UNDER THE CHERRY TREE
By
Rev. Jesse Penfield Gibson, MDiv, DMin
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The characters and situations are purely imaginary. Any resemblence to any living persion is coincidental. This story is primarily a romance but does contain some scenes of explicit sex, primarily homosexual but not exclusively.
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SIXTEEN
I went with Reed to some house party in Atlanta, near Piedmont Park, at the house of some friend of his. There were probably 30 or 40 people there, the large majority of them male but a few girls whom I judged to be lesbians, pretty much all in the range of college age or slightly older. The fact that everyone was gay was immediately obvious because some of the guys were pretty flamboyant. They called each other "girl" and "girlfriend" and shrieked like they were girls. I don't have internalized homophobia, or at least I don't think I do, but I'm not the kind of gay guy that's attracted to a female with a penis. I am in touch with my feminine side, as they say, but I basically think of myself in masculine terms. I am attracted by masculine guys. I know when I am having sex that I feel very masculine, even when I am bottoming.
Everyone there seemed to know each other and I didn't know anyone except Reed. The crowd seemed to be drawn from a variety of campuses: Tech, Georgia, SCAD Atlanta, Georgia State, Emory and, of course, the two of us from Willingham. What they had in common is that they generally went to the small coterie of private schools in Atlanta that catered to the elite: Lovett, Marist, Westminster, Woodward Academy, Galloway, etc. They were also virtually all white and very homogenous. Since I am not the most naturally social person and I really felt out of place, coming from public school in Miller County, I wasn't having a lot of fun. There was one guy that looked mixed race and a really young guy, who looked like a high school underclassman with red hair, there. The mixed race guy looked familiar to me. He also looked hot. He was hanging back some and acting gloriously above it all. In some people, it would be called arrogance but he was the type that carried it well and it made him all the more attractive.
I went into the kitchen to get another drink. I was mixing a weak bourbon and coke when the mixed race guy came in and got a bottle of club soda and poured it into his glass.
"I've been trying to place you," he said. "Do I know you? And please don't tell me we just hooked up last week."
I smiled. "No, I don't think so. I think I've seen you before too, though. Maybe when I was out with Reed. You know Reed Whitley, right?"
"Oh shit," he shook his head. "I do know you. Well, I know Reed and I know of you. You're Dylan, right? I'm Phillip. Phillip Crowe."
It was clear then. "Xander's brother?"
"Yep. Small world in a big city, huh?"
I told him that I had met his mother 10 days before and that she seemed nice. His comment back, which I thought cryptic, was that other people's mothers were always nice. I had to agree though. My friends all adored my mother even when I was angry at her.
We went out into the small hallway between the kitchen and the main room of the house where everybody was gathered. He pointed toward Reed. "You see the young guy, the redhead, the one your boyfriend is trying to chat up? That's another of the Crowe brother's: Ian. I don't think Reed going to get much out of it because Ian's straight. Well, let's say hetero-flexible. He might let Reed blow him."
"He looks like he's in high school" I commented, staring intently wondering if Reed really was trying to go to bed with him.
Phillip shrugged. "He would be, I guess. A sophomore, I think. Maybe a freshman. I got the pleasure of entertaining him while he and my dad are in town. And who knows what the fuck dad is up to. Things tend to be chaotic."
I saw the kid walk toward the bathroom in the back with Reed following him. It didn't look right to me. It looked like my 21 year old boyfriend was going to the back to have sex with a kid who, at most, was 15 opr 16. "You're not going to stop them?" I asked Phillip in a mild panic.
He shook his head. "Why? He can take care of himself. He's like the rest of us: fucked early and fucks often and can take care of himself. He'll be all right as long as he stays conscious and doesn't do any G with Reed. That's when it gets fucked up."
Despite the fact that his own brother was uninterested in protecting him, I was furious about it and thought about charging in, finding them and stopping it. While I was working up the nerve to go make a scene, someone else stumbled in to the hallway. He was a very effeminate guy who greeted Phillip with pecks on the cheek in the European style. He too had noticed Reed sneaking off with Ian and thought it was funny. He and Phillip laughed about it for a minute before the guy shuffled off to the kitchen to make himself another drink. I didn't understand how they could be so cavalier about underage sex. But it was obvious that was the ethos of this crowd.
"Let's go outside and get toasted," Phillip offered, motioning toward the back door of the kitchen. "It'll be easier for me to get in your pants if you're stoned. Xander has good taste in men. You're cute."
I stared at him. "I have a boyfriend."
"So do I," Phillip shrugged. "He'll want to join in. And your boyfriend is off blowing my brother so I don't think he's going to have the moral authority to object. Not that he would even if he weren't."
"I think all I really want to do is leave," I sighed.
Phillip smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. "Okay, but I'll have to get Carlo. You'll like him. He's a skinny boy with a big dick if you don't mind a three way with two brown boys."
"I meant back to Macon"
"Then you're on your own. You might feel differently after you have some pot. It is good marijuana by the way. That's another common feature of the Crowe brothers: access to very high quality drugs."
I was disgusted with myself but I went outside with him. I must have been thinking with my dick or I just wanted to get high. He was good-looking: light, chocolate milk skin, broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Like Xander, he was physical perfection. Clearly he was available despite the boyfriend. He had many of the same qualities that had attracted me to his brother: a fuck you attitude and an almost relentless sexuality. But he didn't have the restless, almost about to explode quality that Xander did, which I knew was a result of his mental illness. On the other hand, Phillip seemed completely amoral. Xander had morals even if they were individualized to him only.
There was a small patio with wrought iron furniture outside. The yard was bounded by a privacy fence and was postage stamp small. I sank into one of the iron chairs and let my weight leave me. Phillip fished out a one hitter and a bag of weed. I could see the white crystals from where I sat, recognizing the strain from before. Reed had told me that their father grew marijuana and he clearly kept his sons supplied, which I thought was a strange thing for a father to do. He lit the one hitter and sucked in the smoke.
"You guys don't seem to be very protective of each other, considering that you're brothers," I observed. "You let your little brother go off with Reed so you can hook up with Xander's ex. It doesn't seem very brotherly. I met Liam and he was the same way."
Phillip passed the one hitter, now reloaded, to me. "Xander would rather you sleep with me than Reed. But you're basically right. Lots of children by lots of mothers and Xander and me didn't really grow up with the rest of them. We have a lot of sibling rivalry, you could say. Fighting for our dad's attention, I guess. Which is fucking ridiculous because you have to be physically present and partying with him for him to pay any attention to you at all? It's left us all pretty fucked up."
"Sorry but I still don't buy it. It's your little brother. You say he's straight but you just let him go with Reed. And Reed is a guy that you think is a rapist," I shot back.
Phillip stared at me. "I don't think he is; I know he is."
"According to him, Xander was totally willing and only made a story later on to cover himself with Dex since Reed and Dex were dating. Sounds pretty plausible to me."
Phillip got up from the chair and headed toward the door. "Then you're a fucking idiot."
"Then tell me the other side," I said, grabbing him by the arm.
"Fine. In the first place, Reed and Dex had already broken up. In the second place, Xander was unconscious. I'm not saying that we weren't partying with Reed and his friend. We were. I wasn't there when he took the GHB so I'm not going to say. Reed was fucking him bareback and the friend was getting ready too. He didn't agree to that for damn sure. Think about all the sex that he's had in his life, and it's a shitload, and he decides to lie about that one time and say its rape when it wasn't? You got pissed because he was doing porn, right? Did he lie to you about it? Claim that he was forced into or make up some bullshit story?"
"No," I admitted. "He said he was sorry he got caught, not sorry he did it." I reflected on the story and thought Phillip's version also had a ring of truth about it. But usually the truth is in the middle. I don't know much at all about GHB except that it is supposedly very easy to overdose on. I suspected, knowing Xander, was that he was a very willing partaker of the drug and it was too much. He was probably there explicitly to have sex but became unconscious. That's not to excuse Reed's behavior, particularly since I was pretty pissed with him anyway, but there were a few mitigating factors. I think Xander was being honest when he said it was rape and Reed was too when he said it wasn't.
"You might have to face the fact that you left one guy who didn't measure up to your moral standards and went to a guy who is even worse," Phillip said as he leaned against the house, his tone cutting.
"So that's how you try to get into someone's pants?"
"I thought it might be fun, but it's not."
"Sorry," I shot back, sarcastically.
Red headed Ian came through the door. He had the rangy, lean look of someone who growth spurt took them to adult height but had yet to add on the bulk. "Hey, I thought you were out here," he said to Phillip.
"We were just discussing your blowjob," Phillip said.
Ian pulled a joint out of his pocket. "Gotta light?" he asked. "Dude, I thought gay guys were supposed to give the best head. That was not very good head. I know girls that do better than that and they don't even like doing it."
I shifted uncomfortably. "Ian, this is Dylan. He's the boyfriend of the guy that blew you. And Xander's ex, by the way."
"You pitched over Xander for that guy?" Ian asked as he blew out a lung full. He handed the joint to me. "You're fucking nuts."
I declined the joint. I wanted my head clear, or as clear possible considering two drinks and one hit of pot all ready, for a confrontation. "If you don't mind my asking, exactly how old are you?"
"Old enough to want my dick sucked, fucker. What the fuck do you care?"
"15?" I persisted.
"Okay, sure. You didn't get horny when you were 15?"
"Yeah, I did," I admitted. "And if a guy wanted to blow me, I would have let him. It's the guy that blew you that I'm pissed at."
"That's your relationship problem," Ian said, handing the joint to his brother.
That much was true. I excused myself and went inside. There were some guys kissing each other on the sofa and in a corner. I suspected that before long, there were going to be 3 ways and 4 ways going on or, perhaps, a full scale orgy. Reed knew it when he brought me. We had only been together six weeks and he had decided to spice things up by finding a third party. In his twisted imagination, I am sure that he thought that one of Xander's brothers would fit the bill nicely. I walked through the crowd looking for him. I found him in the back of the house, talking a twink boy in make-up.
"I want to talk to you," I announced.
"Where have you been?" he asked nonchalantly, leaning against the hallway wall.
"Where have you been?"
Reed shrugged. "Hanging out"
"Having oral sex with a 15 year old?"
Suddenly angry, he pulled me into the bedroom, which was empty, and shut the door. "What the fuck?"
"He's 15, Reed."
"So what? It's not like he's a virgin. He's had twice the amount of sex that you have. If you want to defend the virtue of one of the Crowe brother's, you sure as shit ought not to wait until they're 15. They lose their cherry by the time they've hit middle school. And he can probably party you under the table too, hot shot."
"I don't doubt that for a minute," I said, getting right up close to him. I'm sure that my neck veins were bulging. "But he's 15 and you're 21. That's statutory rape."
I could see the fury on his face. "Are you calling me a rapist?" he hissed.
"You're over 18 and he's under. That's the law."
"So you're a fucking lawyer now? Trust me, he's not going to the cops and neither is his brother. Because they sure as shit don't want the cops poking around in their business. Their drug business. I promise you that you care about it more than he does."
What made me even more angry was that he was right about that. Ian was unconcerned. His only complaint was that Reed wasn't as good as he was used to. No matter what I said, there was no possibility that any charges would be filed as Reed knew. Xander hadn't gone to the police obviously either. It wouldn't take a policeman very long to start asking questions that they wouldn't want to answer. But when Reed told me that I needed to loosen up and have some fun. He suggested that there were plenty of guys I could fool around with if I wanted to.
"Fine, you fuck whoever you want and I'll do the same."
My bravado didn't last long. I was in Atlanta and had to get back to Macon. We had come together so, in all likelihood, we were going to end up having make-up sex. Then I remembered Phillip. I went back through the crowd and to the kitchen. Phillip was there getting another club soda.
"Do any of you ever drink alcohol?" I asked in exasperation.
"No, not really. I know a guy that makes some mean moonshine and homemade wine but other than that it's really a pretty uninteresting drug when you think about it. I prefer more mind expanding chemicals personally. How did your little tete-a-tete with Reed go?"
"Let me ask you question, have you ever done it with Reed?"
Phillip laughed. "No. He wishes."
"Let's just say, hypothetically, that I was to do it with you, what would Xander think if he found out?"
"Would he feel betrayed?" Phillip asked, setting his glass down. "Doing it with Reed was the betrayal there, Sparky. If, hypothetically, we were to hook up for a one night stand, he would completely understand that."
I considered the answer. "Okay, again hypothetically, if we did hook up tonight, someplace other than here, could you drive me back to Macon tomorrow?"
"Hypothetically I could do that," he said, draining the soda. "But Carlo has to agree to do it with you too. Because contrary to what some people think, we are not soulless fucking machines. I like to play but we play together."
"Then, non-hypothetically, let's go find Carlo and get going. What are you going to do with Ian?"
"Nothing. I just live next door. He can come back when he's ready. He might get lucky."
Carlo could have been my Latin doppelganger. He looked barely old enough to shave, younger than 18, and had a large mop of wavy black hair and big brown eyes. His skin was almond. Of course, he was even skinnier than I was but freakishly cute. I guessed that English wasn't his first language because he had a pronounced accent and seemed to stumble over words. Phillip quickly filled him in and Carlo seemed willing enough.
The house they lived in was old but elegantly appointed. It seemed that Phillip had taste. He also had a massive DVD collection and a large flat screen TV. When he told me that he was a film student I could understand the huge collection of movies, a lot of them classics. He also had porno videos. We didn't actually need those though. It was in bedroom that I saw Carlo's main appeal: soft, his dick was large. Hard, it was a truly awesome thing.
I was sitting on the bed with both of them standing in front of me, hard, as I sucked them off, alternating between them. They laughed and made crude remarks, Phillip mostly, but two uncut penises were staring me in the face. I was truly aroused by them. Phillip drove the scene. He was the director. He told me who to suck and when. I was happy to follow directions at that point. As with Xander, I nibbled on the foreskin, ran my mouth between it and the head and tried to be playful with them both. Phillip alllowed that at first, even enjoyed it. But he wanted more. I could take him, no problem. All the way down and to the root, my face planted in his shaved pubes. Sliding back and forth on his stiff dick. Carlo was a different story. He made me gag. I couldn't take him all the way down. He was too big. At that point, I didn't whether I would ultimately be able to take him in my butt or not. I'd try but that boy was huge. For the moment, I licked and sucked and tugged on balls and really just tried to pleasure them as well as I could. Phillip face fucked me but fortunately Carlo didn't. I couldn't take it. But Phillip was insistent. Then, he pushed me back onto the bed and both of them climbed on and took turns on my dick. Both were skillful but Phillip, much like his brother, was an oral artist. It felt great having two guys worship me. Three or four times I came close to orgasm but they backed off, keeping me on the edge. Maximized pleasure.
The fucking was simple. First Phillip did me and then Carlo. That part was also delicious and Phillip knew what he was doing. That now familiar feeling of fullness, of electricity humming in prostate as a hard dick moved back and forth inside me. He was good and it felt great. But having Carlo's fat, long prick in me was beyond great. It may have been the best I ever felt during sex. Of course, up until now, my experience had consisted of only two guys. I had doubled that in one night. It hurt at first, to be sure. But then it felt great. He was into it too. He wanted to fuck me and while he started slow he didn't stay slow. He amped it up and it felt even better. Phillip kissed me and rubbed on my body as his lover sodomized me, my knees on his shoulder and my feet hanging down his back. Then it was faster and harder. Eventually I just lost it. I came in a river, spurt after spurt, no hands -- an orgasm just from being fucked. It was amazing.
Sunday morning broke and Phillip was true to his word, driving me back to Macon, which is about an hour and half trip. Going down went faster than that because the Sunday morning traffic was light and Phillip sped outrageously. It was on that trip down that I filled in most of the details of the Crowe family life. The father had a restless and voracious sexual appetite for girls mostly but boys too. His sons seemed to have inherited that same predatory sense. But it was a sprawling dysfunctional clan and deeply countercultural. There was a strong current of anarchism, extreme environmentalism and, of course, psychedelic drugs. His family was the polar opposite of mine, which is conventional, Christian and conservative. Phillip described his family in sarcastic tones but I think I understood his brother better. He made better sense to me.