Disclaimer: I have an overactive imagination, the result of which is this story. I do not know Clay Aiken or any other celebrities mentioned in this story, and I do not intend to imply anything about their true sexualities. Simply file this in the "Wouldn't it be nice...?" portion of your mind. Also, if you are under legal age to be reading this sort of stuff (18 in most areas), then leave now. All the rest of you who ARE of age, please enjoy my little mind trip away from the land of reality.
CHAPTER 10
"Oh, shit! I'm so sorry! I...uh..."
I couldn't believe I had just barged in on Clay while he was naked! At first, I was embarrassed, but then I just couldn't help but gawk. He was BEAUTIFUL! I stood there with my mouth hanging open wide.
"Randy?" Clay asked, bunched-up pajama bottoms covering his privates. "Could you, uh..." He motioned toward the door.
"Oh, of course!" I said, shaking my head. I closed the door. "Just tell me when you're decent."
A few minutes later (presumably after he had taken some time to recover from the heart attack I probably gave him) he opened the door. His face was red as a tomato. "Hi," he said.
"Hi..." I said bashfully. "I'm SO sorry! I should have knocked, but I figured you were already in bed, and...and..."
"Randy, it's OK. It was a simple mistake. Put it this way - at least you weren't my mother..." he said, laughing nervously.
"Well, it was her fault, in a way..." I told him.
"What?!" Clay looked puzzled.
"She practically ordered me to sleep in here tonight. She said you probably needed me. Though I doubt you needed this..." We both laughed.
"Well, my mother certainly does know me. I was hoping you'd come in to at least say goodnight," Clay said, smiling.
"You doubted me?" I said, pretending to be hurt.
"Not for a second!" said Clay, wrapping his arms around me. He kissed me gently and then led me to his bed. We laid down and he again enveloped me in his arms, with my back to him.
"Goodnight," I whispered. "I love you."
"I love you too," he murmured. "Goodnight." We were both asleep within minutes.
When we awoke the next morning, Faye had breakfast already prepared. We ate a leisurely meal and then packed our bags. Our flight back was scheduled for 12:30, so we needed to be going fairly soon.
"Thank you SO much for coming, boys," said Faye, looking like she was near tears. "It was the best surprise a mother could ask for."
"Thank YOU for having me, even if it was unexpected," I told Faye, giving her a big hug.
"You take care of my baby," she whispered in my ear. "Got that?"
"Absolutely," I told her.
We drove to the airport, where Clay and his mother shared a long goodbye while I waited by the door. When they were done, they both had tears in their eyes. Clay and I boarded the plane, and he just stared out the window as Raleigh disappeared below us. I carefully reached over and put my hand on top of his and squeezed it quickly before letting it go (we didn't want any rumors started by a random airplane passenger looking to get rich quick). Clay smiled at me.
"Sorry," he said. "It's just tough to leave her behind sometimes."
"No need to apologize," I told him. "I have trouble saying goodbye to my mother sometimes, too."
"It's usually not too bad, right up until she says what she always says," he said, tears coming to his eyes again.
"What's that?" I asked carefully. "That is, if you don't mind telling me."
"Of course not. I can tell you anything," he said with a smile. He then turned solemn again. "She always says, `Ray would be so proud of you.' That's when I always lose it," he said, and the tears spilled over.
"Clay, I know it's still hard for you," I told him. This may seem like a patronizing comment, but Clay knew it was more than that. My own father had passed away about two years previously, so Clay knew that I knew what it felt like. "But your mom speaks the truth. I can tell by the way you talk about him that you were very close. But you know what?"
"What's that?"
"Ray is up there watching you every time you sing. And he's got the best seat in the house."
Clay smiled, and then looked up as though he was acknowledging his stepfather. "I know," he said finally. "Thanks, Randy."
"Anytime," I said. "You know that."
Soon enough, the plane landed and we were back home. We each had some things to take care of at our respective homes, but I told Clay that I would call him later that night. Once I got home and unpacked, I checked my cell phone voicemail (I had left my phone at home on purpose - I wanted the weekend to be mine and Clay's only) and decided I should call Lee. As of the previous Friday when I had left for Raleigh, Ryan still had not called him. He had been pretty upset, and was not looking forward to a lonely weekend. Sure enough, there was more than a few messages from Lee, sounding desperate to talk to me.
"You're back!" he said when he answered his phone.
"I sure am!" I told him cheerfully.
"How was the trip?" he asked. I told him all about it, including Clay coming out to his mother as well as me walking in on him naked.
"Holy shit!" he exclaimed when I told him about that last part. "Was he embarrassed, or what? More importantly, did you like what you saw?" He was laughing by this point.
"Oh...my...GOD," I told him.
"That good, eh?"
"Better!" I said. I decided I better change the subject before a problem...uh, arose. "Anyway, how was your weekend?" I hoped it had gone well.
"WONDERFUL!" he said. OK, I hadn't been expecting that...
"Really? What happened?"
"Ryan called!" Whoa...second shock in as many sentences from Lee.
"He did?" I said carefully. "And I'm guessing things are ok?"
"He was VERY apologetic. I guess what happened between us confused him. He had been curious for some time, apparently. At the party, he had had a bit to drink, and his inhibitions were lowered. The next morning, he was even more confused than ever. He told me he had to take some time just to think about things."
"I hope he didn't hurt himself," I said a bit harshly.
"Randy, it's not like that," he said. "He realized, because of me, that he isn't bi, like he thought. He's gay, Randy! And he wants to be with me!
He said he's never felt like this with anyone! We talked for a long time, and decided to try dating. We're going to take it slow, though. Not like the other night."
"OK..." I said cautiously. As happy as I was for Lee, I still wasn't convinced, and I told him as much.
"You just need to get to know him better," Lee stated, as if it was that simple. "Come to dinner with us tonight."
"I don't know," I told him. "Is this, like, your first official date?" I didn't want to intrude.
"No, we did that last night," he said.
"Let me call Clay and see what he wants to do," I said. Hell, if I had to intrude, I sure wasn't going to do it alone!
"Awesome," Lee said. He told me when and where they were going tonight, and I told him I'd see him then.
Later that night, Clay and I met Lee and Ryan at a really nice restaurant, where we were seated toward the back (the host recognized Ryan and Clay, and wanted to avoid a scene). We made small talk while the waiter brought us our drinks, and then we ordered.
"So, Randy," Ryan started. Oh, God, here we go, I thought. "Lee has told me a lot about you. I'm wondering if I should be jealous," he said with a wink. Fortunately, his wink had nowhere near the hypnotic effects of Clay's.
I faked a smile and a laugh. "Yeah, well, what can I say? Been there, tried that, didn't work, gained a best friend," I said. Then, despite my efforts to be nice, I couldn't resist a little dig. "Lee is very important to me. I call him almost every day." I put a lot of emphasis on those last two words.
Ryan's smile quickly disappeared, as he knew what I meant by that comment. "I can see I'm probably not your favorite person," he said. "All I can say is that I am extremely sorry for hurting Lee, and for not calling him. We talked, though, as I'm sure he told you, and he was nice enough to give me a second chance. I am going to work damn hard not to screw it up again." I could see them holding hands under the table.
"Well," I said, relenting a bit, "I suppose it's not me you have to convince. But thank you."
The four of us had a very nice meal together after that awkwardness. We talked, joked, laughed, and somewhere in there managed to eat a delicious meal! Despite my initial reservations, Ryan did seem like a decent guy. He wasn't as dumb as people (OK, I) made him out to be. He was intelligent, funny, able to carry on a decent conversation, and an overall nice guy. More importantly, he seemed to genuinely care for Lee. I could tell that from the way he looked at Lee, the way he talked to him, the way he involved Lee in the conversation. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all.
"So, Clay, are you almost ready for the tour?" Ryan asked.
Damn. He had to go and bring that up, didn't he?
It's not like Clay and I didn't realize the tour was coming up soon. Very soon. In fact, Clay was leaving in a matter of days. However, we found that the less we discussed it, the less it could depress us. It was going to be a LONG time apart. Almost as long as we had been together in the first place. We weren't TOO worried, but we still didn't like to think about it.
"Yeah," said Clay, looking both excited and sad (which I didn't think was possible, though I was feeling the same way). "We've been rehearsing like mad, and we leave in a few days."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up a sensitive subject," Ryan said.
"It's ok. It will be hard leaving - especially knowing I'll be gone on Randy's birthday - but I am looking forward to seeing everybody again, and singing with them."
"Well, that's good then, I guess!" Lee said. "I'm sure it will be alright. You guys will get through it."
We finished up the meal, and headed out to the parking lot where we said goodnight.
"Ryan," I said, "I'm sorry I was such a bitch earlier."
"Hey, it's no problem. You're protective of your friends. I understand completely. I'm the same way."
"For what it's worth, I think I misjudged you," I told him honestly.
"Well, thank you. That means a lot," he told me. I offered my hand for him to shake, but he surprised me by pulling me into a hug. The rest of us said our goodbyes and we went our separate ways.
In the car on the way home, Clay kissed me on the cheek, took my hand, and held it gently. "I'm very proud of you," he said.
"For what?" I asked him.
"For what you told Ryan just now. I know it took a lot," he said.
"Well, even I can admit when I'm wrong about someone," I said. "And I'm very glad I was wrong. It seems like those two could be good for each other."
"I agree," Clay said. We drove the rest of the way to my apartment with Clay never once letting go of my hand. It made driving a bit more difficult, but it was also very nice.
We walked inside and sat down on the couch. We stayed like that for a little while, just talking.
"Tonight was fun! We may have just found the perfect double-date couple!" I said.
"That would be cool," Clay said. "Just remember that I get you all to myself sometimes," he added with a wink.
"Well," I said, standing up and pulling him up by his hands, "You have me all to yourself right now. What ever are you going to do with me?"
Clay smiled and leaned in to kiss me. Our mouths met and I immediately opened mine to accept his tongue. Our hands roamed each other's bodies and our mouths opened and closed together, and our tongues danced in each other's mouths.
"Mmmm," I moaned into Clay`s mouth, and pulled away. "I could do this forever."
"I know," Clay said, giving me a peck on the lips. He then continued giving me little pecks down my jaw line and on my neck as he said, "I love you more than anything."
Clay continued his work on my neck, and I moaned and groaned the whole time.
I then reversed the roles, and went to town on his neck. I kissed, licked, even sucked (though not TOO hard - imagine Clay explaining to makeup crews why he has a hickey to cover up!) on first the left, then the right, side of his neck. This elicited passionate moans from Clay, which only made me keep it up. Soon, though, I pulled away from him.
"OK, you should probably go now," I told him.
"Why?" he asked, with a look in his eye I hadn't yet seen from him.
"Because if you don't go now, I may not be able to stop myself," I told him honestly.
"Who's asking you to stop?"
Well, 10 chapters down! Goodness knows how many left to go! As long as I continue to have your support, I will continue writing. Send all comments/suggestions to musicteacher2002@hotmail.com
So, that's one naughty place to leave off with the story, huh? ((Evil laugh)) I hate to say this, but I am going to be on a trip for the next week and a half or so, and I will not be posting while I am away. Therefore, the next chapter will be posted in approximately two weeks' time. I apologize for the delay, but I promise it will be worth the wait!