While The Paths We Chose contains some sexual situations it is not written as erotic literature, so if that's what you're looking for, this might not be the story for you. What follows is the tale of two teens looking to find their way through the difficulties of coming to terms with their own same sex attractions. The main character, Alex, is sure the way to self-fulfillment is through physical relationship. His best friend thinks religion holds the key to navigating his way through life. Both find merit in their efforts as well as many unanswered questions. You'll have to read the story to find out if one can convince the other to adopt his personal point of view.
Enjoy, and please write to let me know what you think.
tyler
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Prologue
Quaker Hills, Pennsylvania. My mom grew up here. Her mom and dad both grew up here and so did gram's parents. I guess it's an okay place to live for most people -- just not for me. According Gram and Grandpa there used to be a lot of factories here. Now they're mostly just empty buildings. ...which was actually okay by me and Daryl -- he's my brother -- because sometimes we'd sneak into one of the abandoned buildings with some of his buds and make like we were world famous criminals. We kind of got our inspiration from watching the Ocean's Eleven movie. We were like Ocean's five or something. Sometimes it was six when Noah's neighbor Justy joined us. We never really stole anything, but there's a pile of stuff in the ladies bathroom that we "swiped" from other parts of the building while on special missions. It was kind of scary being in there, but I guess that's what made it so cool in the end.
The only thing that wasn't cool was that Daryl convinced everyone that we should make the lady's room our secret headquarters. It always made me nervous when we were in there. Sometimes I'd volunteer to be the guard just so I could stay outside HQ while they were inside deciding what the next mission would be. When we weren't hanging at the old factory, we usually ended up over at the VFW Memorial park. That's at the town square where Center Street crosses High street. That's kind of where things went south, so to speak, for me.
I was really skinny when I was little. Skinny enough to squeeze myself inside the trunk of the old hollow tree that was right across the street from Hazel's Restaurant. It was so cool the way I could see right through a knothole in the trunk, and spy on the people that were eating at the humungous wrap around style dining bar inside. It had chrome and red vinyl barstools attached to the floor all the way around it -- the kind that spun the whole way around. I know that because I got a scar over my right eye from when I learned about it. Mom took us there for lunch one time and Daryl decided to see how fast he could get my stool spinning. I guess I sort of panicked and leaned front a little too far and my head kind of hit the countertop. You'da thought mom would've been concerned about me being hurt and all; especially since there was blood like everywhere. Not my mom. She was mad as a hornet. ...at me! All I did was sit there, but she acted like it was my all fault. It seemed to me like she never used to get mad at dear sweet Daryl. Mom and I aren't what you'd call tight. I think she's always kind of had it in for me. After Daryl was born, she expected me to be a girl, which is something she used to tell people a lot. I only got named Alex Daniel because dad wouldn't let her name me Alexis Danielle. Thank god for small favors, but it didn't really stop her from calling me that when dad wasn't home. She acted like it was my decision to be a boy just so I could tick her off.
Anyway, there was another knot in the trunk that was higher up, but if you wedged yourself against the insides of the tree trunk you could look out of that one too. From that one, you could see Klondike's. That's a bar, and we weren't supposed to go anywhere near there. Mom always told us "Because I said so," when we'd ask her why. I used to think the reason she said that was because it was kind of dark inside and the people there seemed like they all smoked cigarettes. I was eleven years old when I think I figured out the real reason she didn't want us anywhere near there. I had been mad over something one of Daryl's friends said to me and wanted them to think I left the park. I squeezed into the tree so I could hear what else he was gonna say about me when I wasn't there. Dobie Keller was standing right next to the tree when I saw it happening through the upper knot hole. Before I remembered I was hiding, I blurted out "Those guys just kissed each other." It was kind of funny seeing Dobie trying to figure where my voice was coming from.
"They're probably just practicing for when they get a girlfriend," he casually said in my direction, still not sure where my voice was coming from. When he finally figured out it was me, and that I was inside the tree, he said, like it was nothing, "Jake and I used to do that sometimes to see what it was like for when we got a girlfriend."
It's not that I never thought about stuff like that up `til then, it's just that I never thought anyone else ever thought about it. I couldn't wait to get home that day and see if my brother ever tried it. I waited until the lights were out before sneaking over to Daryl's room and whispering across the darkness to ask him if he wanted to practice something for when he got a girlfriend.
"Like practice what?" he asked like he was all annoyed or something.
"Kissing," I whispered across the room. "...On the lips."
"Only faggots do that?" he responded without a moment's hesitation. "Dude, that is so gross," ...and he wasn't too quiet when he said it, either. "I want to practice with Holly Benjamin. She's way hot."
Holly was what you'd call an `early bloomer." I was so disappointed that Daryl thought it would be gross to kiss another guy; especially when he said he'd rather kiss Holly. I'd rather kiss a dog on the mouth then get my lips anywhere near someone like her.
I had never heard the word faggot before that night so the next day I thought I'd let Dobie know I was a man who knew about "things." I guess he already knew, because he punched me in the gut so fast and so hard that I didn't know if I was ever gonna be able to breathe again.
That's why I don't think Quaker Hills is such a great place to grow up. No one I know would be caught dead at a place like the Klondike, so if they ever saw me hangin' around there, then... Well anyway, I'm just sayin'.