Turnabout

Here is the seventh chapter of the second series of Turnabout. The preceding series, plus all the previous chapters of this series are on the Nifty Archive (to whom much thanks).

-Seven-

There's a price to be paid for love. At least, that's what we're always told. Josh and I started paying the moment we walked into the school together the next morning. He'd picked me up at my place, far earlier than was necessary for us to get to class on time. That meant we could dawdle. Well, "dawdle" is a pretty lame word for what we actually did do. Let's put it this way: by the time we arrived in the parking lot, we each knew what flavor of toothpaste and mouthwash the other preferred.

We got in through the doors probably still a little bit too early. Too late, though, to escape what was waiting. Or rather, who was waiting. They were lined up like a reception committee. Debbie, Stu, Will. In that order. Debbie started.

"Well, well, well. Hamilton High's newest couple. How nice to see you're still together." With great emphasis on 'still'.

I could feel Josh stiffen, even though I wasn't close to him. He didn't lose his cool though. "And just what is that supposed to mean, Debbie?"

"Well, isn't it obvious, Josh?" Her voice was rising. Students were moving past us, around us even, as we stood pretty much dead-center in the foyer. Debbie wasn't just talking louder because of the rising noise of morning activity. She was actually trying to attract attention. "It's just SO nice to see you've found a REAL friend!"

She'd skated away, quite cleverly, from the implication of the word 'couple' that she'd used a moment earlier. But she'd given Josh an opening.

"Yes, Debbie, that's a good choice of words. David is a real friend."

But she wasn't done yet. Not at all. Stu was opening his mouth to get his contribution in, but Debbie wasn't going to allow anyone to upstage her. "Yes, he must be. It's so nice that you have so much in COMMON."

I just can't describe to you the... the twist she put on that word 'common'. It was as though 'common' meant 'dirty' to her. Josh's face began to flush dangerously. I put my hand on his arm in an effort to pull him away. Big mistake. Very big mistake. Of course Debbie would notice. She was watching both of us very carefully.

"Yes, David," she almost purred. "You just take Josh away to some nice quiet corner. I'm sure you two have things you'd like to... DO before class starts." Now it wasn't just Josh's face that was turning red. What to say? What to do? The only thing I could think of was to get the hell out of there. Thankfully, Josh saw the reason behind that and moved with me.

We went up the stairs towards the lockers, and steered into an empty classroom.

"Jesus CHRIST!" Josh blurted in a fortunately-muffled explosion.

"Yeah, I'd say that was about right," I commented dully.

"What a BITCH!"

"Uh huh."

"Man, I'd like to... to..."

"Hmmm?"

"Well, I mean, come ON!"

"Are you through now?"

Josh looked up at me. I wasn't about to laugh this off, but while he was fuming, I'd been thinking. Thinking about what I'd seen while Debbie was having her fun.

"OK, David, what's up?" Josh wanted to know.

"Well, I'm not sure or anything, but I was kinda looking around while Debbie was talking..."

"And..."

"And I'm not sure about the group dynamic there."

"I take it back," said Josh. "Not a lawyer. A psychiatrist."

"Well, maybe a sociologist. No, seriously. The other two were with her, but they weren't WITH her, if you get me."

"Well, I've got you," Josh laughed, grabbing my arm, "but I sure as hell don't understand you."

"Unhand me, sir!" I exclaimed in my best melodramatic falsetto voice, and pulled my arm away again. I was worried that we might provide more ammunition for anyone who happened to see us together, but I didn't want to get Josh worked up about it. "What I mean," I went on, "is that Stu and Will were there, but I don't think they were a part of what Debbie was up to. She was using them, but I don't get any sense that they were in on any kind of game plan. She may very well have pumped them for what they could tell her about us, but that would be about it. Stu was trying to talk and she wouldn't let him. And Will... well, I know him well enough to tell that he was just confused by the whole thing."

Josh stayed silent, going over what I've just said. Then he said, "Well, I've seen enough of your 'noticing' to trust your judgment on this. If it's just her and not them, what do we do?"

"We stay as cool as we can. You were starting to get flustered down there, which is why I wanted to get you away. Neither one of us can afford to do that. She was trying very hard to attract attention, and fortunately she didn't, at least as far as I could tell. I think the thing to do right now is to avoid her."

"I don't like running away!" Josh said, almost angrily. He wanted to fight, it seemed.

"We're not running away," I replied soothingly. "All we need to do right now is keep out of her way for a bit, which will let us work on our two other potential problem areas. Namely, Stu and Will. I have a feeling that if we play our cards right, we can at least neutralize them if not bring them onside. I don't think Will's going to be a problem, at least not from what I saw when we had that talk with him. But I think you're really going to have to make an effort with Stu and get him turned around."

Josh's head sank in thought. I let him think for a while and then said, "What say we each take them on at lunch and see what we can do? We can use the morning to think out an approach and then see where we get. We might just be able to meet up before we go to class in the afternoon and compare notes. If not, we can do it after school."

Josh thumped the desk he was sitting at with his fist. "Sounds good to me. At least it's something to do."

"Yeah. I kinda thought you were a man of action."

"Well," he said, looking at me with a pronounced leer, "there's some actions I'm contemplating right now. But as we are in school..."

"Man!" I gave it to him right back. "It's a good thing you've got me to do your thinking for you! Otherwise you'd be locked up. You men of action wouldn't have a clue without us thinkers."

"And you thinkers would never accomplish anything without us men of action to do it for you."

"Ok, ok, touché turtle."

And then the bell rang. We were off. God, this had better work out or we'd be in deep shit.

In spite of my seeming confidence in our planning, I wasn't all that sure what would happen with Will. Just what was he thinking? Was he "for" us or "against" us? What had Debbie done to him? Was she capable of turning him against us? I couldn't see him saying anything to her about what had happened between him and me.

All of that and much more went revolving through my head, making the morning a complete waste of effort on the part of the teachers trying to get anything through to me. I was all alone in a fog of doubt, taking time off only to worry about how Josh was going to handle Stu. Was my reading of that dark horse accurate? Was he in love with Josh? And if he were, would jealousy be the driving force that would make him putty in Debbie's hands?

So it's not at all difficult to imagine that as lunch came around, far too quickly for once, I was in a complete lather of doubt and anxiety. I had all my antennas out as I navigated a course to the cafeteria. But I saw no sign of Debbie. Nor of Josh for that matter. Nor Stu. I was actually beginning to wonder if I'd imagined all of them when Will showed up alongside me, just at the cafeteria entrance. So much for my careful watch. I hadn't even seen him coming.

I must have jumped when I spotted him. He looked at me kind of funny and asked, "What's the matter with you?"

"Well, um... I was kinda looking for you, and all of a sudden there you are. Kinda startled me, ya know?"

I was babbling slightly, and Will knew it. "Look," he said, "you wanna skip lunch and go talk?"

I could feel my eyes widen. "Yeah!" I exclaimed, maybe too forcefully. "That's exactly what I'd like."

He shrugged, and just started moving off, so I followed. Of course, we wound up outside, under what had been our favorite tree behind the school. Neither one of us seemed to be too anxious to open up the conversation. Will finally made a move.

"So... umm... how's it going?"

"'It' being..." I knew perfectly well, but for some reason I couldn't help stalling.

"Stop stalling, David." Damn, I hate it when people know me too well.

"All right, all right. It's going really well, Will. Fantastically well."

And that, of course, was another great move on my part. The look of pain twisting across Will's face was so obvious even a complete stranger would have got it.

"Will, I'm sorry!" I burst out immediately. "Man, I don't want to be hurting you like this!" His reaction really hit home this time, probably because I finally understood for myself what this love business was all about. Before, I'd just brushed off his pain. But seeing his face now made me feel all too clearly what it would be like if Josh were to walk away from me.

Will looked at me, and saw the tears I felt in my eyes. His gaze held mine, and we both stayed silent. Finally, he said, "You really do understand it now, don't you?"

"Yeah," I choked out. "I do understand it now. I really, really do. And I'm sorry."

Will drew a deep breath. "You don't have to be sorry, David. I think I'm sorry enough for both of us."

His sorry wasn't my sorry. I had to do something here, or I was going to lose him completely. Probably with disastrous consequences for both of us. I swiped my hand across my eyes and spoke actually quite sharply.

"Will, stop it! Just stop it, ok?"

His head jerked up with shock. "What?"

"You know perfectly well what. Ok, so you didn't luck out with me. You figure that's it? You're through? If you can't have me, you can't have anybody? What kind of thinking is that?"

"The kind that makes sense. You were going nowhere fast, David. You said yourself, I rescued you. You grabbed onto me, and I thought, 'Great! He's going to be so thankful there's no way he'll ever leave me.' Stupid me. As soon as you got on your feet and looked around, you realized you could do better, and you did. Pretty fast, too."

"BullSHIT, Will! Absolute and utter bullshit! Yes, you rescued me. No doubt of it. How did you do it? You did it by understanding me, and caring about me enough to do it. Did you do it for what you could get out of it? No way. I thought that once, but that was just me being too stupid to know any better. Sure, you're as desperate for love as most people, but don't make yourself believe you'll never find it. You've got too much going for you. And that I know for sure."

"Huh. Didn't stop you from leaving."

"No, it didn't." There was that twist again. Was I ever going to get him through this? I had to keep trying. Surgeon's knife here. No bull. All pain.

"It didn't because I found someone different. Different, Will. Not better. Different. I can't explain it. You gave me a lot. Yes, you loved me. I can see that now. But I can't love you like that. I don't know why. I just can't. But I can love Josh. He's my fit. You just have to find yours. You can do it, too."

"Yeah. Sure."

"Are you even trying? Or are you just moping over me?"

"And just who am I supposed to try with? It's not like I can find a list on the bulletin board or something."

"Jeez, man! You didn't find me on a list, did you? You just get to know people. Sure, it takes time, and a lot of the time you'll strike out. But you just can't roll up into a corner and wait, can you?"

Will dropped his head back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. He was the picture of dejected hopelessness. Good grief, what could I do? I had to give him something.

"How about Stu?" Now where the FUCK had that come from?

Will did nothing other than open his eyes and look at me. "Stu?"

"Yeah," I rushed on. "You know--Stu! You were standing next to him this morning!"

"Oh. That was Stu?" Which certainly confirmed my theory that Debbie had just managed to corral the two of them without making them part of her scheme.

"Yes, that was Stu. One of Josh's former toadies. Let me tell you..." And I set off relating the encounters between Stu and Josh that I'd witnessed the day before. As I spoke, Will began to recover from his state of collapse against the tree. I thought, with an insane interior giggle, that my future career now seemed to be heading toward sales instead of law, psychology, or sociology. I sold Stu like I'd never sold anything. Come to think of it, I never had sold anything. But I sure sold Stu. Will perked up considerably. Off in the distance, the warning bell rang. We got up and moved back to the building, Will with a new light in his eyes.

Our long conversation on the hill meant that I had no chance to see Josh before afternoon classes. In fact, I saw no sign of him until we were getting ready to go home. He came up behind me just as I was pushing through the main doors.

"Hey, wait up, you!"

I turned, a half-grin on my face. "Thought Debbie might have bagged you! I haven't seen you all afternoon!"

"You were thinking that and you didn't even come looking?"

"What, and fall into the clutches of the bitch goddess too? No thank you!"

"Jeez, some friend you are!" Josh hauled off and sent his fist into my shoulder. Not lightly, either. That confirmed the suspicion that had been forming as we talked. He was up again. He always got rowdy when he was feeling good about life.

"I take it you have some news," I said.

"Do I ever! Come on, let's go talk!" And he lit out at top speed for the car, I panting along behind him. I really have to start exercising more.

"You're really going to have to start exercising more," was Josh's comment as I came up on my side of the car.

I took another big breath and wheezed out, "Fuck you!" I just couldn't get breath enough to give it the emphasis I wanted.

Josh grinned at me. "We can negotiate that. But in your current state of fitness, I suspect it wouldn't amount to much."

He started laughing, leaning up against the car. Man, was he feeling good! I debated going around to him while he was collapsed in laughter over his witticism and exacting my revenge. But it was too far to move. "Would you just pull yourself together and open the doors?"

Josh straightened up, still chuckling. "Ooh, poor baby, all tuckered out? Ok, here you go. He opened his door and popped the locks. We got in and I glared at him. "Oh, all right! Can't you take a little teasing? I mean, I do do some running. I guess you don't."

"You guess right. But I think maybe I should start doing something. I shouldn't have this much trouble with a short run."

"We can work on that. Along with everything else."

He started up and drove out of the parking lot, saying nothing more. I could see after a minute that he was heading back to where we'd been yesterday afternoon. Nothing was said while we drove. I just relaxed back into my seat and put my hand over his which, as usual, was on the stick shift. He looked over at me and smiled.

Now, it sounds so ordinary to say that. But, I have to tell you, he looked over at me and SMILED. That smile was like... I mean, people smile at you all the time. At least, you hope they do. There's all kinds of smiles. But that one... HE looked over at ME and SMILED! I give up. I just can't think of any other way to put it. That one simple little thing just made a bigger connection between the two of us than our hands being in contact on the shifter.

We got to the place in the park where we'd been yesterday. Again, it was completely deserted. As it should always be, because in my mind now it was our place. No one else's. We got out, walked over to the same tree we'd rested against yesterday, and resumed the same position we'd been in then. All without saying one word to each other. Josh leaned against the tree trunk and drew me to him, my back to his front. I nestled against him as though the two of us had been designed to fit together.

I molded into him and rested my head against his. We stood there for the longest time, saying nothing. It was decidedly chilly, with fall moving on towards winter, but we gave each other our warmth and neither one of us complained.

Josh drew a deep breath, then turned and placed the softest of kisses against my cheek. "Mmm, so smooth..." was his comment.

I chuckled and rubbed the kissed cheek against his. "Mmm, so prickly!" I laughed softly. "I would have to fall in love with a porcupine!"

"What! I'm too much man for you?" he quipped.

"No, you're all the man I need," I replied, dropping the humor. I let my head fall back against the trunk, still in contact with his.

"God!" he breathed. "You're doing it again." His arms tightened around me, pulling me even closer.

"Well, before we forget what we're here for," I said, "how did it go with Stu?"

"No," he said, in a teasing voice, "you tell me what happened with Will first."

He was obviously feeling very pleased about something. The tone of voice said, 'I've got a big surprise for you!'.

"Ok," I said, and went into a fairly detailed account of how the conversation with Will had gone. "I don't know what made me think of suggesting Stu to him. I felt almost like a pimp, or some kind of madam talking up the house special."

As I was saying this, I could feel the heaves of Josh chuckling silently against me. "Oh man!" he burst out as I finished. "This is not to be believed!" And he started laughing out loud.

"What?" I said. "Spill, man!"

"This is just way too cool," was all Josh could manage.

I heaved myself out of his arms and turned to face him. "Will you divulge, already? Jeez, you're a pain!" I was standing there with my fists on my hips, glaring at him. Bad move. The quick backhand caught me right in the nuts, and Josh was off in a flash while I snapped over in sudden agony.

"Payback's a bitch!" came floating back to me.

He hadn't got me that hard, and I was able to look up to see him dancing on the balls of his feet just a few yards away. "Wanna chase me?" he called.

I dropped to my knees and put my head down between them. Very shortly after, I heard Josh's steps coming up to me. "Babe? What's wrong? I didn't hit you that hard, did I?" came his concerned voice. And right after, my head came up into his crotch, producing a startled "Oof!" from him. And then he was bent over gasping. I took the opportunity to pull him down alongside me.

"There," I said over his teeth-grinding curses. "Now I think that evens things out. Now never mind all the theatrics," I continued. "Let's get to the important stuff. What about Stu?" I couldn't help taking a risk as I said that and pulled Josh's hands away from his crotch. I gently placed my own hand there and stroked very softly, just letting him feel the warmth of it.

"Oh David!" he moaned, putting his hands behind my head and pulling me to him. I guess he didn't associate that move with the experience with Debbie.

"Now come on, Josh. You're going to have to get used to me touching you. No big deal."

"No big deal? NO BIG DEAL! The man of my dreams fondling my package and it's no big deal? What would be a big deal for you?"

I thought for a moment. "The man of my dreams totally naked with me in bed, and me fondling his cock, his balls... his... everything... with nothing between us at all..." I trailed off, and then took my hand away from him. To compensate, I pulled us together as we lay stretched on our sides so that our jean-covered erections met.

"David..." Nothing more. He buried his head into my shoulder and thrust his hips into me. I pressed my hand against his hip to stop him.

"Easy, man. Just easy. It'll be soon. Very soon. For now, let's just feel good with each other." I moved my hand to his back and stroked up and down. He did the same to me. We came back down from the jagged edge of emotion to the warm, comfortable feeling we'd had before.

"So what about Stu?" I said again.

He chuckled again. "This is just way too cool. I wasn't more than a foot inside the cafeteria when he was on me again. I just said, 'Stu--wanna skip lunch and go talk?' And he looked like I'd offered him a handful of diamonds."

"Wow!" I broke in. "Just exactly what happened with me and Will!"

"Well anyway, we got out of there and I decided I'd take him for a drive."'

"Oh, I get it," I broke in again. "You decided to terrorize him into submission."

"Keep it up, lame boy, and you're really going to have to take up running, cause it'll be the only means you'll have of getting anywhere."

"Yeah, right," I quipped. "Like you'd even be able to drive it if my hand wasn't on the gear shift. So what happened?"

"Funny," Josh resumed. "He was ready enough to talk in the cafeteria yesterday, but when I had him alone he was like tongue-tied or something. We just drove around. I even took him out on the freeway to see if that would loosen him up."

I snorted. "It could have very easily, but probably not the way you meant. It's a wonder he didn't shit himself."

"Jeez, David, not everyone's a wuss like you."

"All right, all right, get on with it. I take it he finally did talk."

"Yeah, as soon as we hit the next off ramp he finally started to open up. He told me what a nice car I had."

"Probably telling it, not you, to try to get it not to hurt him," I said.

"Look, if you keep interrupting I'll never get to finish this."

"Ok, I'm sorry. I'll shut up now. So talk."

"Thank you. Well anyway, a bit after that he started in with the why-did-you-dump-me stuff. Well, I guess I don't have your patience, or tact, or whatever it is you have. I just asked him straight out, 'What's that supposed to mean, Stu? Are you in love with me or something?'"

"Whoa!" I breathed.

"And man, he turned an even brighter shade of red than I've seen even you produce, and hung his head so low I thought he'd get it caught under the dash. Then he straightened back up, looked straight ahead with his mouth clamped shut for like about five blocks, and then he just sort of whispered, 'Yes.'"

"What!" I yelped.

"You got it," Josh replied. "Well at that point, I just pulled it over to the curb and shut down. He was still sitting there, just absolutely rigid, staring out through the windshield. So I just said, 'Stu, man, I'm sorry.' And just reached out and patted his shoulder. He didn't move and he didn't say anything. Have you ever had that feeling when you're with someone who just isn't talking and you feel this urge to fill the silence with something, anything?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean. It can be really tough."

"It sure was. But I hung on and made up my mind not to say anything until he did. And finally he did. 'It hurts like hell,' was what he said. And I said, 'I know, man. I know.'" And he said, 'You do?'. And I said, 'I do.'"

"I hope this isn't turning into a marriage service," I quipped. "I'm getting jealous here."

"So just who am I lying with here in my arms?" he came back. "Jeez, you can be some fucking numb at times." And immediately ruined the scold with uproarious laughter.

"I take it all this has a happy ending?" I said, trying to get him back on track.

"I think so. I hooked him up with Will."