The Chronicles of Trey

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Written by: Nicky Smith Edited by: JD Kaster

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE HOLIDAYS

Previously in The Chronicles of Trey

Alicia Lake returned and revealed that she had a kid and that Bear was the father. Bear then confessed to Trey that while he was in a coma during their senior year of high school, he had gotten drunk and slept with Alicia. They took a break and Trey eventually ended up going out with a guy named Jamal, who was a friend on one of Bear's teammates. It was on this date that Trey realized that he was still in love with and still wanted to be with Bear.

They got back together, but things took another turn as one of Bear's high school teammates showed up at school and ended up being related to one of his college teammates. As expected he told his cousin who questioned Bear's roommate Deacon about what he knew. They decided that Bear would come out to his team. Things went as smoothly as they could although there were two of his teammates who really didn't like learning about Bear. They were kicked off the team and decided to retaliate by getting some others who didn't like it and attacked Trey.

The aftermath leads to Trey and Drake reaching a sort of amicable coexistence. Bear isn't happy about it and Trey isn't sure how he feels about it but he's willing to try if it means that he doesn't have to live in a environment of hostility. Now, let's rejoin the story.

THANKSGIVING

TREY'S POV

"So, let's talk about you and Dale," I said to Miriam as we got on the highway on the way home for Thanksgiving. Bear was driving home by himself as he had to drop Deacon off somewhere before leaving.

"What about him?" she asked as she looked through her phone. I could see she was on Facebook.

"Are you two, still together," I asked. I noticed that she didn't even look up from her phone.

"Any particular reason why you're asking?" She asked while still not taking her eyes off her phone.

"Richie," I said, and at least I got a reaction in a subdued chuckle.

"Richie's a friend, and Dale and I... it's complicated," she said.

"You mean that you're seeing other people while at school and seeing each other when you're together," I said which finally made her look up from her phone.

"I guess it's not that complicated after all," she said as she looked at me.

"Miriam, you don't have to drag out the "it's complicated" line. I'm not judging you," I said as I felt I had no right to judge anyone.

"it's just that, Dale was my first boyfriend. I wanna see what's all out there before settling down with one guy," she said, and I understood.

"I get it," I said, and I did.

"Trey, I didn't mean anything about you and Bear," Miriam said about a minute later.

"Don't worry about it. I get what you're saying. Some people need to do some comparison shopping. I don't because I already know what I want," I said, fully confident that Bear was all I'd ever want. Maybe it was naïve, but I didn't care.

"I haven't slept with anybody but Dale," Miriam said in a bout of TMI.

"That's none of my business Miriam," I said while trying to get rid of the image of my sweet little Miriam being defiled by Dale Simmons.

"Oh please. You know we all know all of each other's business," she said with a smirk.

"Nuh-uh, that's all of Y'all," I said, well lied. I could be a bit nosy myself.

"Oh really? So, we're not having this very conversation because you wanted to be nosy?" She asked looking a bit smug.

"Touché," I said, and she laughed a bit.

We continued onward towards home. Miriam linked her phone to my truck's sound system and put on Adele. We listened to her and tried to sing her songs. Then she put on some Beyoncé, and we really had fun. We rolled into town singing "Drunk in Love" very loudly and way off key, but we didn't care.

I headed toward Miriam's place to drop her off. Of course, I couldn't just drop her off. I was invited in to have lunch with her mother and brothers. Miriam's brothers were all younger than her, and they acted like it. Her brother Harry was the oldest at 15, then Rex at 11, Tim was 9, and Ray was 7. They all behaved like they were 7 though.

By the time I left Miriam's house, I was grateful for my little brother and sisters. They weren't perfect, but they weren't as bad as Miriam's brothers. I almost didn't want to leave her there. I breathed a sigh of relief and headed home.

As I pulled up to the house I had spent most of my life in, I got a text from Bear telling me that he had just arrived at his house. I smiled at the timing. We really were a strange duo. I texted him back and told him the same. He sent back smiley face and winking face emojis. The sunshine and rainbows were threatening to overtake me at that moment, so I shook them off and headed inside.

"Anybody home?" I called out as I walked into the living room.

"Sweetie," Mama said as she came in from the family room. She pulled me into a tight hug. Once she let me go, I gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Where's everybody else?" I asked as I dropped my bag on the floor. Mama frowned at it and me for a second before she seemed to let it go.

"The kids are around here somewhere, and your father is somewhere with Dexter Mellow," Mama said before her eyes drifted back to my bag lying on the floor. I laughed at her but took mercy on her and picked it up.

"Give it back!" came a booming voice that sounded familiar. It was followed by a girl that looked like my sister running down the stairs being chased by a big ass man that looked like my "little" brother.

"Who the hell are they?" I asked. Logically, I knew it was Calvin and, as I looked closer, Cara, but they had grown so much in just a few months that I'd seen them that they looked almost grown. Well, Calvin did look fully grown. At 16, he had a light Beard and was at least as tall as Carter who was around 6'4. It seemed unnatural that he be taller than both of his older brothers, and not by just a little bit either.

"Boy, stop playing. You know who they are," Mama said before rolling her eyes.

"Mama, make him stop," Cara said as she hid behind Mama.

"Give it back now!" Calvin said as he tried to get past Mama to get to Cara.

"No," Cara said as she held what looked like a piece a paper behind her back.

"I'm gonna kill you," Calvin said as he tried to get past Mama again.

"Boy, how many times I gotta talk to you about that," Mama said after gently shoving him back.

"But Ma," Calvin pleaded.

"I don't wanna hear it," she said shutting him down before turning to Cara. "Hand it over," she said while holding out her hand. There was no room for argument with her tone, which Cara seemed to realize as she reluctantly handed over the piece of paper.

"Thanks, Ma," Calvin said, looking happier as he reached for the mysterious piece of paper.

"What is this?" Mama asked as she moved her hand to keep him from taking it.

"It's a love letter to Anika," Cara said teasingly, and if I do say so myself, a bit annoyingly.

"Shut up you little brat," Calvin said as he went for her again, only to be stopped by Mama again.

"A love letter you say," Mama said as she started unfolding the paper. It looked like she was just playing with Calvin though and wasn't really about to read it.

"Ma, you're not gonna read that, are you?" Calvin asked as he reached for the paper again only for Mama to hold it out of reach again.

"Why not?" She asked with a slight smirk.

"Wait, you wrote your girlfriend a love letter, in this day and age?" I asked, mostly because I hadn't seen any of my friends do anything like that.

"What was he supposed to do? Text it to her?" Mama asked as she continued holding the letter away from Calvin.

"Yeah," I said, and she rolled her eyes. She finally got tired of him and gave it to him.

"Thanks, Ma," he said before being very immature and sticking his tongue out at Cara.

"Dude, what have you been eating? You're huge," I said to Calvin as he came over to the couch after stuffing the letter in his too tight jeans. I didn't like that I could clearly tell how big my little brother's junk was.

"He's been eating every damned thing in my fridge is what he's been eating," Mama said as she glared at him. Cara snickered as she came over to sit in the chair next to where I was sitting on the couch.

"Stop exaggerating Ma," Calvin said from his seat next to me.

"I'm not exaggerating. I shouldn't have to go to the grocery store more now than when your brothers were living here," Mama said, but Calvin just rolled his eyes.

"I'm a growing boy Ma. I need fuel," Calvin said, but Mama rolled her eyes in return.

"Well, are you gonna stop growing any time soon?" I asked because I didn't like the fact that my little brother made me look like a shrimp.

"If you came home more often you wouldn't be so shocked by it," he said before he stood, looked at me, and then walked off toward the front door.

"What the hell was that?" I asked after I heard the front door close.

"I was surprised he waited that long," Mama said with a smirk.

"For what?" I asked because I didn't think I had any problems with him.

"He's pissed at you because you never come home, or call," Cara said, and my head snapped to her as my little sister wasn't supposed to be talking like that. Things had changed around my house while I'd been gone.

"Get your behind upstairs, little girl, and don't let me catch you talking like that again," Mama snapped at Cara, and I guess things hadn't changed.

"But Mama," Cara pleaded.

"Git girl," she said with a finger pointed towards the stairs. Cara waited for a second before she complied by dragging up the stairs.

"Don't you think you were a little hard on her?" I asked although I didn't really think it was that serious.

"No, because I needed her gone so I can be hard on you," she said as she stood her ground with her arms crossed. This couldn't be good.

"Me? What did I do? I don't even live here, well, not really," I said as I tried to think of what I could have possibly done that she could have found out about.

"Where's Bear?" She asked, and still, I had no clue.

"He's at home, why?" I asked as I tried to figure her out.

"I want you to get him here," she said in an ominous tone. It finally started to dawn on me what this was.

"Why?" I asked, suddenly feeling the need to protect Bear from her.

"Because I want to talk to him," she said with a creepy smile.

"Are you sure that's all you wanna do?" I asked as I looked at her warily.

"Of course. What else would I do?" She asked much too innocently.

"Nice try Mama, but I'm not about to bring my man to the slaughterhouse," I said, but she just chuckled.

"You can try to protect him all you want Trey, but I will get to him eventually," she said, and the threat was real.

"Get to him for what?" I asked because I was stupid.

"Are you stupid, boy? He broke my little boy's heart, and I will have my say to him," she said, and while I was touched that she was so protective of me, I still wanted the guy I loved in one piece. That wasn't a guaranteed thing from the look in her eyes.

"Mama, Bear and I are okay now," I said, but I could tell it didn't mean a thing to her.

"And I'm happy for you, but Bear and I are not okay. Not until I talk to him, face to face," she said, and really, I knew I didn't have a choice. That didn't mean I wouldn't try to get out of it though.

"Mama, that's really not necessary," I said, but I knew it was a foregone conclusion that it would happen from the glare she gave me.

"Make it happen Trey, and sooner rather than later. You don't want me to go to him," she said before turning away from me and heading into the kitchen.

She was serious, judging from the look in her eyes. I truly didn't expect her to want to have it out with Bear. I mean, I should have expected it. My dad probably had his own plans for Bear too. I didn't even want to think of my grandmothers. I knew my mother and she wasn't just gonna let this go, even with Thanksgiving just a few days away.

She wasn't lying when she said that if I didn't bring Bear to her that she'd go to him. I didn't think she'd even let a tiny thing like her friendship with Bear's mother stop her from going at him. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe they'd just have a tame talk. I had to think that as I decided to call my boyfriend and tell him that my mother wanted to see him.

BEAR'S POV

I wanted to take Trey home for Thanksgiving. I knew that Miriam would be along for the ride, but I didn't care. It just felt like we didn't have enough time together, even though we saw each other much more than we did during our first year in college. It just never seemed to be enough. It worried me at times that maybe I was obsessed with him, but maybe that's what love was.

Events didn't allow for me to take him home though as Deacon needed a ride to his cousin's place where he planned to leave for home. I also got the feeling that Trey didn't want me to take him home, or rather, he didn't wanna take me home.

I knew that I had to answer to his family for what I'd done, and I was ready to. I guess though that he wasn't ready. I almost went over to his house to surprise him, but I'd already seen him before we'd left, and I didn't want to look obsessed like I was sure that I was or like a stalker.

In the end, though I went home as I hadn't seen my parents since this whole Alicia thing came about. I'd had stilted conversations with them, but nothing truly substantial as I didn't want to get into what I'm sure my mother wanted to get into. It was one reason I didn't want to go home for Thanksgiving. I should have known though that I would be getting into it as I walked into the living room to see my mother there as if she was waiting for me.

"Hey Mom," I said as I walked in. She looked innocent, too innocent.

"Hey dear, how are you?" She asked with a pleasant tone and smile. I wasn't fooled for a second.

"Hello mother dear," I said in the same manner that she had spoken. That pleasant demeanor faded immediately.

"Get in here and sit down right now," she ordered. She briefly reminded me of Trey's mom and I wondered if they had practiced this.

"Huh," I said playing dumb.

"Sit Barry," she said, and I knew she was serious as it had been years since she'd called me by my proper name.

"Yes ma'am," I said meekly as I went to sit on the sofa across from her.

"Anything to say?" She asked, and I had to appreciate this approach.

"Not particularly," I said as I waited on her to let me know what she was thinking.

"Bear," she started, but I interrupted. I didn't last as long as I had hoped but the look in her eyes wasn't doing me any good.

"Look, mom, I know I was wrong. I'm sorry, and I told Trey this. After some time, he forgave me. Can't we just let this go?" I asked foolishly.

"No," she said simply.

"Why not?" I asked, against stupidly.

"Because this is about more than just your infidelity," she said as she looked at me with a calculating gaze.

"What else is there?" I asked even though I knew what it was probably about.

"Are you kidding? You have a child, Bear," she said, confirming my suspicions.

"Mom, I don't wanna talk about this," I said as I stood. I wanted to forget that Alicia's child even existed.

"Well tough, because we are going to talk about it. Now, sit back down," she said in her most fearsome motherly tone. I wasn't about to defy her, so I sat back down.

"What do you want me to say," I asked as I cursed Alicia's name.

"Alicia tells me that you haven't seen Prue yet," she said, and it was true. Aside from the pic she had sent me, I'd never seen the kid, and I wanted to keep it that way.

"Well, did Alicia also tell you that she almost ruined the most important thing in my life?" I asked with more anger than was warranted toward my mother.

"Right now, Prue should be the most important thing in your life," she said which pissed me off.

"So, I'm just supposed to disregard Trey's feelings about Alicia?" I asked while trying to keep my cool. I had a feeling that Alicia was playing on my mother's emotions.

"I said no such thing. What you need to realize though is that you are a father now and your daughter takes priority over everything else," she said, and while I knew she was kind of right, I was not about to let this situation cost me my relationship with Trey.

"Well, what about when Trey and I get married? You know, getting married, becoming one..." I said, mostly grasping at straws at this point.

"That's what they say for-," she started, and somehow, I knew what she was going to say. Maybe I'd wanted her to.

"For straight people?" I said, interrupting her.

"Nice try, but you aren't gonna distract from this conversation by starting something over the fact that I almost misspoke," she said, pegging me correctly.

"Look mom, I'll think about it, but I'm not gonna apologize for focusing on my relationship, which I almost lost over a child I didn't ask for by a woman who got me drunk and took advantage of me in a weak moment to get what she wanted," I said, and it finally looked like she was actually listening to me.

"Okay, just as long as you know that I plan to be a part of my granddaughter's life," she said, and I didn't have a problem with that.

"If that's what you want. I won't try and stop you," I said. I could see that she wanted to say more, but she did her best to restrain herself. It was an obvious struggle. I waited until I was sure she was done before I picked up my bag and headed for my room.

"Oh, your grandparents are coming for Thanksgiving," she said, interrupting my retreat, and I had a brief thought that I should have just stayed at school if this holiday was gonna be so shitty.

"Excuse me?" I said as I spun around so fast that it left me briefly busy. "I must have been hearing things because I thought you just said that your parents are coming for Thanksgiving," I said as I glared at her. The smirk that came on her face wasn't helping things in her favor.

"No, I never said that. I said your grandparents are coming. You have more than one set, you know," she said and had the nerve to look smug while doing so.

"Dad's parents are coming for Thanksgiving? Why did you say it so ominously?" I asked. I was relieved and pissed at the same time. Relieved that it was Dad's parents, and pissed that she made me think otherwise, and seemingly on purpose.

"Honestly, it tickled me. Also, I think you deserved it since you're being so stubborn about Prue," she said, and I was so pissed that I started to say things that one shouldn't say to one's mother so instead I headed toward's my room again, this time with her laughing at me as I went.

I got to my room and saw that it was just as I'd left it. I had no doubt though that my sister, and probably my mother too, had been through it to see if I had anything incriminating like they probably did every time I left for school. They wouldn't find anything though. That's what safety deposit boxes were for.

I dropped my bag onto my bed and fell back on it myself. I tried to clear my mind of the conversation that I'd had with my mother as I knew that it would start to plague me if I didn't. I didn't want to think about Alicia and her baby. I didn't want to think about the fact that I was essentially behaving like a deadbeat dad.

It wasn't my fault though. Alicia had caught me in a weak moment and gotten pregnant. Then she'd waited almost a year after the kid was born to tell me about her. I'd almost lost the most important thing in my life because of it, and I wasn't about to risk it again because Alicia wanted to manipulate me into a relationship with a baby that she schemed her way into.

I tried my best to stop thinking about it and got a reprieve when my cell rang. I knew that it was Trey from his ringtone and I couldn't stop the smile that appeared. He probably somehow knew that I needed a distraction. We were weird like that about each other and I didn't want to change that.

"Hello sexy," I said as I answered the phone.

"You need to get over here," he said, and my good mood instantly vanished.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I sat up quickly. I could tell by his tone that something was up.

"My mother wants to kill you, I mean talk to you," he said, and I wanted to laugh, but he wasn't.

"Huh?" I said because Trey's family loved me... until I cheated on him with Alicia.

"She wants to see you, right now, because, and I quote, "You don't want me to go to him"," he said, and I almost laughed at his tone as he quoted his mother.

"I guess I'd better head on over for the inquisition then," I joked. I didn't have a problem with his mother questioning me, as long as she didn't get on my ass about Alicia's kid like my mother had.

"You don't have to," he said, but I knew that wasn't true.

"No, I do. I don't want her coming for me," I said as kind of a joke, but I also knew that when it came to her children, Olivia Healey could be scary. I didn't want her to come to me.

"I'll be there to protect you," he said, and strangely, I felt safe. I know it probably sounded crazy that a guy as big as I needed his smaller in stature boyfriend to feel safe, but I did. I wasn't ashamed of it either.

"I'm on my way," I said before I ended the call. I got up and headed downstairs to see my mother sitting on the sofa I'd been sitting on looking at some papers.

"You're heading out already?" She asked as I passed her.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go over to Trey's for a bit," I said and expected some kind of retort like "didn't you just see him at school" or something. She just nodded and went back to her papers.

"Oh, Trey's family are gonna be here for Thanksgiving," she said as I started to walk off.

"Huh?" I said as I turned around.

"We figured that since they expected so many people, and since your father's parents are coming, that we'd do it here instead," she said, and I couldn't imagine Olivia Healey giving up her own kitchen for a holiday like Thanksgiving.

"Okay, and what did you have to give up to convince Trey's mom into coming over here?" I asked as I knew that Mrs. H loved her kitchen and loved to cook in it.

"I'm sure you'll find out," she said before she got up, got her papers and left the room. I was confused about that but decided to ignore it for the moment.

I headed out the door and got in my truck. I started the engine, and it dawned on me what my mother likely had to "give up" to get Trey's mother to agree to have Thanksgiving at our house. Mom had to agree to let Mrs. H. grill me about my infidelity. I shook my head at the level of scheming and plotting that women were capable of before I started up my truck and pulled away from my house.

TREY'S POV

After calling Bear and taking my bag to my room, I made a trip to the bathroom to take care of things, then I headed back downstairs. I went into the kitchen and saw Mama sitting at the table with some papers. She was probably going over what she planned to do for Thanksgiving as it was a big production for her. I was about to go and tease her before the doorbell rang.

I didn't think it was Bear that soon, but I couldn't exactly put it past him to rush right over, especially if he could see me. Mama looked up from her papers with an expectant look that told me that I was the one who was answering the door. I headed for the door and opened it to be assaulted, pleasantly of course, by my grandmothers.

"Come here sweetheart," Grandma Natalie said pulling me into a tight hug and gave me a loud smacking kiss on the cheek. When she was finished, she passed me off to Grandma Alice.

"You are so handsome," she said as she pinched both of my cheeks.

"Hi grandmas," I said when I was free from the friendly assault.

"Hey baby," Grandma Natalie said as she took her turn to pinch my cheeks.

"Let me get your bags," I said as I picked up their overnight bags.

"Okay sugar," Grandma Alice said before giving me a pat on my arm. She then followed Grandma Natalie into the house and I followed with their bags.

"Mama, the grandmas are here," I yelled to her.

"Boy, you know better than to be hollering in my house like that," Mama said as she came out of the kitchen with a glare aimed at me.

"Oh please, Olivia. Lighten up," Grandma Natalie said as she came to stand next to me.

"Alice, it's so nice to see you," Mama said as she purposely ignored her own mother.

"Hey honey," Grandma Alice said as she walked over to give Mama a hug.

"You know you were raised better than that girl," Grandma Natalie said as she glared at Mama with her hands on her hips.

"Hey Mama," Mama said in a fake happy tone with a fake smile to match.

"I should have sent you to a convent," Grandma Natalie said as she and Mama squared off in their weird passive-aggressive act.

"Then you wouldn't have any grandchildren," Mama countered and smirked when she saw that she had won. Once the act was over, she and her mother hugged for real.

"Now that that's over, let's get to the grocery store to get what we need to fix Thanksgiving dinner," Grandma Alice said. Mama was about to say something when the doorbell rang. I just knew it was Bear this time and after looking at me, Mama did too.

"Trey, don't you wanna get that?" Mama asked as she looked at me and then toward the door.

"Not really," I said even though I had no choice.

"Boy, get the door," Mama said with her arms crossed in that no-nonsense way. Resigned to my fate, I dragged to the door and opened it to find Bear standing there. Even though I'd just seen him a few hours before, I still had to kiss him, but he beat me to the punch and pulled me into a deep kiss.

"Damn, you taste good," he said as the kiss ended.

"You're not half bad yourself," I said with a grin that dynamite couldn't remove from my face. I really was a fool to think I could be without him.

"Are you gonna let me in?" He asked with a sexy smirk, and I considered not doing so.

"Come on in," I said half-heartedly as I opened the door wider.

"You worry too much," he chuckled as he walked in. I led the way, for about 3 seconds before I remembered that Bear was not only about to face my mother but both of my grandmothers now. I didn't have a good reference for how Grandma Alice would react to Bear, but I knew my mother, and since she was most like her mother, I felt I knew Grandma Natalie too. There was no way I could allow this.

"Trey, what's going on in that head of yours?" Bear asked as he leaned down next to my ear. His deep voice made my dick twitch and I had to stop my libido from rearing its inappropriately timed head.

"Let's just stand right here," I said as I leaned against the wall trying to be chill. I failed miserably.

"Come on," he said before he took my hand and led me into the living room. My mother and grandmothers were standing there waiting for him like a group of bouncers complete with their arms folded.

"Don't you three think you're overdoing this?" I asked to try and soften any damage Bear might suffer.

"Have a seat Bear," Mama said as she ignored me and gestured to a chair that had magically appeared opposite the sofa. Bear looked at me, then shrugged before taking a seat in the chair. He was annoying me with how calm he seemed.

Mama and the grandmas walked over to the sofa and took a seat in such an obviously rehearsed manner that I kicked myself for not finding it suspicious how they happened to show up at exactly this time. I mean, I'm sure my mother knew that I would call Bear as soon as possible as I had been trained well by her. Damn her and her extensive knowledge of me.

"Trey, you can leave now," Mama said as she looked at me expectantly. I knew there was no arguing with her about this, but I wasn't about to give in so easily.

"I think I'll stay right here," I said as I sat on the arm of the chair Bear was sitting in.

"I think you'll leave this room right now if you know what's good for you," she said in a pleasant enough tone, but the threat was obvious.

"Oh Olivia, leave the boy alone," Grandma Natalie said which really annoyed her daughter.

"Mother, you're ruining this," Mama hissed, but Grandma just rolled her eyes. Mama then turned to me and shot me a look that let me know that I'd better leave, so I did after I gave Bear a brief kiss. I made like I was going to the kitchen, but I stopped in the dining room, so I could listen to what was being said. I peeked around the corner to see if the tribunal were looking in my direction, but they were focused on Bear.

"Bear, I'm sure you know why you're here," Mama said as she gave him the stare down.

"Yes, I do, and let me just start by saying that I'm sorry. I love Trey more than anything and I know that I hurt him deeply. I've always told him, and myself, that I would never intentionally do anything to hurt him, and I believed it. I just never expected that I would unintentionally hurt him in such a personal way."

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive myself for the pain I caused him, and the loss of trust. I know that he says he's forgiven me, and he's taken me back, but I know that he'll never truly be able to trust me again. Knowing that he'll never be able to trust me makes me feel like I'm not worthy of being with him."

"After all, if you can't trust the one you're with, what kind of relationship do you have? Anyway, I just want to say that I know that you all are wary to trust Trey with me again but let me say that I'll spend the rest of my life proving to him that he can trust me to be the guy that he deserves," Bear finished in an impassioned statement to my mother and grandmothers. The grands looked misty while my mother looked like she'd sucked a lemon. I wanted to rush out there and hug him tight.

"Oh, you precious baby," Grandma Natalie said as she and Grandma Alice got up and went over to him.

"Mama, Alice, stop that. You're ruining this," Mama hissed at her mother and mother-in-law.

"Oh, hush up girl. The boy just poured his heart out to us," Grandma Natalie said as she and Grandma Alice fussed over Bear. Mama rolled her eyes and sighed deeply before shaking her head and looking at Bear again with a steely gaze.

"Bear, I appreciate what you said, and I'm sorry for how you feel. That being said, Trey is my son, and I have watched him over the years when it comes to you, especially after finding out that you two were a couple, and I've seen just how deeply he loves you. I also saw how hurt he was after he found out about you and... that girl, and I don't know If I can forgive you just yet," Mama said, and I couldn't fault her for the way she felt.

"I understand," Bear said, and while he was trying to keep the hurt out of his voice, I heard it. After all, my parents had been like a second set of parents to him for a long time, and for one of them to tell him that he was on the outs with them, it must have hurt.

"I do know that you'd never try to hurt Trey, but the fact is that you did. It will take time for me to get over that, but I will be civil towards you in the meantime," she said, and he nodded.

"I understand, and I don't blame you," he said, and this time, they did take notice of how sad he sounded. Mama looked at him for a long moment before the neutral look on her face faded a bit.

"Trey, you can come in now and stop listening to what's not any of your business," she said before she looked up right at me. I managed to duck back behind the wall before she truly saw me, but I'm sure she saw enough. I just shrugged and walked back into the living room.

"Bear is my business," I said as I walked over to him.

"Well, I guess he told you," Grandma Natalie said as she and Grandma Alice moved back from the chair Bear was still sitting in. I sat down on the arm of the chair and took his hand in mine. He threaded our fingers together and looked up at me. He smiled at me, but I could see the sadness in his eyes. I leaned forward and kissed his forehead and his sigh touched me in many ways.

"Come on ladies, let's leave them alone," Grandma Alice said before getting her purse and heading for the door. Grandma Natalie followed and so did Mama, although she did linger for a bit longer than they did.

"I'm sorry," he said after we heard the door close.

"Bear, you don't have to apologize for anything. I already told you that I forgave you and I meant it. We'll work on the trust issue, but never forget that I know that you'll be everything to me that you can be," I said in what I hoped was a good enough declaration of my commitment to him. I couldn't guarantee my trust as we weren't there yet.

"I will give you everything that I can. I will prove to you that you can trust me again," he said, and I had no doubt that he would try. I had hope that he would prove himself to me sooner rather than later.

We talked for a few minutes more before Calvin and the twins came back down. Bear was surprised as well at how much they had grown. Calvin wanted to show Bear how he had improved in his game, so we went outside to the backyard. They tossed the ball around for a few minutes before they played some tackle. Bear still had the upper hand, but Calvin gave as good as he got.

Dad came home a bit later and he and Bear went off alone for a while. I tried not to be nosy like I'd been with my mother and mostly succeeded. It was probably because I had Calvin to keep me busy this time. When they came back, he told me that they'd had a similar talk to the one he'd had with my mother, but that this time, things had gone a bit better. They seemed chummy enough, so I believed him.

When it got dark and Mama and the Grandmas hadn't come back, I was about to call when Dad told me that they probably went over to Bear's parents' house. Apparently, we were having Thanksgiving there. I asked Bear about it and he told me that he had forgotten, but that his mother had told him about it before he left to come over to my house.

Apparently, the plan was for Mama and the Grandmas to stay overnight so they could get things started for dinner. Nicole stopped by after a bit to pick up the twins and take them over to Bear's place along with the Grandmas' bags. That left me, Dad, Calvin, and Bear. I wondered what Bear's Dad would do in the house with just women until Bear said he had gone to get his parents and my granddad was riding back with them as Grandma Natalie had the car.

The four of us hung out and watched movies on Netflix until Dad got tired and went up to bed. Calvin started texting with Anika and went up to his room to get some privacy. That left me and Bear alone. He smiled at me and I knew what he was thinking. We rushed up to my room and stripped off our clothes. We enjoyed a couple of mutual blowjobs before we went to sleep ourselves with me in Bear's arms like I hoped we would do forever.

"Wake up sleepy head," I heard in a deep baritone next to my ear. The smile on my face was automatic.

"Hey big guy," I said without opening my eyes.

"Your Dad was just in here and told me to wake you up, so we can get going," he said. It took about 5 seconds for what he'd said to register to my brain. My eyes snapped open and I checked to make sure I was covered up since Bear had said my Dad had been in the room. Bear let out a cackle.

"What so funny?" I asked with a semi-serious glare.

"I knew that'd get you up," he said with amusement painted all over his stupid face.

"What would?" I asked, trying to play it off like I was unfazed.

"I knew that if I said that your Dad had been in here that you'd wake up to check to make sure we weren't naked," he said looking far too smug for... 7:35 am.

"That's not funny," I pouted.

"Yes, it is," he said with a cheesy grin.

"Oh really?" I said, making sure I added a mischievous smile. I couldn't let him get away with thinking he'd gotten me, so I pushed him back onto my bed and straddled his waist. I then firmly planted my ass directly on his soft meat. I flexed my cheeks and I felt his dick twitch. Finally, I leaned down near his ear and whispered "I always win" before I licked from his chin to the spot behind his ear that I knew got to him as it did to me.

"Oh fuck," he said through gritted teeth before taking in a sharp breath. I felt him trembling from my actions, so to finish him off, I took his earlobe between my teeth and bit down enough to sting just a little bit before letting go.

"What have we learned?" I asked as I sat up to look at his face. His eyes were nearly rolled back in his head and I felt his dick rapidly getting hard under my ass.

"You- you don't play fair," he stuttered as he gripped my sheets in his fists.

"I know babe," I said before I gave him a quick peck on the cheek and got out of bed.

"Where are you going?" He asked as he sat up to look at me. He looked so desperate that I almost considered relieving his now straining dick, but I was teaching him a lesson, so I had to be strong.

"To take a shower, of course," I said, making sure I looked as innocent as possible. I grabbed my bath kit before leaving the room and going to the bathroom.

I turned on the shower and hopped in. I was still enjoying the fact that I'd left Bear all hard up and desperate for release when I heard the bathroom door open. I should have figured that Bear never left things alone. He got into the shower and pulled me back against him. I could feel his half hard dick pressed against my back.

"Hey sexy," he said next to my ear in a deep sexy tone. He then kissed my neck and squatted down a little, so his dick was aligned with my ass crack.

"What are you doing?" I asked while trying to make sure I kept my voice clear of how much he was affecting me.

"Just taking a shower," he said before he started sucking and tonguing my neck behind my left ear. I couldn't hide the shuddering or the "oh fuck" that slipped out this time.

"Bear, we-," I tried, but my thought process was interrupted as Bear reached around and wrapped a tight grip around my already hardening dick.

"What was that now?" He asked before he switched sides and started sucking on my neck behind my right ear.

"Okay, I surrender," I said, and he chuckled against my neck. I could feel the smile on his lips.

"Good boy. Now, for your reward," he said before he spun me around and dropped to his knees. He took my rock-hard dick in his tight grip again and licked up the underside before taking the head in his mouth. The moan I let out had to have been heard by my Dad and Calvin if they were still upstairs. I was just glad that my mother and sisters were out of the house.

He went down as far as he could before using his fist to aid him in giving my dick glorious attention. He had most definitely learned how to suck a dick and I was happy that I was the recipient of his skills. Seeing Bear Davidson on his knees, with his lips stretched wide around my dick always did something to me once the realization hit me.

I was charging fast toward the finish line when I felt a wet finger massaging my asshole. After about a minute or so his finger slipped in and another "oh fuck" slipped out, this time louder than the first time. When he found my prostate and pressed on it, I felt that familiar spark shoot through me as I felt the first shot of jizz shoot into Bear's waiting mouth. He stayed put as my balls emptied into his mouth. When I was empty, he squeegeed off my dick with his lips before standing up.

"Delicious," he said with a cheesy grin before pulling me to him and diving in on my lips.

We kissed, and I could taste the remnants of my seed on his tongue which made me chase that taste on his tongue even more. This lead to another one of those extremely heated kisses that we had to back away from each other to cool from. His eyes were wide as I'm sure mine was. His dick was also standing proud and drooling and I remembered that I hadn't taken care of him. I started to, but he told me that this morning was just for me and we'd take care of him later.

We soaped each other up and washed each other. I started to get hard again with Bear's hands rubbing over my body. He chuckled and told me to hold on to it until later. I told him I'd look crazy walking around holding my dick all day. He gave me a gentle swat on my ass which didn't help my growing problem.

We finished showing and hopped out of the shower. We dried off and ran across the hall back to my room. I was thankful at those times that the bathroom was almost directly across the hall from my room. I pulled out something to wear while Bear put back on the clothes he'd worn over yesterday. Once we were fully dressed, he gave me a kiss before we left my room and headed downstairs.

"Hey boys, did you enjoy your shower?" Dad asked with a sly smirk.

"It was a shower," I said trying to sound like it was like any other shower.

"Hm, you don't say," Dad said still with the smirk before taking a swig of his coffee.

"Yeah, I do," I said, hoping this was done.

"Okay, whatever you say," Dad said before finishing off his cup of coffee. He got up and headed for the kitchen.

"He heard us," Bear said, but he sounded amused.

"Yup," I said trying to stave off the slight embarrassment I was feeling.

"You two dressed? I thought you'd be still fucking like you were in the shower," Calvin said as he came down the stairs. My eyes went wide as I was not used to my little brother talking like that.

"Calvin!" I heard from behind me. I knew it was Dad.

"Sorry Dad," Calvin said, but he didn't sound sorry. Strangely, it made me look at this boy who was supposed to be my "little" brother. I saw that he was not a kid anymore. While I'd been away, or even when I was there but not paying attention, Calvin had grown up. He had one more year in high school and he'd be in college.

I briefly felt choked up at the thought that my family was changing. Zane was out of school and out of the house, on his own, being a cop. I was out of the house and in my second year of college. Calvin would be the same in about a year and a half. I briefly missed the old days, well, parts of them anyway.

"You okay Trey?" Bear asked me, and I realized that I'd zoned out while on my thought process.

"I'm good," I said and smiled to let him know that I was.

"Well boys, we should get moving over to Bear's house," Dad said, and we agreed. I ran up to grab my wallet and then we moved on out.

When we arrived at Bear's place, I saw Grandma Natalie's car along with Ivy's car there. Bear's Dad's car was also there so he must have made it back with the other grandparents. Uncle Eric's car was there as well. I was surprised that there were so many people there already, but then again, I guess 9:15 wasn't that early.

Bear and I got out of his truck as Dad and Calvin got out of the SUV and headed in the house. The first thing I noticed was being hit with the familiar smells of Thanksgiving Dinner being cooked that were usually contained within the walls of my parents' house. I didn't know how I felt about this.

"Hm, there's the smell of Thanksgiving," Calvin said as he was practically drooling like Homer Simpson.

"Hey nephew," Uncle Eric said surprising us. When we reached him, he pulled me into a bear hug.

"Hey Unc," I said as tight hug went on.

"What about me?" Dad said from behind me.

"I just saw you two days ago," Eric said as he finally released me from the hug.

"Trey," I heard before I was pulled into another tight hug. This time it was Grandpa Anthony.

"Hey Granddad," I said after he released me.

"Hey Grandpa," Calvin said as he stepped around me and got the same treatment.

"It's so good to see you two together again. Now, if only Zane didn't have to work today, it would be a perfect Thanksgiving for this old man," he said with an arm around the both of us.

"It's good to be home," I said, and he smiled brighter.

"Hey Anthony," Dad said after our lovefest had broken up.

"Hey there son," he said as he and Dad shook hands. It was then that I happened to see my other grandfather, Henry. He didn't look too pleased with Grandpa Anthony calling Dad "son".

"Bear, I was wondering when you'd show up," said a voice that I hadn't heard in quite a while. I turned to see Helen Davidson, Bear's dad's mother heading towards us. She was a short, thin woman with brown hair.

"Hey Gramma," Bear said as he walked over and hugged her, picking her up while doing so. It was a stark contrast to the greeting he's given his mother's mother, Maude.

"My word, you seem to get bigger every time I see you," she said after he'd sat her down.

"Well, I'm a growing boy," he said with a cheesy grin.

"I'll bet Trey can attest to that," I heard Calvin stage whisper to Steph who'd come to stand next to him. She tried, unsuccessfully, to stifle a snicker.

"Move back Helen, let me greet the boy," said John Davidson, Bear's dad's father as he moved towards Bear. In contrast to Harry Forrester's 6'3 and stocky frame, where Bear had gotten his genetics from, John Davidson was a thin man of about 5'11. He did have a thick head of brown hear with barely any gray though where Harry had silver hair.

"Hey gramps," Bear said as they gave each other the standard guy hug.

"It's been a while, boy. You better not let that much time pass without us seeing you again," he said, and Bear said he wouldn't.

With all the greetings passed around, all that was left was Henry, my Dad's father. Dad gave me and Calvin a gentle shove in his direction. We spoke, and he shook Calvin's hand like he always did. When he got to me, he was very stiff when he shook my hand. The handshake lasted only a few seconds and I didn't care that it did.

"I'm gonna go upstairs and change my clothes," Bear whispered in my ear.

"Okay, I'll wait here," I said, and he smiled.

"Are you sure about that? Don't you wanna come up with me and watch?" He asked in a husky voice near my ear.

"No thanks. If I go up there, we won't be coming back down for a while," I said honestly.

"I'm game if you are," he said before he started gently blowing in my ear.

"Go change," I said while trying to keep my libido under control.

"Okay, if you say so," he said before walking away.

"Are you two done flirting in front of everybody yet?" Calvin asked after Bear had gone upstairs.

"I'm gonna go get some water," I said before leaving him there. I heard him laughing as I headed for the kitchen.

"Hello ladies," I said as I walked into the kitchen. In there was Mama, Bear's mother, Ivy, Nicole, my grandmothers, my sisters, and a lady that I hadn't seen before. They all spoke to me. April came over and gave me a brief hug before returning to mixing something in a bowl.

"Oh Trey, this is Eve. Eve, this is my first-born Trey," Mama said in an introduction to the unknown lady.

"Nice to meet you," I said as I held out my hand to her.

"You as well. Your uncle Eric talks about you and your siblings all the time. Sometimes it's like he thinks you all are his kids," she said, and that at least let me know who she was.

"Eve is your uncle's fiancé," Mama said and I for one was shocked. I was starting to think that he'd never get married. I wondered if she was the "drug dealer". I hadn't heard of him dating another woman, so she had to be the one.

"Well, congratulations," I said, and she beamed.

"Thank you," she said. She was almost too giddy, even for me.

"So, what are you cooking?" I asked Ivy as I walked over to her. She was making a green salad which seemed right for her. I'd never seen Ivy cook anything before, so I was kind of teasing her.

"I'm making a pizza," she said sarcastically.

"That's a strange looking pizza," I joked as I looked over her shoulder.

"Step off young'un," she said as she waved me off.

"Hello lovely ladies," Bear said as he walked into the kitchen. They all spoke to him.

"Do you really mean that?" Nicole asked as she took ahold of Bear's arm.

"Why of course," he said in that charming tone of his. It was annoying sometimes.

"Bear, why don't you go and introduce yourself to my brother-in-law's fiancé, so you can continue to live," Mama said with a knowing smile.

"Huh?" Bear said before his own mother gestured toward me. I had no idea what they were talking about though. I wasn't doing anything. When he looked at me though, he saw something as he extracted himself from Nicole's grasp and walked over to Eve and introduced himself.

Bear's grandmother came back into the kitchen to help with dinner that looked to be getting finished. Dad and Lawrence came in to look at how things were coming but were shooed away by their wives. My aunt Janice and her husband arrived about an hour after we did. I saw that it was a good thing that we did have this Thanksgiving at the Davidsons' house.

I looked around and saw all these people interacting with each other, my family and Bear's family, and it touched my heart. Aside from my grandfather Henry, who had been a bit stiff when I'd made it, everybody seemed to be getting along. I guess I shouldn't have been shocked since most of these people interacted with each other regularly, but it was still nice to see.

"Hey mom, look who's here," Steph said and we all turned to see Brian walking into the kitchen.

"Hey mom," he said as he walked in and kissed her cheek.

"Hey son," April said as she gave him a half hug with her hands covered in flour. I noticed that she didn't look all that happy to see him.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Bear hissed as Steph came to stand next to us.

"Well, it is a holiday and we are his family," she said, but I don't think Bear wanted to hear that as the glare he shot her indicated.

"We seem to have a full house," he said with an obviously fake smile.

"Yes, we do. I thought since Bear and Trey are gonna be together, we should have a big family holiday," April said. There seemed to be something behind the way she said that. Brian didn't look happy to hear that, but he hid it, kind of.

"Ah, that's great," he said with another fake smile.

"Really?" April asked with a surprised look on her face.

"Yeah Mom, of course," he said before directing that fake smile in Bear's and my direction. I wasn't convinced, and I could tell that Bear wasn't either.

"Come on," Bear said before taking my hand and dragging me out of the kitchen.

We ended up going to Lawrence's study/man cave. The guys were watching a game, of course. We sat down to watch the game. Calvin was spending his time texting with somebody. It had to be Anika judging by the grin he had when he got some of the reply texts. Grandpa Anthony teased him that he was texting Alex instead.

After a while, I had to go to the bathroom, so I excused myself and went to drain the tank. After I was finished, I got a text out of the blue from Jamal asking how I was doing. I wondered why he would randomly send me a text. Then I remembered that I hadn't told him that I'd gotten back together with Bear. I would have thought that Hoyt would have done so, but I guess he hadn't.

I decided that now was as good a time as any, so I sent him a text saying that I was spending Thanksgiving with my boyfriend's family. He replied that he was glad that I had gotten back together with my boyfriend and told me he wished me well. I told him I'd talk to him later. I mean, as far as I was concerned, there was no reason why we couldn't be friends. I left the bathroom and ran right into Bear.

"I was wondering what was taking so long," he said as he stood there.

"I told you that I had to go to the bathroom," I said as I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but you've been gone for over 45 minutes. I just wanted to make sure Brian didn't do anything," he said, and he had to be wrong. It couldn't have taken me that long to reply to Jamal.

"Oh, well, I guess I got distracted texting," I said. I didn't elaborate as I didn't think now was the time to broach the Jamal subject with him.

"Oh, okay then," he said before trapping me in place by putting his arms against the wall on either side of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked even though I could probably guess with the way he was looking at me.

"I don't know, but I can come up with some ideas," he said with a sexy smirk.

"Oh really? What kind of ideas?" I asked as I leaned back against the wall.

"Very hot ones starring you and me," he said before he moved in and kissed me.

"Dammit! Do you two have to do that shit right here?" We heard in Brian's annoying ass voice. I should have figured that he'd interrupt anything between me and Bear if he were around.

"Yes, we do. Do you have a problem with that?" Bear asked, well he more snapped than asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Can't you two go and fag it up somewhere where we don't have to see it?" Brian said, and I worried Bear would try to do something to him. He didn't get the chance though as when Brian turned around, he was slapped, hard.

"Ow, what the fuck?" He said as he held his cheek. We saw that it was April that had slapped him.

"If I ever hear you speak to or about your brother or Trey like that again, you'll get worse," April said before walking around him and heading toward us.

"But mom -," he tried but April wasn't having it.

"Why don't you run and tell your grandmother about that," she said before she looked at us with such a compassionate look. She patted Bear on the back as she passed him and entered the bathroom.

Bear stepped away from me and walked over to him. Brian took a step back, but Bear grabbed his arm and yanked him toward him. He whispered something in his ear and I could see that whatever it was, he took it seriously from the look on his face. Bear then stepped away from him and reached out his hand for me to take. When I did he lead me away from Brian who he left standing there in the hallway.

We headed back to the study to continue watching the game. I asked Bear what he said to Brian and he said that that was between the two of them. I was curious, and I wanted to push, but I decided that whatever it was, I could live without knowing it if it kept Brian's tongue in check.

Dinner was ready around 3 and so we all headed to the beautifully decorated dining room. The food was placed out and we fixed our plates. We gave thanks for the meal and did the corny thing, well I always found it corny, where we went around the table saying what we were thankful for. Everyone did the obvious, even me. We gave thanks for family, friends, and each other.

We then dug in and as always, I was surprised that the dinner was better than the year before. When we were done, I was so full that I could barely move. Mostly everyone was in the same shape. It made me think about Jessica and what she was up to. The mothers and grandmothers sent everyone off while they got the table cleared and the leftovers put away.

Afterward, the families sat around and talked. I was surprised that our family was getting along so well. I guess I shouldn't have though, as like I said, Bear's family interacted with mine on a regular basis. I guess my surprise came from the fact that it was usually just Bear's parents interacting with mine.

The fact that we were all enjoying each other's company was a happy thing seeing as how Bear and I planned to spend our lives together and our families were gonna end up doing this a lot as I planned to have my family close and Bear's family as well.

Well, everything wasn't all sunshine and roses. My dad's father hadn't really spoken to me much throughout the day, but when he had done so, he'd at least been cordial. Brian, on the other hand, had been glaring at us, or rather me, ever since his mother had slapped the taste out his mouth. I had started smirking at him whenever I found him glaring at me. He stopped when his mother caught him one time.

Everyone kind of split up after a while. Bear and I decided to pay a visit to Sean's parents. They had the whole family there, complete with Collin. He stayed away from us and we did the same. Wayne was there, and I was happy to see that his sister was there. His brother wasn't there though.

Xander seemed to be happy to see me, but he didn't seem all that interested in Bear. I cracked up when Bear tried to play with him, but he looked at Bear like he would rather watch paint dry before walking over to me to show me his new toys. I enjoyed playing with him and it made me think about the future whenever Bear and I had kids. Alicia's kid briefly popped into my head but I managed to get rid of the image.

Aside from Brian, and to a lesser extent, my paternal grandfather, Thanksgiving had been a wonderful day. I wanted to stay with Bear, but he had to get up early so he could go back to school as he had a game in the afternoon. Even with that, I was happy. I did end up thinking about Marcus though and how much I missed him, although I figured that I'd always do that, especially after seeing Wayne and their son. It truly made me thankful for what I had.

CHRISTMAS

"What do you think?" Miriam said as she held up another shirt.

"It's alright, I guess," I said. I was currently in her dorm room helping her figure out what she was gonna give as Christmas presents.

"Do you like anything?" She asked while giving me the stank face.

"I just, are you sure you wanna give Dale a shirt for Christmas?" I asked as I thought that was rather impersonal for a guy she'd been dating/kinda dating for over 3 years.

"Why not?" She asked, looking confused.

"Well, I just thought that you'd get him something more, personal," I said, and she rolled her eyes.

"Look, Dale and I aren't pre-married like you and Bear. We don't have to dig down deep to think of heartfelt and meaningful gifts to give each other. Who needs the stress?" She said, but I chose to take it not as an attack, but as simply a statement about her relationship with Dale. Which is why I only flipped her off a little.

"So, what are you getting me?" I asked mostly as a joke. I didn't care what she got me as long as it came from the heart. Although, judging by what she was planning to give her boyfriend...

"This," she said as she reached into her pocket, pulled out an opened pack of chewing gum, and tossing it towards me.

"Gee, thanks. You didn't have to go all out just for me," I said sarcastically, and she gave me a responding fake cheesy grin.

"So, what are you getting for your husband?" She asked after moving the shirts over to get the pants that were underneath.

"I don't know yet," I said which was the truth. I always struggled with what to get people for Christmas because I always wanted it to be special.

"Well, no need to get all introspective for me. This is what I want," she said as she handed me a page out of a catalog. "It's reasonably priced and there's a sale on right now which will make it even cheaper," she said and while I appreciated the assist, it made the whole thing feel too capitalistic.

"But," I tried but she held up her hand and walked over to me.

"It's what I really want, and I want you to get it for me," she said before giving me a kiss on the forehead and going back to the clothes she'd bought.

"Okay," I said, choosing to be thankful that she was taken care of.

I asked her what she was going to do with all those clothes and she said that she was gonna give them to her dad and brothers. She said she'd return the ones that were either too big or too small and get the correct sizes. I knew I was probably also getting something from those clothes and I hoped it was the red sweater.

I left after a bit and ran into Miriam's dormmate that lived across the hall. She had a knowing look on her face, but what she thought she knew was wrong. I wasn't gonna correct her though as aside from Bear, his teammates, Miriam, and Drake, nobody knew that I was gay and I was intent on keeping it that way.

I headed back to my dorm as I had some last-minute things to do on two papers I was writing. I saw this guy who was in one of my classes. I noticed he'd been slyly watching me for a few weeks now. I was curious if it was because he knew that I was gay and he either was interested or he wanted to kick my ass. He watched me as I walked by before I turned the corner heading to my dorm.

I arrived at my dorm and saw one of my dormmates, a guy named Denny. He stopped me and asked for my notes for one of my classes as he took it too, but later in the day. I gave them to him as I was done with them. He thanked me and sped off somewhere.

"What was that?" Drake asked as he was almost run over by Denny.

"I don't know," I said before I turned and headed for my room. Drake followed, and it took a second for me to remember that we were going to the same place. When we were on the elevator, the weirdness of this new dynamic with Drake became too evident.

"Surprise!" Someone shouted as I opened the door to our room and we started to enter.

"What the fuck!" I said as I tried to start my heart to beating again.

"Welcome," the person who'd nearly made me deceased said. I looked, and it was a woman who I'd never met before but felt familiar at the same time.

"Dammit Serena, you nearly scared me to death," Drake said as he clutched his chest.

"Oh, don't be silly," she said, and the woman had a name. So, this was Drake's current girlfriend.

She was white, which I'll admit was a surprise as Drake seemed to have a type. She was about an inch shorter than me which I ignored as I didn't need that blow to my self-esteem. She had brown eyes and brown past shoulder length hair with blond highlights. Overall, she was very pretty. There was something about her though that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It was there though.

"What are you doing here?" Drake asked as he entered the room. I did as well and saw that the "surprise" was that our room had been decorated for Christmas.

"I am surprising you," she said before giving him a kiss on the cheek. She certainly seemed to be lively.

"You couldn't do it without stopping my heart?" Drake asked as he walked over and sat on his bed. Serena rolled her eyes at him

"Well, since my boyfriend is being ungrateful, I'll talk to you," she said before turning to me.

"Huh," I said as I was unprepared to be dragged into their thing.

"Hi, I'm Serena," she said as she held out her hand.

"Uh, Trey," I said as I shook her hand.

"So, do you like the room?" She asked as she walked over to the door to adjust the wreath on the door.

"It's fine, I mean, great," I said, unsure why she was tripping me up so.

"You two don't like it," she said as she started to pout.

"Oh no, we love it," Drake said as he rushed to her side and took her hands in his.

"No, you don't," she said as her pouting went full on.

"Of course, we do," he said before turning to me. "Don't we Trey," He asked as he looked at me like he expected me to agree and nothing else.

"Yes, it looks great," I said with as genuine a smile as I could muster. I had no idea why I was going along with this. The room did look great and all, but this was Drake after all. Even if I didn't know this girl, my whatever it was that I had with Drake now was still new, and I didn't think I should feel obligated to placate his girlfriend.

"I'm glad you like it," Serena said brightening up fast. I shook my head at how easily she had played Drake, and how stupid I'd been to go along with him. Still, it was harmless, so it wasn't really a big deal.

"So, now that the room is straight, let's talk," she said, and it took me a few seconds to realize she was looking at me when she said that.

"Say what now?" I asked, but she continued to look at me expectantly.

"Well, I'm Drake's girlfriend and you're his roommate, so I think we should get to know each other," she said, and I was kind of confused. I didn't think there was anything left for her to know about me.

"Don't you already know everything about me?" I asked as I glanced at Drake. I would have figured he'd have told her everything he knew about me.

"All I know is that you went to high school with Drake and that you two haven't gotten along until recently," she said, and I was shocked. I would have figured that Drake had ranted and raved to his girlfriend all about the "fag that he was stuck sharing a room with". I looked at him, but he just shrugged and went to sit on his bed.

"Well, I don't know what you want to know," I said as I glanced at Drake again. He didn't look all that concerned that I would tell her anything he didn't want her to know. I found that weird as I could have told his girlfriend all the contemptible, horrible, cruel, vile things he had done to me and those close to me. I had the power to ruin whatever good image his girlfriend had of him, but he seemed to not be stressed about it.

"I want to know everything," she said, and I wondered if she really did. I decided to test the two of them.

"Well, first of all, I'm gay," I said, and her eyebrows went up. I looked over at Drake and he was covertly watching her too.

"That's great. I know this really great guy who I can fix you up with," Serena said with a much too big smile, and Drake snorted.

"Well, thanks for that, but I already got a man," I said making sure to smile.

"Oh," she said sounding disappointed. "Well then, I have to meet him," she said, suddenly happy again. Her mood swings were dizzying.

"Uh," I said as I didn't know if I could trust her to keep a secret. I looked to Drake again, but he just shrugged, again. The damned bastard was no help.

"You don't want me to meet him?" She asked with a sort of sad frown.

"It's not that. It's just that, he isn't out yet," I said, and breathed a covert sigh of relief when she looked like she understood.

"Oh, well that's okay. We can talk more about you," she said, but fortunately, a knock on the door saved me from her prying. I was relieved, for about a second before I realized that it had to be Bear. I looked at Drake and the bastard seemed to think it was him too judging by the smirk on his face.

"Aren't you gonna get the door?" He asked with that familiar smirk that made me want to punch him in his face.

"Why don't you get it?" I said as I glanced back and forth between the door and him.

"I think it's for you," he said still with the smirk.

"What?" Serena said looking confused. I picked up my phone to text Bear and warn him, if it was him, not to give anything away when I opened the door.

"No, no, phone down and open the door," Drake said now in full on Drake evil mode.

"I don't take orders from you," I said as I turned and gave him a serious glare.

"Okay, while you two do whatever this is, I'll open the door," Serena said before she went to the door. What she'd said registered too late as when I turned, she was opening the door.

"Hi," Serena said after opening the door.

"Oh, I think I have the wrong room," Bear said before looking at the door again.

"Bear, in here," I said deciding that I'd see if I could trust her. At this point, Bear might as well just come out all over campus.

"Oh," he said before he stepped into the room.

"Hi Bear," Drake said with a weirdly cheesy smile.

"Hey douchebag," Bear said before looking at me with a bit of confusion on his face. I just shrugged before taking ahold his hand. The look of confusion vanished and was replaced with a smile.

"Serena, this is my boyfriend, Bear," I said, and her eyes bucked out. Then recognition hit, which is what worried me.

"I remember you. You play on the football team," she said before something seemed to dawn on her and she looked at me. "Ah, I get it now. Don't worry, I can keep a secret," she said, and I breathed another sigh of relief as I believed her for some reason.

"It's nice to meet you, Serena," Bear said as he turned on the charm.

"She's Drake's girlfriend," I said, and the charming smile he directed at her faltered.

"Oh," he said now with a frown on his face.

"Would you two excuse us for a minute?" I said with perhaps the fakest smile I'd had to date. I then pulled Bear along with me into the bathroom.

"What are we doing in here?" He asked with a curious smile.

"Don't do that," I said as I stepped away from him.

"Do what?" He asked, now looking confused.

"Don't judge her by how you feel about Drake," I said, but he just rolled his eyes.

"Give me a break. She's with Drake so she can't be all that good a person," he said, and it was pissing me off how closed-minded he was being.

"Does that apply to Liberty?" I asked him, and at least he looked sorry for saying it.

"Look, I know that you're trying to do, whatever, with Drake, but he hurt you, me, and Carter, and I'm not gonna be forgiving him anytime soon," Bear said. I looked at him, and I decided that he was right. I shouldn't expect him to be besties with Drake, and therefore nice to his girlfriend, just because I was trying to forge a new path with him.

"You're right. I just want you to not judge this girl by who she's dating. Apparently, she knows next to nothing about me," I said and that surprised him.

"I'm shocked. I would have figured Drake would've ranted and raved to her about you telling her all of your business," he said, and I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face.

"I thought almost the exact same thing," I said, and he smiled too.

"I keep telling you were soul mates," he said as he took my hands in his.

"Don't let Sean hear you say that," I joked.

"That bastard can kiss my ass," he said, but he had a smile, so I knew he didn't mean it as he'd said it.

"No, he can't. That's my job," I said, and he snickered.

"I can get behind that," he said with a cheesy grin. A knock on the door interrupted my reply.

"We're leaving, so you two don't have to hide in the bathroom to do whatever it is you're doing in there," Drake said from the other side of the door.

"Thanks, douchebag," Bear said with a frown as he glared at the door.

"You know, that door will win in a fight between the two of you," I joked to distract him from Drake. He looked at me like I was crazy for a few seconds before he seemed to realize what I was doing.

"I'm pretty sure I can knock that door down with ease and anyone standing on the other side of it," he said with a cocky grin.

"Sure babe, whatever you say," I said before giving him a pat on the back and opening the bathroom door. Drake and Serena had vacated the room as he'd said.

"Now that we're alone, I wanna do something to you," Bear said as he eased up to me.

"Like what exactly?" I asked as I slowly stepped back from him.

"Oh, there are several things I have in mind," he said as he followed me.

"Are you gonna take advantage of me?" I asked in what I assumed was my sexy voice.

"Or let you take advantage of me. Whichever you wanna do," he said as he came to a stop in front of me.

"Let's start with this," I said before I grasped the collar of his shirt and pulled him down into a kiss. He switched places with me before sitting down on my bed and pulling me down on top of him while we still kissed.

Bear reached down the back of my jeans and gripped my ass cheeks. He gave them a firm squeeze which brought a moan from me. He pulled me down even closer against him. We started to grind our hard dicks together which had us both moaning. I removed myself from his grasp, even though I would have rather stayed, and sat up, straddling his waist.

I held up one finger indicating that I wanted him to wait a minute before I got up and went to lock the door to my room. I knew that it wouldn't help much as Drake had a key, but maybe if he saw the door was locked, he'd stop for a minute and consider that Bear and I were in there and that we were "busy". It was a risk, but it would also test this truce between us in a big way.

I looked back at him and he was looking at me with a curious smile. I walked back to him slowly as I stripped out of my clothes. When I made it to the bed I was completely naked aside from my socks. I straddled his waist again making sure to place my ass over his crotch.

He looked at me with a lusty grin. I aimed one back at him before I started undoing his shirt buttons to reveal that glorious chest of his. It was the stuff of wet dreams. As I stared at his hairy chest, I felt his dick twitch wildly under my ass. I helped him slip his shirt off before I went to work relieving him of the rest of his clothes leaving him as naked as I was. It was a thrilling sight as always.

I crawled over him so that I hovered over him with our bodies barely touching. His eyes danced as he looked in mine. I felt his arms raise and I felt his hands on the back of my thighs. He ran his hands up my legs, over my ass cheeks, and up my back before reaching my head and pulling me down into a deep kiss. I then raised back up to look at him again. I gave him a wink before I dove in and latched onto his left nipple.

He hissed and grabbed my head to hold me in place as I licked, sucked, and lightly grazed my teeth over his nipple. By the time I'd moved over to the right one, he was bucking underneath me trying to get some friction on his dick, but he couldn't as I was still hovering over him. I took mercy on him and lightly drug my nails over his bare chest and abs before moving towards the treasure which I sought.

I looked up at him and saw lust, desire, and a bit of desperation in Bear's eyes. I was about to help with that last one at least. I moved down until I was face to face with his pride and glory. I gripped his hard dick with a strong grip and he let out an "oh fuck" as his head dropped back on the bed.

I licked the head, tasting his salty/sweet seed, before taking it in my mouth. I swirled my tongue around the head which brought out an "oh fuck yeah". I slowly sank down to halfway, feeling my lips and mouth stretch wider and wider. He gripped my head gently to aid me in bobbing up and down.

As I bobbed up and down, I went down further and further until I had his entire length in my throat. He was bucking up as I took him in and it was really revving my engine. I could feel that he was getting close, so I pulled out all the stops. I tugged on his balls while I massaged around his hole.

I felt his balls draw up before he grabbed my head and held me in place as he fucked my mouth. He unloaded with a deep guttural long grunt that almost made me cum combined with everything else going on. When he was spent, he dropped back onto the bed with his eyes barely open. I finished swallowing his massive load and made sure his dick was clean before I came off it. I crawled up and laid down on top of him and kissed his cheek.

"Damn baby, you sure know how to suck a dick," he said with a sated smile.

"Well, I am a cocksucker after all," I said with a grin which made him chuckle.

"The best cocksucker," he said before gripping my face and bringing me down for a kiss. I knew he tasted his own seed as he wrapped his arms tightly around me and pulled me down closer to him. "My turn," Bear said, then he flipped me over onto my back before I even registered it.

He made pretty much the same moves that I'd done on him and they were very much appreciated. Instead of massaging around my hole though, he inserted two fingers and massaged my prostate to bring me over the cliff. When I was spent, we laid on my bed in our favorite position, Bear on his back and me cuddled up to his right side.

As we lay there on my bed, I enjoyed being held close to Bear, his strong arms around me. He placed a kiss on my forehead and released a deep sigh as he pulled me tighter against him. Feeling his body pressed up against mine got me stirring again. Then suddenly, a strange thought that had been plaguing me for a while struck me and that stirring stopped dead in its tracks.

"Bear, do you think I'm racist?" I asked, then immediately regretted it.

"Um baby, you're Black," he said before kissing my neck again.

"So, what? Black people can be racist too, or rather they can be prejudiced," I said as I tried to shake the feeling with no success.

"Baby, a lot of your friends are white, I'm white. I think I'd know if you were a bigot," he said, but that was far from what I was thinking. I was able to get it up, and I was totally into Bear, who was white, while Jamal, a Black man who was just as unbelievably hot as Bear, if not more so, got no response from me. It had to mean something.

"That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about being racist against Black people," I said, and he pulled away from me a bit. I turned my head to see him looking confused.

"Trey, isn't that kind of impossible?" He asked as he looked at me.

"Oh sweetie, you're so naïve to the world," I said as I gave him a brief pat in his arm.

"Oh, you're talking about one of those "Uncle Tom" situations," he said with air quotes around Uncle Tom. I shook my head as it was more complicated than that.

I sat up and moved so that I was sitting facing Bear with my back against the headboard of my bed. He sat up so that he was facing me. It was a bit distracting looking at his fully naked body, but I had something to say so I put my libido on lockdown for a bit.

"Bear, I'm gonna tell you something and you have to promise not to get mad or jealous," I said even though he was almost assured to do both.

"Why do you say that?" He asked with narrowed eyes.

"Bear, I have to tell you something, but if you don't promise me this, and I don't see that you're serious, I'm not saying another word," I said as I looked at him with as serious a look as I could.

"Fine, I promise," he said begrudgingly. I did see that he was as serious as he could be with the information he had.

"Okay, when we were apart, I went out on a date with a guy," I said, and he looked calm enough.

"Yeah, I know," he said after a brief silence. I wanted to know how he knew but decided it wasn't important right now.

"Okay, well, we went out, and after dinner, we went back to his place," I said and considered stopping right there as I saw his jaws clenching tightly.

"Uh huh," he said through gritted teeth. I took a deep breath and continued, or rather blurted.

"We went to his bedroom and started kissing and then we ended up on his bed and we kissed some more and after all that kissing, I realized that I wasn't hard at all. No matter what he did I couldn't get it up," I said in a rush. I wanted to cover my face in shame for having said all that, but I needed to see his reaction.

His jaws clenched even tighter at first, and his knuckles were white from clenching his fists so tightly. His eyes were closed, his brow was furrowed, and he was making some weird quiet grunting noise. Then suddenly, he relaxed, and I worried he'd had a stroke. He opened his eyes, which relieved me, and looked confused.

"Wait, nothing happened, other than the kissing?" He asked looking hopeful.

"Nothing. My damned dick wouldn't rise for anything, and Jamal said he didn't want to do anything unless we were both engaged," I said, and that was probably a piece of information that I should have kept to myself.

"So, if he hadn't cared about that, and still wanted to do it, you would have done it?" Bear asked with a deep frown.

"That's the point. I think deep down, after learning about him over dinner, I knew that he'd feel that way. Also, deep down, I didn't want to. I knew I shouldn't cause things weren't over with us, and there's no way I could betray our relationship. I care about it too much," I said, but he still looked sullen.

"Yeah..." he said with a guilty look on his face.

"Bear, I get what happened. I'm not saying I don't still have my issues with this whole situation, but I understand what happened," I said before grasping his hands. He lightly squeezed my hands, and a small smile appeared on his face.

"So, his name is Jamal," he said while trying to keep a neutral expression.

"Yes, it is, and he's really nice. You'll like him, once you get over being jealous," I said, but he rolled his eyes.

"I highly doubt that," he said stubbornly.

"That's what you think," I said before I leaned over and kissed him. After the brief kiss ended he had a smile on his face before it faded.

"Wait, does the fact that you couldn't get it up for... him... have anything to do with why you think you're racist against other Black people?" Bear asked bringing me back to my crazy thought process.

"Maybe," I said with my head down.

"Baby, you said it yourself that in your mind, you would have been cheating on me. You, being the sweet, loving, and honorable guy that you are wouldn't have cheated on me. You couldn't be with someone else unless you were sure that we were over. That's one of the many reasons that I choose to give my heart to you. I know it's safe with you," he said, and again I was surprised at the way he had with words. I also saw though that he didn't agree with what he'd said with regards to himself.

"I trust my heart to you too. It's a huge risk to do so, and sometimes, you pay the price for doing so, but I'm still willing to take the risk," I said, and the smile on his face melted my heart. He leaned forward and kissed me, and I reciprocated.

He pulled me back down on top of him and ran his big hands up and down my back and across my bare ass cheeks as our tongues dueled. I felt that familiar feeling of my dick swelling between us and by the time I was at full mast again, he had caught up to me and was rock hard as well. There was to be no round two though as my cell phone rang. By the time I got to my phone, it had stopped ringing. I checked it and it was my mother. I sent her a text to make sure everything was okay. She responded that she just wanted to ask me a question.

I didn't know when Drake was coming back, so I decided that we'd better get our clothes back on. Bear had to leave for a workout anyway, so it was for the best. I joked that I could give him a better workout than he could get at the gym. He said that he agreed and was all for it, but he didn't think Coach Simpson would consider that a substitute for his regular training.

We talked about going home for Christmas and what we each were getting everybody while we got dressed. I told him Miriam had already put in her order with me and he said she'd done the same with him. We didn't talk about what we'd get each other. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I had to do some things before I talked to him about it.

He gave me a long kiss before he left which was interrupted by Drake. Bear gave his usual parting to Drake, calling him a douchebag, on the way out of the door. I expected to hear Drake's usual BS after Bear left, but he just went to his desk and started doing something on his laptop. Yup, things were weird with Drake, by which I mean he was acting like the fact that I was gay and kissing my boyfriend, who was Bear Davidson of all people, in our room was no big deal. I didn't know if I'd ever get used to this seemingly new Drake.

A few days later I packed up my truck and headed home for the winter break. I stopped by the mall on my way home to do some shopping. I didn't go overboard as my funds for tutoring Lane were running low as I'd given most of it to my parents. I did get some good presents though. Liberty even called me when I happened to walk by a Forever 21. She "hinted" at what she wanted me to get her from Forever 21. I first looked around to make sure she wasn't watching me. Then I told her I had already gotten her present from Wal-Mart. She said she'd take mine back and get me some Tic-Tacs. I told her to keep em cause she could use em. She mumbled some words that may have been a curse before laughing maniacally and ending the call.

It worried me, so I just decided to err on the side of caution, cause I wasn't about to get got by her, and went into Forever 21 and got what she had "hinted" for me to get. Once I had everything I continued my way towards home. Once I arrived, it was late afternoon and starting to snow a bit.

I stood outside and looked around the neighborhood at all the Christmas decorations. It seemed that I always came home right when Mr. Cryer was putting up his decorations. He looked over, saw me, and waved like usual. I looked across the street and saw Mrs. Reyes-Ortiz with her daughters putting up a Christmas tree in the big picture window of their house while her husband was on a ladder stringing lights across the front of the house. I then looked at our house and saw that Dad and Calvin must not have been done with our decorations as the house was way too toned down for a Christmas at the Healey residence.

I went into the house and didn't find anybody. I called out, but nobody answered. The SUV was parked outside so at least Mama had to be home. I sat my wrapped presents around the tree that was already up and headed upstairs to drop my duffel bags in my room. I then searched each of the rooms before I opened the door to what had been Calvin's room but was now Carly's room, from what Mama had told me a couple weeks ago.

"Trey!" Carly shouted as she turned towards me and accidentally dropped 2 vials of something on the floor. I guess I startled her.

"Carly, what the hell are you doing in here?" I asked as smoke started to waft towards me.

"Trey don't breathe!" Carly shouted again as she hurriedly grabbed a mask and quickly put it on her face.

"Carly, what are you..." I started to ask before I started to feel numb. Then I couldn't feel my arms, then my legs. Before I knew it, I was falling, and I couldn't stop myself.

"Oh crap, Mama!" Carly shouted before she bolted from the room. I tried to yell for somebody, but I couldn't speak. It suddenly occurred to me that I should have listened to Calvin when he said that the twins were evil as I had to have just been nerve gassed by my 11-year-old sister.

"Trey!" I heard about a minute later coming from my mother as two sets of footsteps were running towards me. I tried to talk to her as she came into the room but one, I couldn't talk, and two, Carly yanked her out of the room immediately and closed the door.

"Mama, you can't go in there," I heard Carly say from the other side of the door.

"What did you do young lady!" Mama demanded, and I just knew she was giving her that serious finger point that mothers seemed to have down to an art form.

"Well, he scared me, and I dropped some vials and they may have combined to make a mild paralytic gas," she said, and I tried to roll my eyes at her absurd explanation. I mean, what 11-year-old even knows how to do something like that let alone actually attempts to do so?

"So, you nerve gassed your brother?" Mama asked, and I laughed in my head at the fact that we called it the same thing.

"No, as I said, it was a paralytic gas," Carly said a bit condescendingly. A big mistake.

"Don't play semantics with me, little girl. How are we supposed to get him out of there?" I heard Mama ask.

"You put this on," Carly said. It must have been either her own or another gas mask.

"Trey, come on," Mama said as she opened the door. I saw that it was just her so the mask she was wearing must have been the one Carly had had on. She grabbed me by my ankles and dragged me out of the room before closing the door behind her.

"Hey, what happened?" Calvin asked as he walked down the hallway towards us.

"Help me get your brother to his room," Mama said while she still had ahold of my ankles.

"What happened to him?" Calvin asked as he lifted me up by my armpits. He seemed like he had most of my weight.

"Your sister paralyzed him," Mama said as she shot Carly a brief glare before they started carrying me to my room.

"I told you," Calvin said after they'd laid me on my bed. I was already starting to get the feeling back in my limbs, but I still couldn't speak.

"Calvin, I don't have time for that "evil sister" mess right now," Mama said as she sat down next to me on my bed. She did shoot Carly another brief glare before looking back at me.

"Hello, she just paralyzed your kid with chemicals she brewed up in her secret lab. If that doesn't scream "evil villain" I don't know what does," Calvin said, and while normally I would have made fun of how hysterical he sounded, lying on my bed recovering from paralysis gave me a new perspective.

"Her lab isn't secret. It's in plain view in her room," Mama said as she looked at Calvin while obviously trying not to roll her eyes. "At least, it used to be in her room," Mama said now looking at Carly.

"But Mama," Carly tried but Mama held up her hand.

"You just paralyzed your brother. You're cut off for two months. If it happens again after that, you're cut off for good," Mama said before telling her to go box up her stuff and sending Calvin to make sure she did what she was told to do.

"Calvin may be right," I was finally able to say, well mumble.

"She's just trying out things. I think I'd know if my daughter was an evil genius," she said before patting my arm. That's what all parents thought of their psycho kids before the police found the bodies buried under the floorboards.

"Yeah, sure," I chose to say instead of what I was thinking. It may have also been because I hadn't completely regained my ability to speak back yet.

Carly pleaded with Mama to let her keep her lab. She tried all types of emotional blackmail, but Mama wasn't moved. I was really surprised at her willpower as I was just about ready to convince Mama to let her keep it, and I was the one who had been paralyzed.

After about 2 hours, I was able to stand, although I was like a newborn deer on my legs. I was also able to talk without sounding like I'd just been to the dentist and had gotten a Novocain shot. I thought that maybe a shower would be nice, so I went and tried to stand under the hot spray of water. It seemed to do wonders as I started to feel my body like I normally could.

After getting out of the shower and considering burning the clothes I'd had on just in case there was more of that chemical gas on it, I dried off and wrapped the towel around me before heading to my room. I looked through my bag to find something to put on. I had just finished slipping on my underwear when my bedroom door flew open. I looked to see Liberty and Justice standing there.

"What the hell?" I said as I grabbed the first shirt I could find and covered myself.

"Hey Trey," Justice said, but she sounded kind of distracted.

"Hey indeed," Liberty said with a smirk on her face as her eyes roved over my body. I rushed towards them and pushed them out the door before slamming it behind them.

"Oh, come on Trey. You don't have to be embarrassed," Justice said as I fought the heat of the severe blush that was overtaking me.

"Yeah, you most definitely don't have anything to be embarrassed about. Have you always looked like that under your clothes?" Liberty said, and I suddenly felt the urge to put on every piece of clothing I had.

I rushed to get some clothes on while trying not to think about what they might have seen. I realized deep down that I had no reason to feel the way I was feeling, but at my heart, I guess I was still a prude. I didn't want to think of them seeing me, especially the bulge in my shorts, as I knew it would make me feel awkward around them.

I finished getting dressed and looked myself over in the mirror. The feeling of satisfaction in the way I looked in my clothes was very brief as I remembered that my twin friends had seen me mostly naked. I shuddered as I thought that they could have seen the full monty had they been a minute earlier. I shook the thought and all thoughts related to that out of my head and finally opened the door. They were trying to appear to be casual as they leaned against the wall opposite my room.

"We don't speak of this again," I said before leaving them there to follow me if they wanted.

"Speak of what Boo-boo?" Liberty asked, and I could hear the extreme amusement in her voice as they followed me.

"Veronica?" I said as I reached the living room to see her sitting on the sofa looking at her phone.

"Hey hon," she said without looking away from her phone.

"What are you doing down here? You didn't feel like barging into my room while I was half dressed?" I asked, making sure to look at the twins as I asked the second question.

"No see, my mom raised me to have manners, so I know not to barge in on people unexpectedly," Veronica said as an obvious dig to Liberty and Justice as she looked at the two of them as she spoke.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Liberty asked as she folded her arms and glared at Veronica.

"It means that I would have thought that you would have learned your lesson about barging in on people unannounced from the last time you did it," Veronica said before shooting her a smirk.

"You're lucky that I think you being bisexual is interesting, or else I'd be gutting your ass like a fish right now," Liberty said in a seemingly real threat. I didn't buy it though.

"Yeah, sure love," Veronica said before going back to her phone. Justice snorted out a laugh in response. Liberty stared at Veronica with an evil glare before her face relaxed and she went to sit down next to her. Veronica showed her something on her phone and they both started laughing. It was weird.

"Are they dating?" Justice asked as she stood next to me.

"Don't ask me. She's your sister. You should know," I said, and she just shrugged and went to sit in one of the armchairs. The doorbell rang, and I went to answer it.

"Hey sweetie, how are you?" Jessica said as she came in and closed the door behind her quickly. She was very peppy, and something felt off, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Hey Jessica," I said slowly as I looked at her.

"Let's go in there," she said as she grabbed my arm and dragged me back into the living room.

"Hey Jess," Justice said as she looked up from her phone.

"Hi Justice," Jessica said, again being very peppy. I couldn't help but think there was something I was missing.

"Girl, where you get Givenchy from?" Veronica asked after looking up and doing a double take.

"How you know that's Givenchy?" Liberty asked as she looked her over. She was referring to the outfit that Jessica had on that did look a little fancy.

"From a friend," Jessica said with a too wide smile on her face. The doorbell rang again, and I wondered out loud who it was as the guys weren't coming home until tomorrow and Liberty had said that Christian was going home for the weekend.

"It's probably nobody," Jessica said with wide eyes. I looked at her suspiciously as I went to answer the door.

"What the fuck?" I said as I opened the door to see a pissed off Jessica on the other side, with her crutches and her leg still in it's cast that wasn't supposed to come off until after the new year. I mentally slapped myself for forgetting about that.

"Where is that skank?" Jessica asked through gritted teeth. I figured she was talking about her look-a-like, so I pointed toward the living room while I tried to close my mouth that had dropped open. Jessica sped past me faster than I thought a person on crutches should be able to. I recovered quickly enough and rushed to follow her.

"Holy Olsen twins," Veronica said as I reached the living room. She along with Liberty and Justice were looking back and forth between Jessica and her doppelganger with wide eyes.

"Um Jessica, why are there two of you?" Justice asked as she moved closer to Jessica.

"There's not two of me, genius. There's me and then there's this sow right here," Jessica said as she aggressively pointed toward, whoever she was.

"Who are you calling a sow?" Jessica's "twin," asked looking annoyed.

"I'm calling you a sow," Jessica said as she lumbered over so they could stare each other down.

"Sows don't fit Givenchy," doppelganger said sounding very snooty.

"Oh sorry, I meant bougie sow," Jessica said, and I heard three stifled laughs. I looked over and saw that the girls were trying to keep a straight face.

"Um, as entertaining as this is, why are we just now finding out you have a twin?" Liberty asked and that was a good question.

"This... person, is not my twin," Jessica said as she continued to glare at the other her.

"Certainly not," doppelganger said with an annoyingly snooty tone.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jessica asked with Liberty-like attitude as she moved closer to her.

"My dear, if you don't know, then it's already far too late," she said with a haughty smirk before turning her head away from Jessica.

"Jessica, who is that?" I asked as I couldn't deal with this anymore.

"This person is, unfortunately, my cousin Dreama," Jessica said as she looked at this girl, who was apparently her cousin, with as much disdain as I've ever seen her direct at another person, even including Drake and Alicia.

"Wait, this whole look-a-like cousin thing really happens?" Veronica asked as she looked back and forth between the two of them. They looked like twins to me and I considered myself an expert in the subject with having sisters and friends who were twins.

"It's actually pretty common, You see-" Justice started to explain before Veronica interrupted her.

"That's enough of that. I don't need to hear a thesis on this subject. I can see the proof, it exists," Veronica said before taking one last look at the two of them before sitting back down and looking at her phone.

I finally convinced Jessica to sit down. She explained that her cousin had driven them there and ran off and left her to wrangle her casted leg out of the car. I started looking at this girl suspiciously cause I felt she was up to something. Why would she let us believe she was Jessica? This wasn't some twin swap cause my family had endured that more than once, although it never worked on me as I could always tell Cara and Carly apart. No, this girl made me suspicious for some reason.

When Jessica finally calmed down, we got to talking and catching up since the last time I'd seen them. I was also grilled by them about Drake. Apparently, Miriam had a big mouth and had told them that I was BFFs with Drake now. First, I shuddered at the thought. Then I explained that just because Drake and I were trying to co-exist without animosity didn't mean we were friends or anything.

The thought was absurd to me as I didn't think I'd be able to truly forgive Drake for all the shit he'd done to me and the people I cared about. Deep down, part of me knew that I'd find some way to do so as I'd done with Zane and Todd, but I didn't have to acknowledge that part for the time being.

Jessica did her best to ignore her cousin, but it was obvious that she wasn't about to be ignored with the way she butted into conversations. The girls tried to stand by Jessica for the most part but when Dreama started going on and on about the places she'd been and the things she'd done, they switched teams. I remained loyal to Jessica, especially since I didn't really trust her cousin.

Carly moped around and tried to get sympathy from Liberty and Justice for what she felt was unfair treatment by our mother. She and Justice whispered about something for a few minutes and I was certain I didn't like that.

Calvin came in and Liberty commented that he looked like he was trying to be like Bear. Calvin said that she had him mistaken for someone else. I asked him what was wrong with him being like Bear? He said that his melanin and his girlfriend prevented that. Veronica joked that Alex probably wouldn't like being called his girlfriend. He responded by flipping her the bird before walking away.

Dad came home later with some Chinese takeout and I swear Jessica looked disappointed. I kind of was as well as I was really craving some of my mother's home cooking after being away at school for almost a month. The deliciousness of Thanksgiving dinner contributed to the withdrawals.

The girls left after Liberty was caught trying to look at presents under our tree. Mama saw her and shooed her out the door. After they were gone, I said goodnight to the rents before going up to my room. I was tired from the eventful day, so I planned to crash. That plan fell away though when Bear called. We talked for a couple of hours before he told me to go to sleep after the 6th time I yawned loudly. We said goodnight to each other and planned to meet the next day when he got home. I found a smile on my face as I drifted off to sleep, but then again, Bear almost always made me smile.

The next day found me headed over to Carter's house. The guys had arrived home earlier in the morning and we were all meeting over at Sean's place because of course, he was having a party. I headed over to Carter's first though as I needed to get his cousin's number from him, so I could get started on something for Bear for Christmas. I could have just called him and asked, but I wanted to see him.

I could tell that his dad wasn't too keen on seeing me though as I showed up at his house. He wasn't mean or anything as he opened the door, but I could tell he'd rather not spend too much time in my presence. I wondered if Carter experienced the same thing from him. He did let me in though and told me to go on up to Carter's room.

When I made it to Carter's room, I could see the door cracked open and I could hear Milkshake by Kelis playing on his iPhone that was docked to his stereo. I pushed open the door a bit and saw him with his back to me. He was in a pair of sweatpants and nothing else as he shook his booty and sang along to the song while looking at some clothes laid out on his bed.

"My, milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like it's better than yours, damn right it's better than yours, I could teach you, but I'll have to charge," he sang as he continued to shake his ass.

"You don't say," I said which most definitely startled him as he jumped and spun around quickly.

"Damn, Trey, don't do that," he said as he held a hand to his chest while trying to steady his breathing.

"Does your milkshake really bring all the boys to the yard?" I asked as coyly as I could. He managed to recover quickly enough, and a sexy grin appeared on his lips.

"Well, I haven't had any complaints," he said before giving me a wink.

"I don't know, I think I'd have to see this milkshake again before I see if it's worth all the fuss," I said as I casually leaned against the wall next to the door that I closed behind me. I didn't see anything wrong with a little harmless flirting between friends. He smirked before strolling over to me.

"I think you'd better not get anything started that you don't intend to finish," he said as he leaned against the same wall close to me. He smelled freshly showered with a really good smelling cologne splashed on. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that my dick twitched with him standing there like that. I got over it though when another thought occurred to me and I breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I'll just be over here," I said as I slipped away from him and walked over to the chair.

"So, what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" Carter asked as he headed back over to his bed.

"I want you to give me your cousin Deshae's number," I said as I pulled out my phone.

"Why do you want his number?" Carter asked as he looked at me with a raised eyebrow. He didn't talk about his family much, but I'd heard about his cousin. He was a graphic artist who also designed clothes and I needed his help with my present for Bear.

"I need his help with what I plan to get Bear for Christmas," I said, and he nodded after a few seconds of thinking of what that could be. He reached for his phone, looked through it, and read his number out to me.

"You know, you could have just called me or texted me to ask for his number," he said as he looked at me with a curious look on his face.

"I could have," I said simply.

"Which begs the question, why did you come all the way over here just to get a phone number you could have gotten with just a call or text?" He asked as he studied me.

"I wanted to know how you all were doing, and I wanted an honest and non-snarky answer," I said, and he snorted.

"You mean you want to know how we're doing without you?" He said, and since it wasn't a lie, I just nodded.

"I miss you guys. I like being closer to Bear, even with all the crap that's happened there, but I miss being with you all too. I feel like I don't talk to you all at all," I said, and I even shocked myself as I'd managed to bury these feelings, or rather, I didn't have time to deal with them with everything else going on.

"We do too man, but we know you're where you need to be," he said, and I nodded. He came over and sat on the stool next to the chair. "Sean is doing much better, Christian is fine as long as Liberty is there and as for her, she talks a good game about how pissed she is that you went off and "left her", but she's proud of you nonetheless," he said. I knew what he was saying was true, but I was still hesitant to believe it at the same time.

"How do you know for sure?" I asked, and he smiled.

"You learn a lot when you're silent and observant," he said before patting my leg and getting up. He went back to the clothes and I told him I'd see him later when I saw he was about to get dressed.

He joked that I was leaving cause I was scared to see him naked. I joked back that I wasn't afraid to see him naked as I'd already conjured an image of what he'd look like naked from various clues I'd received. I then looked him up and down and gave him a wink before leaving his room. I'm sure that if his skin was lighter, I'd have been able to see him blush. I left his house without having to see his father again, for which I was thankful. I had enough negativity in my life to invite any more.

Sean's party was pretty lit with a sort of reunion of a lot of the kids we'd gone to high school with. Jeremy and his girlfriend Kelly, whom I was happy to see he was still dating, showed up with Todd and, to my shock, Todd's boyfriend Tony Mason. Even though I knew that Todd was gay, it was weird seeing him with another guy. I guess it was what a lot of people went through with Bear and Carter.

Calvin and Alex were there too with Calvin's girlfriend Anika and her friend Mirage. It was funny to see one of the former cheerleaders almost get into a fight with Anika cause she was flirting with Calvin. I assumed she didn't know that Calvin was my little brother, mostly cause Calvin looked almost like a fully-grown man, but maybe she knew who he was and was looking to get her a young man.

My mood dipped a bit when I heard two girls off by themselves talking about Alicia's baby and the speculation that Bear was the father. One of the girls said to the other that she knew that a guy like Bear wouldn't really "turn gay", that he was probably just being a good friend, and that she should have tried to get him away from me.

That part really pissed me off and I was about to go and tell them to kiss my ass but then that pesky self-doubt started to flare up and I started to wonder if they were right. I started to walk away and walked right into Bear and alerted the girls to our presence. Looking into his eyes let me know he'd heard the girls too.

He winked and smiled at the girls to which they smiled and flushed. Then he pulled me to him and gave me a long and deep kiss. He then told me he had been looking for me before wrapping an arm around me and leading me away from the girls. I looked back and saw that they were looking longingly at Bear and I added salt to the wound with a smug grin. The party was enjoyable again after that, especially when Bear felt the need to keep me close and show his affection for me without a care in the world. That would always make me happy

I felt a kiss on my cheek. Then, I felt a soft touch caress my face. Then, felt another kiss, this time on my lips. I decided that I liked this dream. I realized that it wasn't a dream when my bed started shaking violently. I opened one eye and fixed my face in an angry frown only to be met with an amazing smile and beautiful blue eyes.

"Merry Christmas baby," Bear said as he looked down at me. I was still annoyed that I was awakened, but I managed to change my expression to be more welcoming.

"You too," I said with what I hoped was a believable enough smile. He seemed to buy it so that was good.

"I know you're annoyed that I woke you up," he said with a smirk as he laid down on his side next to me. Busted.

"Yeah, sorry," I said even though I didn't know why I was apologizing.

"That's fine," he said before leaning over and giving me a brief peck on the lips. That wasn't gonna work for me though, so I told him to wait while I got up and went to the bathroom to quickly brush my teeth. When I returned, I got back on my bed and gave him a proper kiss to make up for my grouchiness. He was smiling big when the kiss ended so I considered my job complete.

"Better?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Yes definitely," he said, and his smile lifted my earlier grouchiness.

"What are you doing over here so early?" I asked as I didn't expect to see him until maybe later in the afternoon.

"My brother came home for Christmas," he said with a slight frown. I felt bad because it seemed like things weren't ever gonna change between them. I knew people were estranged from their siblings all the time, but it didn't sit right with me. The time I wasn't talking to my brothers was hell, even though I was mad with them, especially Zane.

"You two are never gonna get along, are you?" I asked unable to stop the desire to help patch up things between them even though I really hated Brian.

"Nope, especially if he keeps being an asshole to you", he said, and while that made me even more sad for him, I decided to put it out of my head for the moment.

"Let's go," I said as I got up and stood next to my bed.

"Where?" He asked as he also got up.

"Were going downstairs silly," I said before taking his hand and pulling him along.

We headed downstairs and bypassed the tree as nobody else was there. We instead headed for the kitchen where everyone else seemed to be gathered. My dad and siblings were at the table along with Uncle Eric. Mama and Grandma Alice were at the stove, Mama cooking Christmas dinner and Grandma Alice putting together a small breakfast. Dad installing that 6 burner stove and double ovens a few years ago was a good idea. My mother's parents were spending Christmas with My Aunt Janice and her family. I was bummed about it, but we didn't have the right to hog them all the time.

Bear headed for the table while I took a trip by the stove to give my mother a kiss on the cheek and a hug to my grandmother. With that done I joined everyone else at the table just in time to dig into the breakfast. It wasn't big or fancy by any means as we'd be eating a big dinner later.

Once we were done Calvin and the twins took off running towards the tree. The adults laughed before following after them. Bear and I followed after them as well. I mostly got clothes and things like that which I could appreciate. All in all our hauls were good.

Bear took ahold of my hand and told me to follow him and so I did. We went back up to my room and I thought we were about to get up to something but he just told me to sit down on my bed while he got a gift-wrapped box from behind the chair in the corner. I couldn't help but smile at the surprise.

He sat down on my bed facing me and placed the box in between us. I wasted no time in tearing the paper from the box. I looked inside and saw some t-shirts. I'll admit that I was a bit disappointed that all that fanfare was for some t-shirts. He seemed to realize this as he told me to look at the shirts.

I pulled the first one out, which was white, and on the front was "BlackLivesMatter" written in black letters. He then lifted up his sweater and he was wearing one too but it was black with white letters. I smile and set it aside to get the next one.

It was pink and on the front was "LGBT" in rainbow letters with the G bigger than the rest. He raised the first t-shirt and it said the same, but the B was bigger than the rest. I chuckled at that.

Then I pulled the next one out and busted out laughing at it. It was green and said "PITCHER" in white letters. I knew what was coming next as he lifted the pink shirt and the green one he had on said, "CATCHER". I raised an eyebrow at him in question as he was the so-called pitcher in our relationship more than I was. He grinned and said it would shock people.

I shook my head at my loveable doofus and laid the shirt aside as I pulled out the last shirt. It was red and said "I'm With Him" with an arrow pointing to the left. He raised the catcher shirt and the one he had on was the same, except the arrow pointed right.

I smiled at Bear and he beamed at me as I guess he could tell I liked his gift. I loved it actually. I kissed him then got up to get his gift that I'd stored in my closet. I was fortunate that I'd got it done in the short time I had. It was a large frame that was gift-wrapped. He looked at it, then at me before looking at the frame again.

He pulled back the paper and in the frame was an excellent rendering of a sketch I'd done which was of an anthropomorphic bear in a football uniform holding a football and in mid-run. His smile and the look in his eyes was all the thanks I needed. I pulled the box from under my bed with a brown t-shirt with the same art on it. I shook my head at the thought that we had similar ideas about Christmas gifts for each other.

When he saw what it was, he pulled off his sweater and the t-shirts he was wearing and put his new one on right then. He looked in the mirror and did some poses. Some were funny, some were hot. When he was finished he walked over and pulled me into a hug. We kissed for a bit before we were interrupted with a call to dinner.

Dinner was great as usual. Mama beamed at the compliments that she got while everyone chowed down. Calvin's girlfriend Anika joined us for dinner and he was trying to eat all neat and dignified when he usually inhaled his food, especially lately if Thanksgiving was any indication. Even my grandfather Henry was more cordial towards me than he'd been since learning about me being gay. It was a great dinner and it made me miss my family. I decided to make more of an effort to come home to visit the family.

After dinner, Bear and I stopped by each of our friends' houses for a bit. Jessica's grandparents were in town but her brother was with his girl which their mother was not happy about. Liberty had Christian and Sed over while Justice was over at Sean's place as well as Veronica and her family.

I was going to go to Miriam's place but she told me that Kenji had surprised her with a visit and a gift so I decided to let them have their time. It turned out to be the right thing as she called me later and told me that they almost got into a fight because of stuff he'd said about me. I guess some things never changed. It didn't matter in the end though as it was a great Christmas anyway.

NEW YEARS

"And then when the clock strikes twelve, we'll all get naked," Sean said and I made sure to wait a minute before responding to his ridiculous plan so I wouldn't sound so mean.

"You're a gigantic ass," I said and maybe I didn't take enough time.

I was in my room at home and I was on the phone with Sean discussing our plans for New Years. We usually had it at his house, at least we had ever since I had become friends with him. Before then I would spend it at home, sometimes with my friends, but oftentimes with just my family as my friends had been invited to parties and I didn't want them to know I wasn't popular like they were.

"Then I'd better stop being one cause I don't want your cock anywhere near me," he said and I could hear the smile on his face over the phone. He was so easily amused by his own dumb jokes.

"That's not what I heard," I quipped.

"What have you heard?" He asked in a tone that almost made me laugh.

"Nevermind," I said, happy that I'd gotten to him. Marcus would be proud as it was usually only him that could trip his brother up.

"No way. What have you heard?" He asked, even more insistently this time. I could have continued to tease him but the doorbell rang and I was the only one home.

"I'd love to answer that but I need to answer the door," I said before I ended the call. I could hear him still talking before the call ended.

I got off the bed and checked myself in the mirror as I was expecting Bear at the door. I was wearing my pink LGBT t-shirt as I was still in the house and the heat was on. When I was satisfied with my appearance, I headed downstairs and after almost tripping over Calvin's gym bag near the corner leading to the front door, I arrived at the door and took a second before I opened it.

"Hey Big guy," I said all giddy, but my face fell when I saw not just Bear standing on my doorstep but Steph as well and they both looked mad, well Bear looked seriously pissed off. I started to say something but Bear just brushed past me as he walked into the house.

"Bear come on. You can't really be mad with me over this," Steph said as she followed him. Confused, I followed them into my house to find out what was wrong.

"What's going on?" I asked Steph as Bear had already made it up the stairs and was heading down the hall towards the bedrooms when I got into the living room.

"He and Brian got into another fight and to keep them from getting into an actual physical fight I dragged Bear out of the house and brought him over here," she said and I cursed Brian under my breath.

"I'll get him," I said before leaving her and heading up to my bedroom where I was sure Bear was. When I got to my room he was sitting on the floor at the foot of my bed with his back up against it. I joined him there and waited for a minute before I spoke.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked to give him an out in case he didn't want to talk about Brian. I was all for that if that's what he wanted.

"Nope," he said. I nodded and instead took his hand and threaded our fingers together. He released a breath and it felt like some of the tension he was feeling eased.

"Okay," I said and laid my head on his shoulder. He laid his head against mine and it would have been a great intimate moment if only he wasn't upset about his brother. I didn't mind though as being there for your partner was a big part of being in a relationship. He had definitely been there enough for me.

"It hasn't always been like this. We use to get along," he said and he was right. Brian was one of his biggest fans when he was younger and started playing football.

"I know, I remember," I said and he let out a deep sigh.

"I don't know what happened between us," he said but I knew he really did know as did I.

"I happened," I said, feeling guilty about the role I know I had played in the animosity between Bear and his brother.

"No, you didn't. Brian and I weren't getting along well before we got together," he said, and while I'm sure he believed that, I wasn't convinced that it wasn't my fault. I didn't argue with him though.

"What did he say about me?" I asked instead.

"The same old stuff he always says," Bear said, but I could tell he was holding back from telling me what he'd really said. I didn't press him on it though.

"No matter what he says about me, I'll be fine. I know who I am and we know who we are together. He can have any dumbass opinion he wants but it'll never change us."

"I just wish he would like you as I do," he said and I snickered a bit.

"Well, if he did then you'd have a new problem and still be fighting," I joked even though the thought of Brian liking me wasn't very pleasant at all.

"Like he'd stand a chance next to me," Bear joked back. I took it as a sign that his mood was improving a bit.

"I can definitely attest to that," I said and he smiled just a bit.

"It just gets so tiring having to do battle with my brother every time I see him just because he is butthurt for some reason because I'm in love with another guy. I mean, it doesn't affect his life so I don't get why he's so invested in it," he said and that was true.

The lives of people like Bear and myself didn't affect other people's lives so I didn't get why there was so much hate for us either. The fact that a lot of hate for us comes from non-evangelicals was what really got to me cause they really had no basis for their hate aside from being small-minded gigantic assholes.

"Well supposedly, it gets better," I said even though sometimes it didn't seem that way.

"Yeah," Bear said but there was such a heaviness in his voice that I could tell he wasn't sure about that. As I watched him stare at my wall, it dawned on me that Bear was probably feeling that feeling of hopelessness that I'd felt a lot over the years. I didn't like that as I didn't want that feeling to ever befall him. His supreme optimism annoyed me at times, but it was one of the things I loved about him. I could deal with a furious Bear but a defeated Bear was hurting me.

At that moment, I wanted to hurt Brian more than anything. After what felt like forever I looked at Bear and he was looking at me with a curious look on his face like he was studying me. He suddenly grabbed my wrist in a tight grip and pulled me to his side. He wrapped both arms around me tightly and while it was strangely nice, it confused me too.

"I'll deal with my own brother," he said after a minute.

"Huh?" I said and he chuckled slightly.

"I saw the look on your face and I could tell what you were thinking. I'll deal with my own brother," Bear said and I could have taken that in the spirit it was spoken but I wasn't one to not go off the deep end at the worst times.

"Like you let me deal with my own brother?" I asked and immediately cringed.

"I was wrong for what I did, but you did eventually deal with your brother. Also, if my brother does to me what yours did to you then you have my permission to do whatever you want to him," he said, and I hated myself even more because he answered so calmly and logically.

"I wish I could fix this for you," I said instead of putting my foot further in my mouth.

"I know you do," he said before placing a kiss on my cheek.

He sighed before standing up. He held out a hand to help me up. When I was standing, he didn't let go of my hand. Instead, he led me with him out of my room and down the stairs. Steph was sitting on a sofa in the living room looking at her phone. When she saw us, she slipped it into her pocket and stood up.

Bear apologized to his sister for blaming her for taking him away from their house and thanked her for taking the initiative to put distance between him and Brian. She simply nodded and he gave her a tight hug. She tried to pretend like she wasn't for it but I could tell that she was happy that her brother had hugged her.

Calvin came home a little while later along with Anika. They were so cute together. Watching Calvin be all whipped was entertaining indeed. It was clear though that Anika didn't like Steph judging by the sly looks she was aiming her way and the passive-aggressive things she was saying. Steph for her part ignored her which I think pissed Anika off more.

My mother was out of town for the night, my dad was going to be late, and my sisters were spending the night with a friend so Calvin and I had to fend for ourselves foodwise. Since I didn't want to cook nor did I trust Calvin to do it, he and Bear made a food run instead. That left me alone with Anika and Steph and I was never happier to hear a doorbell ring than I was about 10 minutes after the guys had left. I went to answer the door and was surprised with who was at the door.

"What are you doing here?" I asked none other than Drake Franklin.

"This is a bad idea, isn't it?" He asked looking very uncomfortable. I wasn't sure about what or how I felt about it.

"I don't know. It depends on what you're doing here," I said. I tried hard to keep the details of the last time Drake had been at my house from coming flooding back to me. I was unsuccessful and I think he saw that on my face.

"This was a bad idea. I told her so," he said looking like he was ready to leave but knew he couldn't at the same time.

"Told who?" I asked. I knew he couldn't have been talking about Liberty.

"Hey, Trey," said Serena as she almost skipped up to the door to stand beside Drake.

"Serena, hey," I said now feeling very confused.

"We were in town and since you're the only friend of Drake's that I know, I wanted him to show me where you live," she said and she was being very presumptuous calling me Drake's friend. I didn't correct her though since I just couldn't find it in me to do so. She was so positive and happy that she disarmed me and any negativity I could muster.

"Oh," I simply said. We kind of stood there awkwardly for a minute before anybody spoke.

"Are you gonna invite us in?" She asked looking so hopeful that I couldn't say no. I opened the door wider as an invitation to them. Serena practically bounced in while Drake dragged behind her. He looked so uncomfortable and I was suddenly liking it. I lead the two of them into the living room.

"Drake," Steph hissed as she stood up abruptly.

"Shit," Drake said under his breath.

"Hi there, you must be Trey's sister. I'm Serena," Serena said cheerfully as she walked to Steph and extended her hand.

"Babe, how could you think that? He's Black and she's white," Drake said and I had to struggle not to roll my eyes. Like that sort of thing had never happened before.

"Don't be so small-minded. That doesn't matter. You sound really racist right now," Serena said while staring her boyfriend down with a scowl. I didn't miss the snort of suppressed laughter from Steph.

"I didn't mean it like that," Drake said looking desperate. It was weird seeing him like that as his usual annoyingly cocky swagger was MIA.

"I hope you didn't," Serena said before turning back to Steph and Anika who was now very interested in what was going on.

"Serena, that's Stephanie, and that's Anika," I said as I gestured toward them. "Steph is Bear's sister and Anika is my brother's girlfriend," I continued.

"Yes, I'm his girlfriend," Anika echoed making sure to shoot Steph a sly wink.

"Whatever," Steph said with a roll of her eyes. I didn't understand why Anika was acting so jealous as Steph didn't seem one bit interested in Calvin as anything more than a friend.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Serena said sounding oblivious to what was going on between them.

"What the fuck?" I heard from the direction of the living room entrance. We all turned to see Calvin standing there holding a couple of bags and scowling at Drake.

"Hey bro," I said not knowing what else to do. Those memories were really coming back now.

"That's Calvin?" Drake asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah motherfucker, what of it?" Calvin asked as he dropped the bags on the nearby table and slowly walked toward Drake with his scowl now a glare. I looked at Anika and jerked my head in Calvin's direction hoping she would realize I wanted her to get her man under control.

"Calvin sweetie, did you get my chips. You know how I am when I'm hungry," Anika said and her tone probably would have had him jumping to her will, any other day. He walked back to the table where the bags were, reached in and grabbed a big bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos and threw them at Anika all while not taking his eyes off of Drake. She looked at him with a shocked look on her face, looked at the bag of Cheetos at her feet on the floor, then looked back at Calvin with a frown.

"Look, dude, I don't want any trouble," Drake said as he held up his hands. I'd never seen him back away from a fight before, no matter how outmatched he was.

"Too bad asshat. You got some nerve stepping up in here after what you did to Trey," Calvin said as he stalked toward Drake.

"Um, what's going on here?" Serena asked looking a bit terrified.

"Trey," I heard and I was unsure if hearing Bear's voice was a good thing or not. I looked and he was carrying a couple of bags and a box with what I guessed was the rest of our food.

"Drake and Serena stopped by," I said as I looked at him. He looked into my eyes for a few seconds before nodding.

"Hey Cal, help me with this," he said even though I'm sure he would have enjoyed watching Calvin kick Drake's ass.

"Later, I'm busy," Calvin said as he came to a stop in front of Drake. It was weird watching Drake size Calvin up and seeing that Calvin was slightly taller than him but much more built. I liked watching Drake wondering if he could take Calvin but at the same time, I also didn't want Calvin to hurt him. I was such a goody-two-shoes sometimes.

"Cool off Calvin," I finally said as I walked to stand between them.

"You're protecting this prick? Did you forget what he did to you?" Calvin asked with a look on his face that was a cross between furious and incredulous.

"No, I haven't forgotten what he nor anybody else did to me," I said as I stared him straight on. I saw the guilty look cross his face and that's what I was looking for. While Calvin hadn't physically done anything to hurt me, he'd played his part.

"Come on," Bear said as he walked up to Calvin. Calvin stared at me for a few more seconds before he followed Bear over to the table. Anika got up and took his hand before leading him off into the kitchen.

"I feel like there's something very serious going on," Serena said, and she had no idea. I think this was when I fully realized that Drake had somehow managed to keep quiet about anything having to do with me and our past. I found it astounding considering the fact that he seemed incapable of ignoring me nor telling me just how detestable he found me when we were in high school. A year and a half couldn't have possibly changed him that much.

"I think we should go," Drake said before heading toward the door. He stopped at the entrance to the living room to see that Serena hadn't budged.

"Is there something I should know?" Serena asked. I thought she was talking to Drake but I saw that she was looking at me. I turned and looked at Drake with a questioning look on my face. I also made sure to add a little of that smugness that he loved so much.

"Is there something she should know Drake?" I asked before turning the smugness a bit. He looked at her before shifting his gaze to me, then Bear, and finally Steph before landing back on me. There was something in his gaze that again got to me. His shoulders slumped after a few seconds and he looked like he was about to tell her the truth.

"I-," He started but I interrupted him. I needed to stop being so easily manipulated by other peoples' emotions.

"It's not that important," I finally said and he looked relieved. It confused me as to why though. Unfortunately, it seemed as though Serena was destined to learn what a horrible person Drake had been to me.

"What the hell are you doing in my house?" I heard in the angry voice of my dad. Before anybody could react, he had grabbed Drake and slammed him up against the wall. It seemed like such a Bear thing to do that I wondered if my boyfriend had been a bad influence on my dad. Stupid shit like that went through my head sometimes.

"Damnit!" Drake said as he was slammed into the wall.

"Let him go," Serena said as she rushed to Drake.

"Dad, let him go," I pleaded for some reason. Everything that had happened so far should have been making me happy but it wasn't.

"What the hell is he doing in my house?!" Dad demanded to know.

"I invited him in," I said and he turned to me with a confused look on his face.

"Why would you invite this piece of shit into my house after he ran his ass all over this town telling everybody he saw that you and Bear were gay?" Dad asked with a similar incredulous look that Calvin had had.

"That's what I said," I heard and turned to see Calvin near the entrance to the kitchen with Anika behind him.

"Dad," I tried but Calvin jumped in.

"Trey, this jackass outed you to everybody he could. Then he spent the rest of your junior year and all of your senior year trying his best to make your life as miserable as possible," Calvin said again with that mixture of incredulousness and anger. He spoke the truth but for some reason, I wanted to defend Drake. I wondered, briefly, if it was because I didn't want his girlfriend to know how cruel of a person he'd been to me.

"I didn't-" Drake started but Dad shoved him back into the wall and told him to shut up.

"You didn't what? Are you trying to say that you weren't a jackass to my brother all the time?" Calvin asked sarcastically. It was like he was enjoying this and when I looked and saw Serena I realized that he was enjoying telling Drake's girlfriend all he'd done to me.

"Calvin," I started but he didn't give me a chance to say anything more.

"You're right you know. I was wrong. There were those two months that Trey was in a coma that you didn't have to harass him for having the gall to be gay at the same school as you. You certainly didn't waste any time after he woke up though and came back to school before you started right back up again. In fact, I'll bet you'd be doing it right now if you weren't worried about Trey telling your dirty little secret," he said and that was it. I couldn't let him go any further.

"That's enough!" I said strongly and everybody looked at me.

"But Trey," Calvin pleaded but this needed to stop.

"Cal, you've said your piece now leave it alone," I told him. He looked like he wanted to argue but in the end, he gave up and went back over to Anika who started rubbing his back. "And Dad, let him go," I said strongly and perhaps stupidly to my father.

"Excuse me?" He asked with a questioning look of a parent whose child had just gotten outta pocket with them.

"I mean it," I said likely getting myself in even more hot water. He looked at me for what seemed forever but was just a minute or so before he roughly let Drake go.

"If you show up at my house again you little bastard, I'll-" Dad started but I had to remind him of the situation he was in.

"Dad, do I need to remind you that you're an adult, he's not, and he's not your kid?" I asked. I didn't want my dad getting arrested for assaulting a minor, although I wasn't sure if you were considered a minor at 20 in these sort of circumstances.

"You're really pissing me off, you know," he said as he walked over to me with a frustrated look on his face.

"I love you too," I said with a smirk. He let out a harsh breath before patting my shoulder and walking away.

I looked over at Bear and I could tell Calvin had said all the stuff he'd wanted to say, and my dad had done what he'd wanted to do but he hadn't because of me. I didn't know what to say about that. I looked over and saw that Serena looked sad. I expected anger or even indifference for some reason, but sadness was weird.

"Let's go in the kitchen," Bear said to Steph. They gathered the food and headed for the kitchen leaving just the three of us.

"Serena, listen," Drake said, but she held her hand up to stop him.

"Is all of that true?" She asked again not with anger but sadness. It suddenly dawned on me that she probably had a gay family member like Nicole had her friend Marty.

"Well, kinda," he started and I rolled my eyes because of course, he was gonna try to play it off. He then looked determined and took a deep breath. "No, I'm not gonna lie. I was a bastard in high school. I tried to do everything I could to hurt Trey and Bear. I didn't like what they were and I made sure I made them know that."

"I was humiliated by a friend of my ex-girlfriend and while I was fuming and plotting revenge on a whole lot of people, I finally started to think that maybe I was in the wrong. I wasn't about to admit that out loud then though. It wasn't until I met you that something came over me and made me actually want to change."

"After all, just because I didn't like gay people didn't mean that other people felt that way. I had no idea where you stood on the subject until one day when I saw you with your friend Joan and you told me that he- they were Non-Binary that you had people that were LGBT in your life. That cemented in me that I needed to find a way to change my way of thinking or risk losing you."

"And what is that thinking?" She asked after he'd taken a break.

"I'm not gonna lie and say that I'm totes in love with gay people now, but I will say that I'm trying to change. I wanna be a better man for you. You deserve me that's better than the jackass I was in high school," he said and I really wanted to dismiss his so-called heartfelt plea. The problem was that it was heartfelt, as far as I could tell.

"I need to think about some things," she said before turning to me. "I'm sorry we came over and disturbed your family," she said and she looked so sad for some reason that my heart went out to her.

"You don't have to apologize," I said and I meant it. She didn't know the history between Drake and myself so she wasn't in the wrong.

"Drake, I'll be outside," she said before leaving. I heard the front door open and close a few moments later.

"I guess this is where you start blaming me for what happened and you start declaring your intent to destroy me like the last time," I said to Drake once we were alone.

"I don't remember that last part happening," he said with a slight smirk which surprised me.

"That's not far off from what happened with Liberty," I told him which was true. He had blamed me for her breaking up with him.

"This is my fault. Somehow, I knew that she wouldn't approve of the way I'd been in high school," he said, now looking sad.

"Is that why you didn't tell her about me?" I asked even though it was obvious at this point.

"I didn't trust myself to talk about you without reverting back to my old self so I didn't mention you at all to her other than what I had to tell her," he said and I guess I understood.

"Oh," was all I had to say.

"I meant what I said. I was talking to you as well as her," he said and I was confused about what part he was referring.

"You meant what?" I asked and he did that smirk again. I was pretty sure that smirk would always make me wanna punch him.

"I'm not saying that I'm all of a sudden okay with gay people but I want you to know that I'm trying to change. You probably don't care but I was serious. I'm not saying that we'll ever be friends, but I don't think it'll hurt for us to be acquaintances at least," he said and I didn't know how to take that. We'd pretty much done this already but this was the first time he'd said this much on the subject.

"I don't know what to do with that," I said honestly cause I wasn't gonna lie and appease him.

"I might be willing to... talk about... boys, with you," he said, and I almost laughed at the fact that it looked like it took everything in him to utter those words.

"That was just a joke. That's never gonna happen," I said and I almost laughed again at the relief he tried to hide.

"Oh, okay," he said trying to sound disappointed but failing badly.

"I hope you two work things out," I said and I meant it. Serena was quickly seeming like a very good thing for Drake.

"Me too," he said before giving me an awkward wave and heading toward the front door. I heard it open and close a few moments later. I breathed a sigh of relief that that was over and no violence happened.

Everyone except Dad came back into the living room once the coast was clear. Bear didn't hesitate to hug me and I welcomed it. Calvin pouted because I didn't let him kick Drake's ass. I finally got to eat my food that needed to be warmed up and we all hung out and watched some movies on Netflix.

Once it got late Bear said it was time for him and Steph to go. He didn't seem too happy about it so I invited them to stay over. That cheered him up really quickly but it didn't make Anika happy. Steph didn't make it easy on her either by loudly saying that she needed a shower. Bear and I struggled to not laugh as Calvin took Anika outside to reassure her that nothing would happen.

Dad made sure of that when he showed Steph to Cara's room and told Bear he was sleeping in Calvin's room and Calvin was bunking with me as Carly's bed wouldn't hold up either of them. I guess that was Dad's revenge for me not letting him hurt Drake. As I went to bed with Calvin hogging the covers and crowding me out of my bed, I began to regret not letting them get to Drake.

"That's so awesome. Tell me again and do it slowly," Sean said which earned him a scowl from me. I had told my friends about the scene that had happened at my house the day before.

"I think you're enjoying this way too much," I said.

"You're damned right I am. I don't know why your friends with that asshole in the first place," Sean said and the rest of my friends nodded.

"Who said that we're friends?" I asked because I had missed the memo on that.

"You did. You haven't stopped talking about his stank ass since you got here," Liberty said with a sneer.

"Somebody sounds jealous," Bear teased as he went in to place a hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it before his land landed though.

"You must be smoking that good stuff jock boy," Liberty said before she threw his arm away from her. "I ain't got nothing to be jealous about. I know I come first in Trey's life," she said and wow. Bear cleared his throat to get her to correct her statement.

"I think Bear's trying to tell you something," Jessica said with a smirk. Liberty looked at Bear before rolling her eyes.

"I stand by what I said," she said arrogantly.

"Well you're wrong," I corrected her before aiming an air kiss at Bear. He smiled and my heart tugged.

"Well screw you then, bitch," Liberty said with a scowl.

"Love you too sweetie," I said and I didn't miss the sly smile she tried to hide.

"Did you just smile at that?" Justice asked and apparently, she didn't miss it either.

"No, and why are you all up in my damned face?" Liberty snapped. She was obviously embarrassed by her moment of humanity.

The two sisters argued for a while as the rest of us planned the party that was happening later that night. We decided against costumes so there was really nothing more to do but get supplies. Bear, Carter, and Christian made a run to the store while the girls and I helped Sean make sure everything was straight and put away to keep any damage down to a minimum.

Jeremy was the first to arrive, very early in fact. I was surprised to see his normally dark blonde locks were now blue and he had a nose ring. Kelly came through the door after him with a matching look. I wasn't one to judge though as long as they were comfortable. They helped get things set up so we were ready when the party started at 8.

Things were for the most part uneventful other than Veronica leading a Conga Line of guys and girls whom "she thought were hot". Bear and I slipped away from the party and awaited the countdown to 2016 in the garden outside. It was cold but Bear helped to keep me warm.

When it got time for the countdown Liberty and Christian bum rushed us and dragged us back into the house. We watched the ball drop and when it reached 0, we all popped our poppers and threw streamers. Then Bear grabbed me and planted a deep kiss on me. When we pulled apart, I looked and saw most everybody was making out. I noticed that Veronica was making out with Sarah Blade, Natasha Blade's sister. I looked for Dave and found him in a corner with Tina Sharp so he wasn't sad.

I then hugged all my friends once they were done with their own make out sessions and wished them a Happy New Year. Finally, I texted my parents, brothers, sisters, and grandparents to wish them a Happy New Year before grabbing Bear and finding somewhere to really celebrate. It was gonna be a good year...

To be continued.....

**** Author's Note:

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Chronicles of Trey, Bear, and their Friends and Family.

In this chapter, we cover the holidays. There's drama, there's laughs, and there's a bit of sadness. There's even a chemical attack because that's how I roll, lol. Through it all Trey and Bear remain together and their well on the road to repairing the damage done to their relationship. There's more to come for the group in the new year, especially Drake. Stay tuned...

I want to thank everyone who have red my story up until this point and have patiently for this chapter. All I can say is that life got in the way. There's been some thing, both good and bad that have happened over the time I haven't posted. I even had to go back and rewrite the entire chapter from scratch because of a stupid mistake. Anyway, I hope everyone like this chapter. I love to hear from readers and if you're interested feel free to email me at thestoryguy9783@gmail.com. Thank you all again for the continued support.

Until next time, Nicky.

**** Editor's Note:

Hey guys and welcome back for this long awaited chapter, hopefully you guys are still with us on this journey through their life. We have a bit of a time jump to Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Years.

I'm sure Nicky will mention most of the chapter in his corner so, I will just say if you guys are enjoy this long overdue chapter let us know. You can reach Nicky at the email above, and me at jd.kaster1987@gmail.com.

Until next time guys.