Mayfield Titans

 

CHAPTER 43

STUFF HAPPENS

 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7

 

<Shelby and Nolan>

 

Even though Nolan’s cousin, Shelby, wouldn’t be turning twelve until the upcoming Wednesday, he was having his birthday party a few days early. Since next Saturday would be Valentine’s Day, Shelby’s mother felt that many of Shelby’s friends might have other plans for the day. She knew his cousin Nolan was one of those who wouldn’t be able to make a party on that day.

 

The trip to Shelby’s house was a big deal for Nolan because it would be his first ever solo train ride. He had hoped to take the Friday evening Cascades, but busy adult schedules prevented that from happening. Instead, he would be taking the morning train south to Vancouver, Washington.

 

Nolan’s mom made a breakfast of fried eggs, ham, hash browns, and toast. The feast more than satisfied Nolan, especially since there was sure to be plenty of food at Shelby’s party.  Nolan’s dad drove him to the Centralia train station, where they waited for the arrival of the 9:10 train, which arrived on time.

 

Paul Moyer had the proper signed form handy, which he handed over to the conductor so Nolan could travel as an unaccompanied minor. The conductor scanned the bar code on Nolan’s phone and had him sit at a table in the Bistro car that had been set aside for unaccompanied minors. There was another minor sitting at the table, a fourteen-year-old girl who was traveling from Tacoma to Portland.

 

She and Nolan struck up a conversation after the train left the station. They found out they had a mutual interest in playing sports and chatted for around twenty minutes until they ran out of things to say. Nolan then pulled a book out of his backpack and turned to the page he had bookmarked.

 

“You’re reading a book?” the girl asked incredulously.

 

“Yeah. It’s a great way to kill time. Plus, I can stop anytime I want to look out the window for a while.”

 

“I didn’t know boys even knew what a book was.”

 

“You just don’t know the right boys,” Nolan laughed.

 

“I guess,” the girl replied. She spent the next hour texting with her girlfriend, mostly telling her about the hot boy she was sitting with on the train.

 

The Cascades was due to arrive in Vancouver at 10:30. One of the conductors asked Nolan to follow him to the vestibule of the business class car just ahead of the Bistro. Nolan put his coat on, picked up his backpack, said good-bye to the girl, and followed the conductor, who was carrying Nolan’s paperwork, to the vestibule where the doors were.

 

When Nolan stepped off the train, he saw his Uncle Chris and his cousin Shelby waiting for him on the platform. He told the conductor that Chris was his uncle. The conductor asked him for picture ID, which Chris already had out.  He checked the name on the ID against the name on the document, signed the document, had Chris sign the document, and handed Nolan over to his uncle.

 

Chris was Nolan’s father’s older brother by two years. He was Nolan’s favorite of his three uncles; the other two uncles were his mother’s brothers. Nolan thought they were both stuck up and hard to talk to, but his Uncle Chris, who was an educator, was always friendly and easy to talk to. Shelby was by far his favorite cousin, although he didn’t know the cousins on his mother’s side that well, since they didn’t live in Washington State. Shelby was like a good friend; fun to be with, friendly, loved to talk, laugh, and play games, and, as Nolan learned on his Christmas visit, had also become a horn dog. Nolan wished he lived closer and would love to see him and Aiden get together for some fun.

 

When they arrived at Shelby’s house, Nolan’s Aunt Cindy gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Shelby’s fourteen-year-old sister Melinda was watching television and gave Nolan a surprisingly warm greeting. Nolan was certain she was being nice because she wanted to see him with his pants off, but as far as he was concerned, that wasn’t going to happen.

 

Shelby’s party was scheduled to start at 12:30, leaving plenty of time for Nolan and his cousin to talk before the guests started arriving. Shelby’s bedroom was the logical spot for a private chat between cousins. They sat next to each other on Shelby’s bed, fully dressed except for their shoes.

 

“You’re taking the 504 train home, right?” Shelby asked.

 

“Yep. It leaves at 12:45, just in time for me to go buy a hot dog for lunch,” Nolan replied.

 

“Plus, it means we can sleep in tomorrow morning.”

 

“Is Lars spending the night?” That had been up in the air yesterday, and Nolan hoped the answer would be no since he was looking forward to teaching his cousin how to kiss and how to enjoy a sixty-nine. But it was Shelby’s party, and he would accept whatever happened. Acceptance was something he was learning from Aiden, although sometimes he thought it might be the other way around.

 

“Nope. He’s going to spend it with me next Friday instead.”

 

“Then I can give you part two of my sex lessons.”

 

“You could have anyway. Lars and I figured out French kissing when I spent the night with him a couple of weeks ago, not that it was hard to figure out. I showed him about doing a sixty-nine and he loves it. So, all we would have to work on is his humping which we’re both ready for since while we were working on kissing, we rubbed our dicks together.”

 

“Fine, be that way. Just go out on your own and leave your teacher in the dust,” Nolan frowned.

 

“I’m sorry, cuz, I thought it would be okay to…”

 

“It’s cool dude, I was just yanking your chain.” Nolan rolled on top of Shelby and planted a kiss on his lips. Shelby quickly opened his mouth, inviting his cousin’s tongue in. The two started humping each other’s groins, feeling each other’s hardness even through their jeans.

 

“Fuck, cuz, you’re way better at this than Lars,” Shelby panted as he came up for air.

 

“That’s only because I’ve been doing it longer.” Nolan opened his jeans wide and did the same to Shelby’s. The cousins then went back to humping with only their underpants separating their rock-hard cocks. The doorbell ringing brought their activity to an abrupt end.

 

“Shit, how come our sex always gets interrupted?” Shelby moaned. “I bet those early birds are Lars and Adam.” Lars, who was eleven, was Shelby’s best friend. Adam was Lars’ fifteen-year-old brother and served as a sex mentor for the two brothers.

 

“Shelby, Lars and Adam are here,” Melinda called out.

 

The boys quickly zipped and buttoned up, adjusted their cocks to try to mask the bulges, and left the bedroom to greet the first partiers. “Well, I’m surprised you two made it out so fast,” Melinda smirked.

 

“Whatever,” Shelby grumped.

 

“I know what was going on in your room.”

 

Shelby stepped up to Lars and gave him a big hug while Nolan gave Melinda his fiercest glare. She smiled sweetly at him and walked away.

 

“I figured you two would be the first ones here,” Shelby said after he let go of his friend. “And ignore my sister, she’s just being a big brat, as usual.”

 

“I can’t ignore your sister, she’s got nice boobs,” Adam grinned.

 

“You’re welcome to have them.” Shelby then introduced Nolan to Lars and Adam. Nolan thought Lars was a real cutie. He was a little smaller than Aiden and just as blond, but without the freckles, and had beautiful blue eyes. Adam at 6’1, 180, was a stud. Nolan wondered how big his cock was. He had read online that most teens had fully developed cocks by the time they reached fifteen.

 

“We had to be the first ones here to get a chance to see Nolan all to ourselves,” Adam said.

 

“What does that mean?” Shelby asked.

 

“That means since I can’t spend the night, I can see what he looks like naked before everybody gets here,” Lars said.

 

“You don’t mess around, do you?” Nolan chuckled.

 

“Lars is still learning the etiquette of sex,” Adam explained. “We really came just so we can get to know you. Shelby has said a lot about you, and it seems you’ve been teaching him sex stuff like I have. Best friend’s big brother, big cousin, or big brother with Lars and me, it’s all the same kind of teaching.”

 

“Sorry, I know I was rude,” Lars said. “I just thought that since you and Shelby have been doing stuff that, you know, you’d let me see what my best friend’s big cousin looks like.”

 

“Even with you guys being early, we don’t have time for that stuff,” Shelby pointed out.

 

“How about we just go into Shelby’s room and drop our pants. Everybody gets a look, and we pull them back up,” Nolan suggested.

 

“See why my cuz is such a good teacher?” Shelby grinned.

 

“Is Melinda going to join us?” Adam asked.

 

“NO!” Shelby, Lars, and Nolan shouted out together.

 

“Well, I guess that takes care of that,” Adam grinned. “Maybe she and I can sneak away during the party.”

 

The four boys whizzed to Shelby’s room and quickly dropped their pants.  Lars was the only one who didn’t have an erection. Nolan felt his eyes widen as he took in Adam’s six and a half inches as well as his bush of dark pubic hair.

 

“How come you’re not hard?” Shelby asked Lars.

 

“I dunno. I’m just not,” Lars replied. Then he flashed Shelby a grin. “Of course, if you or Nolan want to help me…”

 

Nolan took the hint and wrapped his fingers around Lars’ soft two inches which quickly became a hard three-and-a-quarter inches. “Thank you. That worked great,” Lars said. “I sure wish I could spend the night with you guys.”

 

“I guess we’ll have to figure out a time that works for everybody. Maybe I can bring my boyfriend, Aiden, with me.” Nolan expected a reaction from Adam after he called Aiden his boyfriend, but all Adam did was raise the hem of his shirt to make sure everyone saw his wares, including his hairless hanging ball sac.

 

“Okay, everybody happy?” Shelby asked. “Cuz it’s getting close to PARTY TIME.”

 

Everybody happily pulled up their pants and left the bedroom. Melinda scowled at the quartet as soon as she saw them to let them know she knew what was going on and disapproved. The only one who cared at all what she thought was Adam, and he didn’t care all that much.

 

Shelby’s party was a big success. He was a popular boy and between his invitations to classmates and basketball and baseball teammates (Shelby didn’t like soccer) he had twenty-one friends show up, including five girls. They managed to be a willing center of attention for some of the boys. Two of them had instant crushes on Nolan and were disappointed when he didn’t return their flirty advances.

 

Shelby and his parents had plenty of fun games on the party itinerary. There was lots of laughter along with a great group of cute, friendly boys for Nolan to admire. Nolan noted that while games were being played, Adam and Melinda disappeared for a while.

 

The hot dogs, French fries, even the carrot sticks, were gobbled up by the hungry tweens. After Shelby read his cards and set aside whatever cash and gift cards came his way, it was time to sing “Happy Birthday” and enjoy cake and ice cream.

 

Adam, Nolan, and two boys on the school basketball team, were the only teenagers at the party. Most of the boys knew Adam for his athletic reputation if nothing else and they all liked Nolan. A couple of them who had an eye for boys thought he was hot and wondered what he looked like with his clothes off.

 

Adam and Lars, who had been the first to arrive, were also the last to leave. Nolan and Shelby enjoyed their time together after dinner watching a movie with Shelby’s family and made no attempt to reprise their little sexual foray on Shelby’s bed. They knew the time for that would be coming soon.

 

After the movie and some family chatter the boys said their goodnights and started for Shelby’s bedroom. Melinda gave them a look that said she knew what was going to happen behind the closed door and Shelby gave her a look that said I know where you and Adam disappeared to and what you did. The looks led to a standoff with Shelby knowing that his sister would not make any attempt to bother their fun.

 

After taking care of pissing, brushing, washing, and admiring each other’s naked bodies they crawled under the covers. “What are we going to do?” Shelby asked eagerly.

 

“How about we do what we started this morning. Only now we can do it naked and we can finish it,” Nolan suggested.

 

“You could teach me how to, you know, do butt stuff. That’s one thing Adam said he and I shouldn’t do because it would really mean we were gay, especially if you let somebody stick his thing up your butt.”

 

“And Adam is once again full of shit,” Nolan responded which got Shelby to break out in laughter. “But not tonight. It’s been a long day. We need an overnight when we have more time. And also, if we did it at my house, we wouldn’t have Melinda lurking around. Plus, we would have Aiden there, too. Or we could do it at his house which is a great place to have sex because you just know Aiden’s dads aren’t going to bug us.”

 

“Okay.” Shelby sounded disappointed. Nolan understood his disappointment. Shelby had just discovered a new toy, called sex, and wanted to find out everything he could about it NOW!

 

But the cousins had some intense sex rubbing their cocks and bodies together. They included a lot of kissing and Frenching and groping and, of course, humping. Shelby learned how sensitive his nipples were and how good it felt to have them kissed and licked and sucked. He learned what it was like to have a finger or fingers play with his butthole. And when Nolan slipped his middle finger into his hole and touched what he learned was his sweet spot, it was all he could do to stifle a scream of delight.

 

Shelby swore that his orgasm was the best one of his life. He loved having Nolan’s cum shoot all over him as his cousin rubbed his cock along his sweaty belly. If humping is this good, Shelby wondered, then how good will fucking be?  The impatient tween, who was four days away from turning twelve, couldn’t wait to find out the answer.

 

As the naked cousins cuddled, Nolan now fully understood why Aiden was so infatuated with Chase and Logan. There was something special about having a sexy cousin and he wanted more of him—especially his ass. One of Nolan’s last thoughts before drifting off to sleep was how great it would be having him, Shelby, Lars, and Aiden naked in Aiden’s basement ready to have a sexual rumble.

 

<SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5>

 

<Shelby and Nolan>

 

“That was fun last night,” Shelby said as Nolan came out of the shower. Shelby was leery of sharing the shower, more because of his sister’s squawking than his parents objecting. To stay out of any kind of trouble it was single showers whenever he had Lars, or another friend, spend the night. Lars was the only friend Shelby was interesting in showering with, although as his level of pubescent horniness rose, so did the chances of his messing around with one of his other friends.

 

“Hey, the whole day was fun,” Nolan grinned. “And when you get the chance to come to Meadow Park and spend the night with me or me and Aiden, we WILL be showering together.”

 

“I can’t wait. You’re the best cousin ever.”

 

Nolan planted a long kiss on Shelby’s lips, causing his dick to rise. “You’re not so bad yourself. But I guess we’d better get dressed since I smell breakfast cooking.”

 

After breakfast, Melinda cornered Nolan in the living room. “I thought I’d get to see you naked this time,” she grumbled. “You do stuff with Shelby and I’m your cousin, too. That means you should at least get naked with me. You don’t have to do anything else.”

 

“I guess it just got too busy,” Nolan said. “Maybe next time. Besides you’re a girl, which makes things different.” Melinda was getting on Nolan’s nerves.

 

“That is a sexist statement. We’re cousins, so it’s not like we’re doing this for sex, even though I know you have sex with Shelby. And that is very gross, since you’re cousins, too. Listen, we don’t have to take you to the train station for a couple of hours. We have lots of time to get naked.”

 

“I’m going to be helping Shelby with some math problems.”

 

“Yeah, like counting how many testicles you have.”

 

“Who’s being gross now. We’re going to work in your parent’s office area. Look, how about I promise that next time I see you I’ll get naked with you.”

 

“Promise? As in a real, unbreakable promise?”

 

Nolan nodded. “A total unbreakable promise, if you leave me and Shelby alone for the rest of the morning. But Shelby can join us if he wants.”

 

“Okay, it’s not like we haven’t been naked together before. And I won’t let you forget.”

 

“I didn’t think you would,” Nolan said as he finally managed to get away from his annoying cousin. He figured getting naked with her later was a better choice than being harassed the rest of the morning. After all, he had been naked with girls before and lived to tell about it.

 

<Aiden and Gordy>

 

Aiden and Gordy stepped into the shower together. “Are you okay about last night?” Aiden asked, knowing that his friend sometimes suffered pangs of guilt after a sexual encounter.

 

“I’m good,” Gordy said. “If what we did is even close to what sex with Kalie will be like, I can hardly wait for it to happen.”

 

“Does that mean you’re stepping up your schedule? I mean, are you planning on doing it before you’re ninety?”

 

“Very funny.” Gordy turned around so Aiden could wash his back. “I’m still thinking of waiting until we’re both thirteen, but last night was so wow! I mean there was kissing and fucking and kissing and even me playing with your tits and—maybe I’m being stupid, huh?”

 

“You’re not being stupid. You’re being you and being you means making sure you do the right thing for you and for Kalie,” Aiden responded. “But maybe the right thing is you two planning on when to do the deed. And think about this, dude, you were so good last night you gave me a no touch cum.”

 

Gordy grinned with pleasure. “I know. That was pretty awesome.” His face got serious again. “But what I meant was whether I was being stupid for thinking that because I had so much fun doing it to you last night it means it’s time for me to Kalie.”

 

“All I can say is what Marty tells me and even my dads tell me.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Quit thinking so much and follow your heart.”

 

Gordy gave that some thought as he washed Aiden’s back including his solid tween ass. “Maybe I should call Kalie and talk to her,” he said as he ran his soapy hand through the crack that his cock had invaded the night before.

 

“If she’s your girlfriend, then making her part of the decision is pretty important. Nolan and I talk over almost everything. It’s like we’re partners.”

 

“But you’re both boys.”

 

“So? Partners are partners.”

 

There was another moment of silence as the boys made sure they were rinsed, and Aiden shut off the water. “So, you think I should start being her partner if I’m going to be her boyfriend?”

 

Aiden knew better than to be Gordy’s romantic adviser. “I don’t know what you should do. What I think is that you should seriously think about it. I also think we better get our asses moving so we can go cook breakfast.”

 

Gordy was in such a different state of mind that when he and Aiden headed for the kitchen, they were both naked. For the first time that Larry and Phil could remember, when Gordy tied his apron on, instead of his underwear covered ass sticking out of the back, his bare ass was what was visible.

 

<Aiden and Nolan>

 

“How come you didn’t fuck him?” Aiden asked his boyfriend as they chatted on Skype about their weekends.

 

“I dunno. He really wanted to learn, but I didn’t think he seemed ready. He’s never had anything more than my finger up his butt. I just didn’t think his ass was ready for my giant dick.”

 

“Big dick,” Aiden corrected. “It’s a big dick, not a giant dick.”

 

“You think it’s giant when I stick it up your ass,” Nolan pointed out.

 

“It says in the boyfriend manual that you always tell your boyfriend he has a giant dick when he’s fucking you.”

 

Nolan paused for a moment and then grinned. “Really? You mean I’m supposed to say that your junior size cock is giant?”

 

“It wouldn’t hurt.”

 

“Of course, it wouldn’t hurt. It’s not big enough to hurt anybody.”

 

“Take a good look at it,” Aiden said, holding his hard four plus inches close to his laptop’s camera. Both boys were naked and had been idly stroking their hard cocks as they talked. “You know you love Little Aiden.”

 

“Hey, sweets, I didn’t say I didn’t love it, I just said it wasn’t big enough to hurt anybody. It’s for sure big enough to make somebody feel pretty fucking good.”

 

“After saying that, I have to give you all of your lost points back,” Aiden chuckled. “When you think about it, last night was a weird night.”

 

“How?”

 

“Gordy fucked me like a pro. He wasn’t thinking, I’m fucking Aiden, what do I do now so I don’t mess it up? He just hammered me and let go. I mean he was pretty good the first time, but this time he gave me a no touch cum.”

 

“The really weird thing would be Gordy being somebody’s bottom,” Nolan said.

 

“The really weird thing is you being in bed with your naked twelve-year-old cousin having sex and knowing he wants you to take his cherry and you not doing it. Gordy treats sex like a disease and this time he goes all out and fucks the shit out of me. From what you’ve told me about Shelby, he’s become a major horn dog and wants to be fucked and you say maybe someday when he’s ready.”

 

“First, I said I might do it when he overnights at my house again,” Nolan said.  “And, yeah, I know, somebody else might take his cherry before me, but he’s got a nice ass and is a great cousin and I don’t mind fucking him like you fuck Logan. But he was so sweet with his smile and his cute face and how he talked and even how he kissed and humped me that…well…he was just too sweet to fuck.”

“Dude, you have lost your mind. You keep calling me sweet and fuck me every chance you get. Does that mean you’re not serious about me being sweet?”

 

“No, it means you’re my sweet boyfriend and I want to fuck you right now. Since I can’t do it, let’s watch each other cum.”

 

“Fair enough,” Aiden grinned.

 

The boyfriends watched as Nolan shot his thick wad, starting with a squirt on his chest and shooting down his belly. Aiden followed with three clear squirts on his belly. Even though jerking off together on Skype wasn’t anywhere near the real thing, they thought it was cool to not only be able to see their boyfriend cum but to also be able to see themselves cum on their video inserts.

 

“Before we crash, I want to tell you one more thing about Shelby,” Nolan said.

 

“Go for it.”

“I said that next time he comes I was hoping you’d be able to overnight with us. Or maybe we could come to your house. What do you think?”

 

“I think I love the idea, and I know I love you. He looks cute and sexy, you said he is sweet and sexy, so yeah, a hot three-way would be awesome.”

 

“Or throw his friend Lars and his older brother, Adam, in for a five-way,” Nolan added. “How old is Adam?”

 

“Fifteen. The dude is hot - 6’1” and hung huge. Mason would love him.”

 

“How do you know he’s hung huge?”

 

“Because we all dropped our pants for a cock check. From the looks of the balls on him, I bet he could cum all day.”

 

“You and your dirty mind.”

 

“I have to keep up with you.”

 

Nolan blew Aiden a kiss. “Good night sweetie ass. I love you.”

 

“Good night world’s best boyfriend, I love you, too.

 

<Lenny and Keith>

 

When Lenny heard the doorbell ring, he knew it was Keith. He had been surprised when Keith called him that morning saying he wanted to come over in the afternoon and talk about something. Other than a few texts and one phone call, Lenny hadn’t communicated with Keith over the past month. He not only had been hard to get hold of, he hadn’t been good at returning texts.

 

Lenny surmised that the topic of the surprise visit would be the poor communication between them of late. When he saw the serious look on his boyfriend’s face, he knew that whatever Keith had to say wasn’t going to be good news.

 

“Hey, Keith, good see you,” Lenny said, although he wasn’t certain that was true.

 

“Hey, Lenny.” Keith stepped into the house, and other than a fist bump there was no hug, no kiss, no physical greeting of any kind.

 

“How did you get here?”

 

“Mom brought me. She went to Food Mart and will pick me up as soon as I text her.”

 

“That means this is going to be a short visit and I am even more sure I won’t like it. I guess you have something serious to talk about.”

 

Keith saw Brenda and Lenny’s mom sitting in the living room watching something on TV. “Can we talk in your room?” he said, avoiding a reply to Lenny’s statement.

 

“Hi, Keith,” Lenny’s mother called out.

 

“Hello, Mrs. Hazen,” Keith responded.

 

Lenny led Keith to his bedroom and sat on his bed. Instead of plopping next to him, as he usually would, Keith sat on Lance’s bed. “Where’s Lance?”

 

“He’s hanging out with Grant and maybe a couple of other guys. But probably just Grant.”

 

“Those guys are really tight, aren’t they?”

 

Lenny nodded. He wanted to say, “just like us”, but he sensed that was no longer true. “Yeah, they are,” was all he could get out.

 

Keith started beating around the bush, talking about how he had been busy and couldn’t chat with Lenny much or see him much and how he finally realized they needed to talk face-to-face.

 

“Okay, so talk face-to-face about what?” Lenny asked.

 

Keith took a deep breath. He didn’t want to say what he was about to say any more than Lenny wanted to hear it. “I don’t think we should be boyfriends anymore.”

 

“I thought you’d say that,” Lenny uttered sadly. “So, I guess I’d like to know why?”

 

“We live in two different towns.” Keith saw Lenny about to open his mouth and went on. “I know what you are going to say; you’re going to say that it works for Aiden and Nolan and they live farther away from each other than we do. I don’t know how they make it work, but I just know I can’t. I gotta have somebody close to me.”

 

Keith saw the tears dropping on Lenny’s face and moved over to Lenny’s bed. He started to put an arm around his friend’s shoulder, but Lenny pushed it away. “I guess you got somebody.”

 

“Not yet, because that would be cheating. I wanted to talk to you first. Hell, there’s just all kinds of stuff been going on. Shannon said he wanted to be my boyfriend, but I told him I couldn’t. He knows why and he keeps asking me to talk to you. And my parents, especially my dad, are giving me all kinds of shit about having a best friend in Mayfield. I don’t think Aiden and Nolan get the kind of shit from their parents that I do. And then there’s one other thing.”

 

Lenny sniffled as he waited for Keith to go on. “Well?” he asked.

 

“I’m not even sure I’m gay. I’ll kinda go out with Shannon, but we both know we like looking at girls.” Lenny could see that Keith was fighting tears as well. This time, he reached out to Keith, who let him put his arm around his shoulders.

 

“That means you won’t be coming to the Valentine’s Dance with me,” Lenny said, knowing what the answer was.

 

“Even if I was going to stay boyfriends with you, I wouldn’t be going. My parents wouldn’t sign the slip. They said I had no business going to a dance in Mayfield, especially with a boy, even if he was one of my best friends.”

 

The boys sat quietly as Lenny kept his arm around Keith and stared at the wall, trying to keep from crying. “Can we still be friends?” Lenny finally sobbed.

 

“Always.”

 

The two former boyfriends hugged each other tight, put their tearstained faces together and exchanged a long, loving, and final kiss. “It was fun,” Lenny said.

 

“Yeah it was. And I’m sorry. I don’t want you to hate me and I hope you find a new boyfriend, like really soon.”

 

“I’ll never hate you, and I hope I find one too, even if I don’t have a clue who.”

 

“You’re acting like a poet. Do you think you might not be gay?”

 

“I don’t think about it. I know what I am. I like boys. I loved you like nobody but my brother. Now, I just need time to think.”

 

“Okay.” Keith texted his mother that he was ready. “She says she’ll be here in five minutes.”

 

The boys got up. Lenny handed Keith a towel and they both used it to wipe their faces. They left Lenny’s room and walked into the living room. “Are you boys okay?” Lenny’s mother asked as soon as she saw them.

 

“I bet they broke up,” Brenda said.

 

“Brenda, that wasn’t a nice thing to…”

 

“She’s right mom. We broke up. But we’re still friends.”

 

“I gotta go meet my mom. Bye Mrs. Hazen.” As Keith left the house, Lenny noted that Keith never said a word to the Brat.

 

“Do you need to talk?” Lenny’s mother asked.

 

“Maybe later. I just need to sit and think for now.” Leslie Hazen played the good mom and ignored her son. She rose from the couch, walked over to him, and hugged him tightly to her bosom, letting him run through his second set of tears.

 

After sitting alone in his bedroom for half an hour, Lenny sat down with his mother and told her what had happened and why. She was happy that they had at least broken up on good terms. Later, before dinner, he told Lance about the breakup. Lance gave his brother a long hug. Lenny was pleased that he didn’t break down crying for the third time.

 

That night Lenny and Lance enjoyed two rounds of wrestling and humping, each round ending in a satisfying orgasm. Their third round consisted of Lenny making love to his twin, telling his brother how much he loved him and how his brother’s love was the most important thing in the world to him right then.

 

Leslie Hazen knew what her boys were doing with each other in their bedroom. She understood. In fact, she approved. After all, how could she be against the relationship and the deep love brothers had for each other?

 

 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10

 

<Aiden and Grant>

 

Before Aiden’s first Fourth Dimension meeting in almost a month, he went to Grant’s house after school where they did homework together, played a few video games, and enjoyed dinner with Grant’s family. Grant and Aiden wanted to walk to the meeting. Grant’s mother was okay with that but said she would pick Grant up after the meeting. Aiden told her that since one of his dads was going to pick him up after the meeting anyway, he was sure they could give Grant a ride home. That worked for her provided Grant texted her as they left the meeting.

 

Aiden and Grant arrived at the meeting early, set out the literature and helped Rusty set up the chairs along with putting out the cookies Rusty’s mother provided for the meeting. Aiden thanked Rusty for helping with the literature while he was unable to attend the meetings regularly.  

 

Rusty and Grant had enjoyed a brief fling at being boyfriends but quickly discovered that had been a mistake; there were other boys who interested them as well. They ended that relationship, short as it was, on good terms and were still good friends.

 

Rusty was now tight with Collin. They were in some nether region between being best friends and being boyfriends. Both were confused about their sexual orientation but knew that they enjoyed sex with each other. Grant and Lance considered themselves to be boyfriends in the romantic and sexual sense of the word.

 

It didn’t take the three boys long to set up the room and they were soon chatting about various subjects, one of which was Rusty’s first visit to the South Sound Nudists’ camp with Collin and Collin’s family. They stayed at the camp’s lodge. What caught the attention of Grant and Aiden was Rusty mentioning that he watched Collin have sex with one of the girls spending that weekend at the lodge.

 

“She had huge tits,” Rusty said. “She and Collin really went at it. I couldn’t watch real close because I was their lookout. The lodge is pretty big with some good places to hide, but you still have to be careful. Collin says doing sex is better in the summer when you can go outside and find some really good hiding places.”

 

Barry and Peter Astor were the next to arrive followed by Sammy soon after. Arizona, who was the Wednesday meeting secretary, was next; she came with Lonnie Stevens.  Leah Gardner arrived a couple of minutes before the meeting started. Aiden enjoyed seeing his friends and enjoyed the meeting.

 

Aiden and Rusty helped Grant, who was the closer, put the chairs and literature away and throw away the cookie napkins. Larry and Aiden had traded texts. Larry said he would be happy to take Rusty and Grant home.

 

When Larry turned into Grant’s street, he and the boys saw some interesting action. The Fire Department’s Medic Aid van, a police car, and an ambulance were outside of a house close to Grant’s, their emergency lights flashing.

 

“Whose house are they in front of?” Larry asked.

 

“Shit, that looks like Alex’s house,” Grant replied. He then lightly slapped his mouth and apologized to Larry for saying shit.

 

“It’s okay—you were surprised,” Larry responded as he stopped in front of Grant’s house.

“I’ll let you guys know if I find out what happened,” Grant said as he exited the car.

 

Larry turned off the motor. “We’ll hang for just a minute.”

 

He got out and saw Officer Carpenter standing across the street. Larry told the boys to stay where they were and then crossed the street. “Hi, Jeremy,” he said as he approached the officer.

 

“Hey, Coach—what brings you to this part of town?” Jeremy Carpenter responded. He was a Mayfield High alum and had played for Larry as a pitcher/outfielder.

 

“I was dropping off Grant. He was at a meeting with Aiden. We were wondering what was happening since the activity appears to be at Alex Guerrero’s house and he and Grant used to be buddies.”

 

“That’s where the activity is. I guess the boy’s mother was working late and came home to find him passed out and unresponsive on the couch. She called 911 and here we all are.”

 

Larry noted a gurney being removed from the house. He suspected the body on the gurney was Alex’s. Since the face wasn’t covered that meant Alex was still alive.

 

“Okay, thanks Jeremy. I’ll let the boys know. I guess we’ll learn more tomorrow.”

 

“You teach at the high school, so you don’t have Alex in class. He’s a pretty troubled kid.”

 

“I’m quite aware of his issues since he’s in the same grade as Aiden. And I know that includes some issues with the law which I’m willing to bet you’ve had to deal with.”

 

“You got that right. I’m sure I’ll see you this spring since you know I love hanging around the baseball field.”

 

“Feel free to volunteer to pitch some batting practice.”

 

“That gives me visions of my arm falling off. Hey, I gotta go stop that incoming car. Good seeing you even if the reason sucks.”

Larry waited for the car to stop and then crossed the street. He told the boys what happened and could see that Grant, who was standing at the curb, was upset. “Are you okay, Grant?”

 

“It was drugs or booze, right?” Grant asked shakily.

 

“I don’t know, Grant,” Larry lied.

 

“I wanted to help him really bad.”

 

Larry put his arm around the distraught boy. “I know you did everything you could to help him, but it’s hard to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.”

 

“That’s what Sammy and Aiden and my counselor all tell me.”

 

“Take it to heart then. All you can do now is keep your friend in your prayers.”

 

Grant liked how Larry had called Alex his friend. He wanted to think Alex was his friend, even if Alex didn’t think so.

 

“Grant, come into the house or you’ll catch your death of cold out there,” Grant’s mother barked.

 

“Your mother is sounding like a mother,” Larry said gently. “You’d better go. Just remember that nothing that happened tonight is your fault.”

 

“Thanks, Coach,” Grant said.

 

Larry overhead Grant’s mother saying, “Don’t get upset over him; the boy got what’s coming to him. Consider yourself fortunate that he was no longer your friend.” Larry settled into the driver’s seat of his car thinking about how in the space of a few seconds Grant’s mother managed to undo the positive outlook he had tried to give the young boy. Well, it wasn’t the first time he had seen a parent undo positive work—in fact, he’d managed to do it himself more than once with Aiden.

 

“Is Alex okay?” Rusty asked.

 

“I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Larry responded calmly.

 

“I was almost like Alex. But my mom and my counselor and my friends helped me. How come we couldn’t help Alex?”

 

Larry gave Rusty the same answer he had given Grant as they stopped in front of his house. “Good night, Coach, and thanks.”

 

“Good seeing you again, Rusty,” Larry smiled.

 

Larry was now alone with Aiden. “Alex had to be drunk or stoned or both,” Aiden said.

 

“You’re positive about that? Don’t be rushing to judgment, son.”

 

“I’m as positive as I can be. I just hope he can get help like Grant and Rusty and Sammy, and, yeah, Marty and Mikey got.”

 

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Grant. In your case, I know you and Alex have never wanted to be friends, and probably never will want to be friends. But I also know you tried to extend a hand of friendship to him anyway because you saw he needed help. Right now, the best way for you to help is to put him in your evening prayer.”

 

“Thanks. I love you Pop.”

 

“I love you, too, son.”

 

“And Pop, do you think you and dad can come into my room and tuck me and Horace in tonight?”

 

If Aiden had been sitting in the front seat, Larry would have ruffled his hair. Instead he gave him a quick wave and said, “Yell when you’re ready for tucking.” He hoped Aiden hadn’t seen him quickly wipe a couple of tears away before setting his hand back on the steering wheel.

 

Aiden had noticed and loved his pop even more for it.

 

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12

 

<Aiden>

 

“one good thing about not having time 2 practice is we won’t be thinking about dancing 2morrow,” Aiden texted Nolan during lunch.

 

“we danced in ur room 2 times and dint step on each other,” Nolan soon replied.

 

“maybe if we practice b4 the dance ill dance. maybe.”

 

“chicken”

 

“bawk bawk bawk.”

 

“Are you done texting?” Miles asked. Miles had been sitting next to Aiden while he and Nolan texted.

 

“I hope so. Nolan is trying to make me sorry I invited him to the Mayfield dance,” Aiden said before biting into his sandwich.

 

“How?”

 

“By wanting us to dance together.”

 

“Well, it is a Valentine’s DANCE after all.”

 

“You’re taking Brittany, right?” Aiden asked.

 

“Yes, and before you ask, we are not dancing any slow dances. So, you don’t have to either.”

 

“I don’t have to anyway. But I might dance one just because.”

 

“I know, because it will piss Heather off,” Miles giggled.

 

“I didn’t think of it like that, but it sounds like a good idea.”

 

“Yeah, and you can’t piss Heather off more than you already have by just inviting Nolan, who not only is a boy but doesn’t even go to school here.”

 

“I heard she’s coming with Christy Caine since she couldn’t get a boy to ask her.”

 

“It’s better than coming alone. Even the twins have somebody.”

 

“Yeah, each other,” Aiden laughed. Then his face turned serious. “That was wrong of me—I keep forgetting about Lenny and Keith breaking up. But how many sixth graders go to the dances? I know I stayed away as much as I could.”

 

Then he changed subjects. “I still can’t believe what a pain it was to be able to bring Nolan to the dance. I guess they want to be sure outside kids don’t crash the dance.”

 

“They’re probably wondering why he isn’t going to his own school’s dance,” Miles said.

 

“He had enough girls who wanted to go with him, and even if he just went with friends, he’d be attacked by girls. His mom wasn’t happy about him coming to our dance, but once his dad signed his permission form she pretty much had to say yes.”

 

That evening, Aiden had other things than the dance to think about. The Mayfield Baseball Club was having its February general membership meeting. The meeting was scheduled for seven at the Community Center but was preceded by a six o’clock board meeting.

 

The two main items on the agenda were officially accepting the legacy of Clyde Davidson and approving the coaches’ committees’ recommendation of Coach Hallion as the new coach for the Yard Goats. Mark got through the agenda quickly and efficiently. Coach Hallion’s selection was approved by an 8-0 vote with three abstentions, all by the three members of the Hallion family on the board.

 

Ben Cook sincerely felt that Glen Burns was the better choice to coach the Yard Goats. He thought the stance on taking the team out of state for a tournament showed that Glen considered the best interests of the young boys over his ego in taking a team to California, or wherever. He felt, however, that outside of that one issue, James Hallion and Glen Burns were both excellent choices. Ben decided to swallow his own ego knowing that James having the full support of the board would leave a much better impression on the team and on the community than receiving one nay vote. Ben wasn’t going to let the one issue take away from giving his full support to a good man. He was going to talk to James before any decisions were made on a tournament, however, and see if he could change the coach’s mind. 

 

Accepting Clyde Davidson’s legacy gift passed with a unanimous 11-0 vote.

 

Aiden, Trent, and Miles had worked all week to contact the likely returning players, encouraging them to come to the meeting to congratulate Coach Hallion when their new coach was officially named the Yard Goat coach. They also told them that Coach Hallion wanted all the Yard Goats to stay for a few minutes after the club meeting so he could talk to the team.

 

 

Aiden was pleased by the turnout. Every team that was sponsored by the club was represented by at least two players, including the Challengers with three. The Goats had the largest contingent, with eleven players in attendance. They were all set to cheer for their new coach when his appointment was made official. All the team members were pleased to see Scott and Connor attending the meeting. They crowded around their old coaches and talked over each other as they expressed their thoughts and wishes.

 

They also were curious as to what the team meeting after the board meeting would be about. After a brief discussion, they all agreed it was simply Coach Hallion wanting to give them his introductory talk as their new coach.  Aiden was reasonably certain it would also be about the Goats playing in an out-of-state summer tournament.

 

When Mark introduced Coach Hallion as the new Coach of the Yard Goats, the members of the team in attendance let out a loud whoop to welcome their new coach. Scott and Connor walked up to the table where the members of the board were sitting and shook their replacement’s hand.

 

After Mark adjourned the general membership meeting, he asked the player who weren’t Yard Goats to clear the meeting room, telling them they were welcome to meet in the hall if they wanted to stay and chat with each other. “Coach Hallion has asked for a team meeting so the quicker you clear out the sooner they can start,” Mark said.

 

The team was right about the first reason, which was a no brainer. They were pleased when Coach Hallion thanked Scott and Connor, who sat in on the meeting, for their great job of coaching the Yard Goats and expressed his hope that he could fill their big shoes. He invited them to come to practices when it was convenient. Scott and Connor promised the Goats they would make what games they could and would take up Coach Hallion on his invitation to attend a few practices. Aiden and his teammates couldn’t help but feel that the Mayfield Yard Goats were going to enjoy a great summer.

 

Coach Hallion then told the group about the possibility of the team going to an out-of-state tournament. He said the Club had received numerous invitations and that Mark, Mr. Bednarzyk, Peter Astor, David Fitzgerald, and his own son, Jackson had sorted them by age group. He then looked at those appropriate for a thirteen and under team and rejected those tournaments that were not being held in the states of Idaho, Oregon, or California. Of the remaining tournaments he rejected the ones whose dates didn’t mesh with the dates the Southwest Washington State League had sent out for their summer’s league and postseason schedules.

 

“Why did you pick California?” Gordy asked. “It doesn’t border Washington like the other two states do.”

 

“Because California is where some of the best baseball in the country is played. It is the only state where I would be willing to play in a tournament that far from home.”

 

“Plus, Disneyland is there,” Mason grinned.

 

“Jeez Mason, we’re going there to play baseball,” Rusty chided. Miles thought about making a comment regarding the cute surfer boys Mason could add to his BJ log, but decided it was a comment that could wait for when there weren’t any adults around.

 

“I also looked for tournaments that were inviting twelve to twenty-four teams, took no more than four days, and weren’t more than an hour away from a major airport.  A sixteen-team tourney is preferable because they don’t have to mess with byes which have a way of complicating things.

 

“I have the choices narrowed down to fifteen tournaments. I’ve emailed copies of the invitations to Trent and Aiden which they will forward to you guys. If one of them doesn’t have your email address, make sure they get it. Also, I am passing out a form to each of you to put your contact information on.”

 

The kids, as well as Scott and Connor, were impressed by how organized Coach Hallion was. Trent wasn’t overly impressed because he was used to his father being organized. Aiden wasn’t surprised since Coach Hallion had worked with his father on organizing a team when he was thrust into the coaching job when Coach Estes was let go.

 

“Today is Thursday,” Coach Hallion went on. “I would like for you to look over the tournaments and choose three, ranking them from 1-3 in your email. The emails Trent and Aiden will send to you will also contain my instructions, which include my having your picks by Wednesday. We will have a meeting after I receive your picks to discuss what the poll said and then come to a final decision. Any questions?” There were none. “The league allows turnouts to start April twenty-fifth and the league jamboree will be May ninth. And I know you’re all looking forward to Middle School ball before that. Thanks for your attention guys.”

 

“Thanks for being our coach,” Scott Keller said, which netted some shouts of agreement.

 

Aiden and Trent got together and agreed to send out emails to the players they had contacted about the meeting and split the players Miles had emailed. They had sent out individual emails for the meeting invitations to personalize them. They wanted to do the same with the Coach’s mails and

agreed to get together at lunch the next day to split Miles’ names.

 

More than ever, the boys were looking forward to baseball starting, both for the Titans on March tenth and the Yard Goats on April twenty-fifth.

 

Next: The Next Dance