of hair continued under the elastic waistband of Ryan's blue and green plaid boxer shorts. Gavin wondered how far down the trail of hair went. He considered asking Ryan, but held back for now. Instead, he boldly placed his bare hand on Ryan's stomach, feeling the hairs around Ryan's belly button gently tickle his fingers and the palm of his hand. Gavin glanced up at Ryan's handsome face and grinned, almost embarrassed at the event taking place. Feeling a little braver, Gavin slowly began to slide his hand down towards the waistband of Ryan's boxers. Ryan felt hot as he watched Gavin slide his hand closer and closer to the waistband of his underwear. He took a deep breath, knowing that whatever was happening between the two of them was not natural, but he accepted that it was happening anyway. Ryan had a boner that was ready to be released, but thankfully, it wasn't noticeable under his jeans. At least, Gavin didn't notice it anyway. Gavin was within centimeters from reaching the plaid waistband of Ryan's boxer shorts. Gavin had no idea what he was doing or why he was doing it. It was as if something foreign had taken over his body and was now controlling what he did without the consent of Gavin's right mind. Gavin reached the plaid waistband and began to fiddle with the elastic, rubbing the material between two of his fingers. Gavin looked over and stared into Ryan's eyes, as if waiting for permission from the older boy. Ryan just nodded at the boy and smiled, so Gavin figured that was permission enough. He stopped playing with the elastic and placed his fingers right above the waistband and just as Gavin was about to bravely slide his fingers under then elastic waistband...

"Boys!! It's time for dinner!!" called Janice from the kitchen.

All of a sudden, both boys jerked away from each other, automatically frightened that they had been caught. But they weren't. The parents were still in the kitchen and they were alone in Ryan's bedroom. Both boys were still seated on the floor, but they were now feet apart, both realizing that what had just happened was forbidden and unacceptable. They stared into each other's eyes, each boy waiting for the other to speak. Finally, Ryan stood up and readjusted his shirt so that his belly wasn't showing anymore. Ryan held out his hand and helped Gavin up to his feet. Once Gavin was standing, Gavin looked up into the eyes of Ryan, suddenly realizing how much taller Ryan was than him.

"It's probably best that we say nothing about this," Ryan said.

"Agreed," Gavin said simply.

Ryan stuck his hand out for Gavin to shake. Gavin obliged and shook the boy's hand formally; a personal non-written contract between the two boys never to utter a word about what had just happened. After the handshake, they walked out of the bedroom together and headed down the hallway towards the kitchen where the parents were already waiting for them at the table.

_____________________________________ END OF SECOND INSTALLMENT; CHAPTERS 11-20

NEXT: Third Installment; Chapters 21-30

Author's note I really appreciate the feedback I've recieved on this story so far. I certainly wasn't expecting it to become as noticed as it did. So anyway, comments and feedback are welcome. Unfortunately, the next chapters will not likely be submitted very quickly due to my hectic schedule. Writing is something I can only due during my spare time, which is kind of a luxury these days. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to have to the next one finished soon enough. Thanks!