Thanks for all the emails you guys sent. It was great hearing from everyone who enjoyed the story.
To the people who emailed offering to tell me about guitars and amplifiers and other equipment; don't worry. I've been a guitarist for 12 years so I know what I'm talking about. Though if I do manage to mess up somewhere, feel free to email and call me a moron.
A couple of people also asked if I had a blog. I don't right now, I'm in the process of getting my new site up and running. Hopefully I'll have something sorted by the time the next chapter is up.
As usual, if you are too young to be reading this then don't. The characters are figments of my imagination and any resemblance to real people is just a scary coincidence and you needn't come after me.
We pulled up at the school just before 7 and I helped Jeremy unload his gear. He had a lot more stuff with him than he had taken home and I wasn't quite sure how we were going to get it all inside. He disappeared for a second and came back with a big trolley. I'd seen the teachers use these to haul around computers and other heavy stuff before.
"Put the amp up there at the front, the pedals in the middle and the guitars at the back, that way everything fits properly," he directed me.
I looked at everything he had and had no idea what he meant by pedals.
"Uh... pedals?"
"Those things bolted on to that board there," he said, pointing at a strip of wood with 5 ot 6 colored boxes screwed to it.
"Those don't look like pedals, they don't look like any part of a bike actually," I said, totally confused and just going along with whatever he told me.
"Hahaha you dork. I'll show you what they do when we get inside."
With everything in the trolley we started toward the school. Even with me up front guiding it, it still tried to steer away from us and getting over the step in to the auditorium. I had never been inside the auditorium before, having had nothing to do with performances before. The closest I had ever been to any type of school production was when my art class were asked to make a whole bunch of paintings for a theatre production the drama club were putting on. It was pretty big, and looking at the seating area I guessed it seated about 500 people.
The other band members were already there, and they looked set up as well. I recognised all of them from around school but didn't know any of them by name. They looked like there were all about 18, and none of them seemed like particularly nice people.
"It's about time Daniels. We've been waiting. We're going to get something to drink and when we get back you'd better be set up so we can soundcheck."
Jeremy glared at them as they stalked off towards the back of the auditorium.
"Those guys are jerks, why do you put up with it?"
"They're graduating in a month, then I don't have to put up with it anymore. I'll be senior member and I can act like a jerk to the new guys," he laughed.
"So what can I do to help?" I asked, wanting to make sure he was set up when the jerks got back so they didn't have anymore ammo.
"Can you go to the music hall and get my other guitar? I left it in the instrument cupboard."
"Do you always leave expensive stuff like that here?" I was a bit shocked. I never left anything at school when I could help it. There were always idiots looking to relieve you of your property, or just damage it.
"Well it seemed stupid to take it home then bring it back. Plus the cupboard is locked anyway. Only us music guys have keys. Here ya go," he said, handing me a key.
I left the auditorium, turning left towards the music/art hall. The school was so different at night. Chairs were up on tables, the floor was shiny and it smelled like lemons. I reached the music room and pushed at the doors, nearly falling flat on my ass when they didn't open. I got up quickly and looked around to make sure no one saw. I unlocked the door and went in, nearly killing myself on a table that I couldn't see. I felt the walls until I found the lightswitches and flipped them on.
I wasn't exactly sure where the instrument cupboard was. I just knew it was in the small section behind Mr Thomas' desk. There were 3 doors back there. The first was a small practice room with a piano, the second was another practice room with only a table and a chair, the third was the instrument cupboard. It struck me as funny that the instruments had a bigger room than the music students who needed to practice.
The light in the cupboard was really dim. I could only make out shapes of cases, but thankfully they all had name tags on them. It took me a couple of minutes to find Jeremy's guitar and when I pulled it out of it's space I managed to knock another heavy case which had a domino effect on the other cases that were stood up. Jesus I was so clumsy tonight. I stacked everything the way it was and closed the door, making sure it was locked properly.
Back in the auditorium it sounded like Jeremy was plugged in, and when I walked in I saw him on the stage messing with his amp. He'd play a chord and then change something on the settings.
"You didn't tell me I'd have to fight tables to get in there," I told him, handing his guitar.
He just started laughing again. "Mr Thomas pushes all the tables to the back at the end of the day so that the cleaning guys can clean the floor easily."
"So what do those pedals do then?" I could see them more clearly now. They looked like small boxes, about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide. They were different colored, I guessed based on their function.
"Ok, the first one is really neat. It's called a wah-wah pedal," he seemed to enjoy having someone to talk to about his stuff. He played a chord then pressed the pedal with his foot. As he did, it sounded like the guitar was 'talking' and saying "waaah". I had to agree, it was pretty neat.
"The second is distortion. It takes the clean signal from the guitar and distorts it, for all your rock and roll delights," again, he played a chord, then pressed the pedal. It went from the clear guitar sound to a Guns N Roses sound in an instant.
"The others do different things too, I'll show you later. I need to finish setting up before the idiots get back," he told me, turning back to his amp.
I was about to ask if there was anything else I could do when someone else showed up.
"Hey Daniels, how's it going?"
"Hey Johnson, just getting set up before those morons get back. This is Jake," he told the new guy.
"Hey Jake, I'm Mike Johnson. I do the lighting stuff for the auditorium," he shook my hand and smiled. It was hard to get a read on this guy straight away. I wasn't sure if he was acting nice or if he was genuinely this nice.
"Is everything set up? The lights aren't going to cut out again or anything?" Jeremy asked, trying, and failing, to keep a straight face.
"Oh jesus. A guy messes up ONE TIME and he's branded for life. How about we make sure that you don't fall off the stage halfway through this time?" Mike replied.
I burst out laughing and Mike followed suit.
"Yeah ok smartass. Go show Jake your lighting tricks while I finish up," he said.
Mike took me behind the curtains and showed me this huge control bank. It looked like something out of a sci-fi film.
"I have total control of every light in the auditorium. I can even select just a single light. It's a really neat toy."
He demonstrated by making the lights at the back go off, then on again. Then selecting just a couple of lights to go out.
"It's really cool. Of course the newer systems are all on computer and are much smaller, but they're way more efficient. I do the lighting at the church hall on weekends and they were just given a computer system by the sound and light place a few blocks away. It's really neat. I've been trying to convice Mr Peterson that we should get one, but you know how school administrators are with money."
I nodded, remembering how hard it was for us to get new clay sculpting tools last year.
"So you're one of those advanced art guys right? You guys do some awesome work. I see it up around school a lot."
I blushed. I was never good at receiving compliments. Like I said, my artwork is my own so on the rare occasion that someone gets to see it I never know how to react to what they say.
"Well thanks. I've never seen you around before though. Where do you usually hide?"
"I'm an audio/visual geek. We're at the other end of the school with the drama freaks."
"You don't like the drama club?" I asked him.
"Some of them are ok, but most of them are depressed lunatics who think they're above everyone else," he seemed pretty resentful toward them, so I didn't press it anymore.
"Let's go back round to the front. I need to check the lights on the stage."
Round at the front the other members of the band had come back to the stage and we starting to warm up. Jeremy smiled at me and motioned for me to take a seat down at the front. I jumped off the stage and took a seat close to his side of the stage.
"Let's do Crazy Train and then stop. We've only got 20 minutes before people show up," the guy who had been a jerk to Jeremy told them. It looked like he was the singer and second guitarist.
"Mike, you wanna get off stage?"
Mike glared at him and then jumped off the stage, taking a seat next to me.
"They're jerks but they're good. You'll enjoy this," he told me.
The drummer counted them in and they were off. It was incredible, and was probably the closest to an Ozzy Osbourne concert I'd ever get. The rest of the guys were really good, but I kept watching Jeremy. He really had control over this guitar, and when the solo came up he totally blew me away. When the song was over they all went around the back of the curtain. Me and Mike got up and went round too.
"Did you like that?" Jeremy asked.
"That was really cool, you're really good!"
"Thanks. Look, we've got a full house tonight so you can't sit down there. You can hang out with Mike ok? I know it's at the side, but you'll still be able to see everything," he told me.
"Ok, that's cool." I told him.
He went back to the rest of the guys and left me with Mike.
"Maybe I'll let you press some buttons and then they'll blame you if it all goes wrong," Mike said.
"Gee thanks."
People were starting to file in to the auditorium now. It was amazing that there would be about 500 people.
"Are there always this many people?" I asked Mike.
"No not normally, but this is the last gig before the other guys graduate so I guess they're making a big deal of it. Usually there are about 200 seats filled."
I looked at my watch and saw it had just turned 8. I could see that most of the seats were filled now.
"Mr Johnson I think we're ready to start," a voice said. I turned round and saw Mr Thomas standing looking out at the seats.
"Mr Jennings, nice to see you taking an interest in music at last. I daresay with your artistic talents you'd make a fine musician."
"Uh... thanks. I'm just here with Jeremy though," I told him. For some reason he was making me feel very small.
"Pity. If you feel like a change of scene and want to give music a try then I am always happy to talk," he said, walking off the stage and taking a seat near the front.
"That guy scares me. He acts like royalty," Mike said. I could kind of see where he was coming from.
"Well, this is my bit. Back in a second," Mike turned the lights down and put a spotlight on the stage, then grabbed a microphone and stepped out.
"Ladies and Gentlemen thank you for coming tonight. Please join me in welcoming to the stage, for the last time in their current lineup, Bampersand!"
The audience started applauding and a group of girls at the front I recognised as cheerleaders started screaming. Mike came back round to where I was and cut the lights, then slowly brought them up on the stage as the band walked on.
"It's all about creating the mood," he told me.
"What's with the name?" I asked him, it seemed stranged.
"What, Bampersand? Well if you take and ampersand, but a b in front of it, you get 'Band'. I guess they thought it was funny," he said.
"Yeah, but what's an ampersand?" I asked.
"Oh, it's that weird squiggly sign for 'and' that you see a lot on signs," he said.
The band kicked off just after 8 and kept going until about 9:30. They played a whole bunch of stuff. Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Guns N Roses. It was really cool and just the sort of music I like. Mike did some pretty awesome stuff with the lights too. He made the lights react to the song, so during drum solos the lights flickered and other stuff like that. He was definitely good at what he did.
When the gig was finished Jeremy came over to me and Mike looking hot (in both senses of the word).
"Well I'm glad THAT'S over with," he said. "No longer do I have to listen to them bitch and moan."
"You know you'll miss them when you get a bunch of new guys who don't know which way round a guitar goes," Mike said.
"Oh don't. If that happens I'll run away and be a one man band," he said, holding his head in his hands.
"Look I have to go, my mom is picking me up and she has a shift starting at 10, see you guys later," Mike said, grabbing his coat and running.
One of the band guys walked towards Jeremy with a slip of paper in his hand.
"Here's your share Daniels," he said, then walked off.
"What is his problem?" I asked.
"He has many problems. The main one is that he's just a jerk," Jeremy said, unfolding the slip of paper. "WHOA," he shouted.
"What?"
"$300! I usually only get about a third of that!"
"Wow that's awesome. It means you're paying for dinner right?" I laughed.
"You bet, I know exactly where we're going too, come on I've got everything packed up," he said.
Getting the trolley to the car was much easier than before. When we had loaded everything in he sat in the car and slumped over the wheel.
"Are you ok?" I asked, he looked exhausted and was still sweating from playing.
"I'm fine, just exhausted. Guitars aren't as light as they look," he told me, starting the engine. We had to stop off at his place first so he could put all his gear in the garage.
"Are you sure you want to go out? If you want to go to bed just tell me, it's fine," I said.
"Hey, I don't sleep with a guy before I've dated him at least once," he said with a smile.
"Shut up you know what I mean."
"No I'm fine, come on," he said, and he got back in the car.
The drive was quiet, he was always quiet when he drove. We pulled in at this small diner. It didn't look like the sort of place I'd eat at. There were trucks parked outside and a bunch of motorbikes.
"Don't worry, my mom is the owner," he said seeing how worried I looked.
As soon as we stepped inside this red haired woman grabbed hold of Jeremy.
"Ohhhhhh look at you getting so tall! Why don't you come and see me more often huh? Come on, I'll get you a table."
"Thanks Marie, this is my friend Jake from school,"
"Hello Jake, you look as much the heartbreaker as my Jez-Jez here, follow me!"
She took us round the bar where a bunch of bikers were sat. One of them slapped high-fives with Jeremy which I thought was amazing. Those guys didn't look like the sort to get friend ly with teenagers.
"I'll go tell your mom you're here. Do you want to order drinks now?"
"Yeah ok, I'll have a coke, and Jake?" he asked.
"I'll have a coke as well," I said, realising it seemed to be all I had drunk today.
Marie went off to the kitchen leaving me and Jeremy alone for the first time in a couple of hours.
It suddenly felt really awkward. I'd never been on a date with someone before, and I was guessing he hadn't either. I thought I'd take the first step to break the ice.
"So what's good here?" I asked.
"Oh man, everything. My mom doesn't take any shortcuts with food. My favorite is a halfpound cheese burger and fries though."
"Sounds like a highway to Heart-Attackville," I said. Years of listening to my mom preach about healthy food had forced sayings like that in to my head. Jeremy just looked at me.
"Sorry, my mom is a massive health nut and I guess listening to her 24 hours a day makes me say things like that without thinking. Cheeseburger sounds good," I said.
He just started laughing. "So your mom is a health nut and you still eat stuff like that?"
"Yeah, I just have to hide wrappers from her. But I'm good at hiding stuff, believe me," I said with a sly grin.
"Oh yeah, she doesn't know you're gay huh?"
"Oh no she knows. I was talking about the porno mags I have hidden away in my room," I said, laughing when I saw his mouth drop open.
"How the hell do you get those?" He asked.
"Do you know Lisi Stephenson? Her brother sells fake ID cards. I'm too chicken to buy one, but she has one and stops in to the sex store downtown quite a lot. Everytime she goes she grabs me a couple of magazines." I told him.
"That's awesome. I thought girls were against porn and thought sex shops were for criminals," he said.
It was my turn to laugh. "Man, Lisi isn't like other girls. She's totally open when it comes to sex. I think she invented the term 'overshare'," I said.
"So do I want to ask why she visits a sex store regularly?" He asked.
"Ahh... She's in to 'different' things."
He started laughing. "I've seen her in school, she does NOT look like the sort to be in to kinky stuff."
Before I could say anything a different woman came over carrying our drinks.
"Oh hey Mom. This is my friend Jake," he stood up and hugged his mom.
"Oh sweetie you know you shouldn't hug me at work. You'll make the bikers jealous," she said and sat down next to Jeremy.
"Mom I got $300 from the concert! How cool is that?" Jeremy told her excitedly.
"I'd think it's cool if I thought you were going to put it in to your savings account for college, but I know you're just going to spend it on some new noise making gadget," she said, looking over at me and rolling her eyes.
"Better than drugs and booze am I right?" he said, giving her that sly grin that made my heart pound.
"I'll ignore that. Do you want to give me the check and I'll take it to the bank with tonights takings?"
"Ok, but only if you put it my regular account, I don't want it to go in to my savings account," he told her.
"One day you'll regret not having any savings young man, and you won't get any sympathy from me. I need to get back to work, what are you ordering?" She pulled out a notepad.
"The usual, and the same for Jake," he told her.
"Ok. It was nice meeting you Jake, hopefully we'll get a chance to speak more," she said.
"I'd like that Mrs Daniels."
"Oh to hell with that, I'm Julia," she told me, and went back to the kitchen.
"Your mom is cool," I told Jeremy.
"She is. So you were telling me about Lisi?"
I groaned and slumped over the table.
"Ok fine. Do you need to call your mom and tell her where you are? There's a phone just over there," he said and pointed at the back of the diner near the restrooms.
"No, she's working late so I'll probably be back before her."
"Who said you were going home tonight?" He asked, flashing that grin again.
"Bu... ah..." Great. Why can't I ever react properly in these situations?
"I'm kidding you dork." He laughed.
Marie brought out the food and my jaw dropped. The burger was huge and was surrounded by fries. Just over at the edge of the plate was a tiny bit of salad. Jeremy saw me looking at it.
"My mom says it's doing her part for keeping the country healthy," he told me, and started laying in to the burger.
"My mom would have a heart attack if she could see this," I said, getting stuck in to my own burger.
20 minutes later and I felt like I'd never eat again. I'd demolised everything on the plate and was now questioning why anyone would ever need to eat that much.
We grabbed our jackets and headed over to the bar to pay, but Marie waved us away telling us it was on the house. Jeremy gave her the check he got from the concert to give to his mom and we left.
I checked my watch and saw it was nearly 11. I was really tired, the events of the last few hours seemed to catch up with me very quickly.
"Come on, I'll drop you off at home," he told me, and got in the car and started it.
As always, the drive was pretty quiet, which was fine with me. I was too tired to make intelligent conversation.
We pulled up outside my house just after 11 and he shut off the engine.
"I guess this is where I walk you to the door and you shatter my hopes by telling me you have an early start and should get straight to bed?" He asked.
I just stared at him, not knowing if he was joking or whether he wanted to jump in to bed right now.
"I'm kidding. JEEZ lighten up!" He said going in to another fit of laughter. I made a note of making sure to be less serious when I was around him. He seemed to like his jokes.
We got out of the car and he followed me up the path. I opened the door and stood in the doorway.
"Well goodnight," he said.
"Yeah... Unless you want to come in for a drink?" I asked, and turned my head to look inside, just to make sure mom wasn't home. When I turned my face to look at him he moved forward and suddenly his lips were on mine and his tongue was trying to force its way down my throat. He pulled back, grinning.
"So... I... I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow?" I said, holding on to the door for support, as I knew if I let go I'd probably faint.
"It's Saturday tomorrow you goof. I'll pick you up at 10 so make sure you're up," he said as he started walking back to his car. When he reached the end of the street I closed the door and fell to the floor. Wow. My first kiss, and it was incredible.
I stood up slowly, still feeling weak at the knees. I went in to the kitchen, grabbed a can of coke (again) and headed downstairs. I'd forgotten to turn my computer off when I left, and there was a New Mail notification. I sat down and opened my inbox. It was another one from my mom.
"Hi sweetie. Just to let you know that you might as well lock up when you go to bed, I might not be home until 2 or 3am. Love you, I hope all traces of pizza are gone from my kitchen!"
I smiled, but felt sad at the same time. My mom spends so much time at work. She wouldn't have to if my asshole of a father paid his child support. Last we heard he somewhere in Texas and wanted in connection with a robbery at a liqor store. I was glad he was out of my life, it just upset me that my mom had to pick up the slack and work more.
I heard the DING of an instant message notification and looked at the screen.
Jeremy: Why aren't you in bed?
Me: I will be in a second, I was just checking my email.
Jeremy: Me too. See ya tomorrow, love you xxx
He logged off before I could say anything back. I didn't want to turn my computer off now. I wanted that message to stay on my screen forever. I knew I was being stupid, but I'd never had anyone to say stuff like that to me before. With a sigh I shutdown the computer and went back upstairs to lock the doors and then went upstairs to the top floor to make sure my mom's window was closed so it wasn't too cold when she got back. I headed back down to my room where I stripped off to my boxers, flipped the light off and jumped in to bed, snuggling up to my pillow imagining it was Jeremy. My Jeremy.
"Jake sweetie wake up," I heard a voice say. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my mom standing over me. I also noticed it was light.
"Mom! What time is it?" I asked, thinking I'd missed Jeremy.
"Relax, it's 8 o'clock. I just thought I'd come and see you before I went to work," she said.
"Work on a Saturday?" I asked.
"Yes sweetie, don't you remember I said I had a case going to trial today? I know it's weird for a saturday but we really wanted to get things moving," she told me.
"Ugh... Will you be home this evening?" I asked.
"Yes I will," she said as she turned to leave the room. "And I want to hear all about this boy Mrs Phillips said she saw you come home with last night."
I just laid back in bed and smiled. Mrs Phillips was cool. She was about the same age as my mom and had been trying to set me up with her daughter since I was 11. Finally when I was 14 I just snapped and told her I was gay, mainly to get her off my case. What I didn't expect was that she'd start treating me more like an adult. I expected her to stay away and for her to warn the neighbours about 'that gay kid'. I guess with all the negativity you hear in the news you just expect the worst from people. She'd even paid me to do a couple of paintings for her office.
I debated on going back to sleep but decided if I did then I probably wouldn't be able to get up when Jeremy got here. I heard my moms car pulling out of the driveway, and laid in bed for a couple more minutes listening to the sounds of the neighbourhood. I was idly rubbing my dick when I realised how badly I needed to piss. I got out of bed and went to my bathroom. I took a piss then looked at myself in the mirror. No spots, and I could get away without having a shave. I took off my boxers and got back in to bed, playing with my now stiffening cock.
I reached under the bed and pulled out the bag Lisi had given me. She had this strange grin on her face and ran away as soon as I took it from her, turning back once to tell me not to open it around anyone. I'd taken it down to my room and opened it, nearly dying from shock. She'd bought me a dildo and some lube as well as the usual magazines. The next time I saw her I hadn't been able to look at her and she'd just start laughing everytime I opened my mouth. Not that I wasn't grateful. I loved this thing; it was about 6 inches long and a fleshy colour. It was just embarrassing at the time.
I grabbed the pot of lube and worked some on to my fingers. I slowly pushed those fingers through my asshole, which was easier today as I was still stretched a bit from yesterdays session. I worked my ass for a couple of minutes to loosen me up and then took my fingers out, wiping them off on a kleenex. I applied some more lube to my asshole then coated the dildo. I positioned it at my entrance and slowly started to push it in. Even though I was loosened up a bit, there was still a bit of pain to start with, so I stopped pushing and let my ass relax until it had adjusted. A couple of minutes later the pain was gone and I continued pushing it in. I moaned as it pushed past my prostate and grabbed my bedsheets tightly in my other hand. It was in up the base and I gradually started pulling it back out. When only the head was left inside me I started to push it back in. I kept this rhythm up for about 2 minutes but my cock was begging for attention.
I put some lube on my dick and rubbed it in, then put some more on my hand so I was really slippy. I didn't want to go pumping away like a mad man on my cock straight away, however tempting it was. I enjoyed feeling something up my ass but it sometimes got me off a little too quick, so I had learned to pace myself. I just slowly massaged my cock as I continued to work the dildo in and out.
After about 10 minutes the pleasure started to get too much and I worked my hand faster on my dick. I was breathing heavily and sweat had started to bead on my forehead.
"Oh fuck," I moaned, as I felt that tightening sensation again.
"Ughhh oh yeah... UGHHHH," I groaned loudly and arched my back as my ass tightened around the dildo and my dick started jerking.
"Oh FUCK... Yeah..." I moaned as the first shot hit my neck, the second hit my chest and then my cock dribbled out the rest on to my stomach.
I lay there panting for a minute with the dildo still in my ass. I never know which I prefer. The orgasm itself or the afterglow. Both are incredible. I dipped my finger in some of my cum and rubbed it in to my nipples. I loved doing this, it felt so good after an orgasm.
I laid a couple of kleenex down on my bedside table, then slowly pulled the dildo out of my ass. I laid it on kleenex then rolled out of bed. I always had to be careful getting out of bed after I'd fucked myself with the dildo, as I didn't want my ass to touch my sheets and get lube stains all over it. I guess if you were to observe it would be quite funny to watch. I grabbed the dildo and went back to my bathroom, running the taps to fill the sink with warm water. I submerged the dildo in water and left it to soak while I went to take a shower. When I came back downstairs I emptied the sink then ran it under the taps and rubbed it down to make sure it was clean. I put it back in the bag along with the lube and stuff it back under the bed.
My clock said it was 8:30, so I put on some fresh clothes and sat at my desk. Whenever I wanted to pass some time I would sit and draw. Lately I'd been working on something sort of abstract. I hadn't shown it to anyone yet, but I was going to enter it as part of my final portfolio to be graded.
It seemed like I had only just picked up my pencil when I heard the doorbell. I closed my sketchbook and put the pencil back in the right place in my tin (I have to keep it organised otherwise I can't work) and went upstairs. I could see his shadow through the glass of the door and my knees went weak remembering the kiss.
I opened the door and he smiled at me.
"Ready to go?" He asked.
"Sure, let me grab my jacket," I said.
That's all for this chapter :)
Comments, ideas or greetings go to jdr4056@gmail.com