Mayfield Titans

 

CHAPTER 42

RESPONSIBILITIES

 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 31

 

<Drake and Pierce>

 

Drake rode the Link Light Rail from Kirkland into Seattle. Walker and Pierce were waiting for him in the Lexus at the University of Washington station. Both teens had been looking forward to the visit and had spent a great deal of time texting, with a couple of calls thrown into the mix.

 

The first thing they did was stop at Dick’s Drive-in for burgers. Walker said Dick’s not only had the best burgers in the city, but they were wonderful to their employees as well. They dined in and headed to Walker and Pierce’s home after they finished.

 

Drake and Pierce played Rumi Cube with Walker as a way for them all to get to know each other before the teens retired to Pierce’s bedroom. Drake had found himself feeling amazingly comfortable with Pierce and his dad. The fact that Walker was a man who probably perved over teen boys didn’t bother Drake. Drake was sexually attracted to males older than himself and thought Walker was attractive.  Pierce’s assurance that he was safe around Walker was a factor in Drake’s outlook. Being attracted to a man and doing something with him were two entirely different things.

 

On the other hand, being attracted to Pierce and doing something with him was an entirely different matter in Drake’s eyes. While Drake and Pierce were both fifteen, Drake was five months older and was a sophomore while Pierce was still working as an eighth grader.

 

Pierce sat on his bed, propped his pillow against the wall, and stretched his lanky legs the length of the bed. He patted the pillow on his right and Drake joined him and was soon stretched out in the same manner.

 

“I’m really glad you came,” Pierce said. “Dude, it’s tough making friends when everyone thinks you’re a big, dumb dork.”

 

“All a guy has to do is talk to you and he’d know you aren’t dumb at all—a dork maybe, but not dumb.”

 

Pierce punched Drake’s upper arm playfully and both boys giggled. “With the new semester starting I’ll be taking mostly high school freshman classes at Sherman High. Mrs. Murray, the freshman counselor there, says she thinks I could be ready to be a sophomore next year.”

 

“See, I told you that you were smart.”

 

The subject shifted to sports. Pierce talked about how hard he was working to be ready for baseball and Drake talked about his track workouts.

 

“I can’t believe you don’t play team sports,” Pierce said.

 

“I like watching them,” Drake responded, “I just don’t like playing them. I love running. Coach says even though I’m a sophomore I’m ahead of some of the upperclassmen.”

 

“Awesome. From what I’ve seen, I won’t have a problem making the baseball team, even though I haven’t played in, like, forever.”

 

“Have you ever wanted to ride a motorcycle?” Drake asked. Pierce shook his head. “I was watching some Motocross races on TV last week and I started thinking that might be fun. I don’t know if I could ever have a dirt bike, though. Oh, and by the way, I like bowling, too.”

 

“I had a bicycle when I was a little kid but never a motorbike,” Pierce said. "You know what I'd really like to do is learn more about cooking. My dad and I spend time together in the kitchen but he does the cooking and I mostly just set the table and eat. Dude, he makes the most awesome breakfast potatoes."

 

“Does he know you like cooking?”

 

“Yeah. I baked some cookies the other day and they turned out great. Someday I want to prepare an entire meal myself. But dad says when I come into the kitchen, I want to eat worse than I want to cook, and I don’t have the patience for what he calls the culinary arts.”

 

Drake took Pierce’s hand and looked at it. “Damn, you keep your hands and nails looking nice.”

 

Pierce felt himself blush a bit as he smiled at Drake. “Thanks. It’s a big change from when I was on the street. I mean I kept my nails cut and pretty much clean—the tricks don’t like dirty boys, except for their minds. I was still pretty grubby since I was afraid to go into the showers in places like the Y let the homeless use—they’d call CPS in an instant. My hands looked pretty gross at times, but I did my best.”

 

And, inevitably, the subject turned to sex. While Drake knew that Pierce had had sex with men to make money while he was on the streets, the word whore hadn’t really popped into his head until Pierce said it. “Does it bother you that I was a whore?”

 

“You did what you had to do. I don’t think it’s a problem, or I wouldn’t be here with you on your bed right now. I mean Eddie did stuff, too.”

“Your cousin Eddie and I did a lot together back then,” Pierce said.

 

“I know. Eddie, Curt, and me don’t keep many secrets from each other. I guess me, Chase, and Logan don’t either.”

 

“Do you have sex with guys a lot?”

 

“My dad thinks more than I should, but he’s not really serious about it. He says I am promiscuous.”

 

“Ohhh, that’s a big word—all of four syllables,” Pierce chuckled. “What about girls? How much sex are you having with the females?”

 

“None. Guys are my thing; guys my age or older, although there’s a few younger ones who have a clue about what to do in bed I don’t mind messing around with. What about you? What’s your sex life been like?”

 

Pierce held up both hands, his fingers spread wide. “These are my sexual partners, depending what mood I’m in. I am an ambidextrous masturbator.”

 

“Damn, dude, you talk about me using big words; that’s eight syllables in back-to-back words.” Drake looked down at Pierce’s crotch. “From the looks of it, our chat has made you just a bit horny.”

 

“Just a bit,” Pierce grinned.

 

“Do you mind if I touch?”

 

“Be my guest.” Drake rubbed his hand along the bulge in Pierce’s Chinos. “Oh, yeah, that feels really good,” Pierce cooed. Drake rubbed Pierce’s erection a few seconds longer before opening his new friend’s pants and pulling down his zipper. He slipped his fingers through the pee slit in Pierce’s boxers and rubbed his hot, throbbing erection. “Fuck, dude, you don’t mess around,” Pierce moaned. “You come right at guys.”

 

“You know it.” Drake pulled down on Pierce’s red and green striped boxers. When Pierce lifted his hips, Drake yanked down his boxers and chinos together, freeing his cut five-inch teen cock. Pierce moaned involuntarily, even though Drake wasn’t touching him. Drake quickly had Pierce’s pants pulled completely off and tossed them onto the end of the bed.

 

Pierce hadn’t experienced anything overtly sexual since spring, if ever. With Eddie and Curt, he had always been the seducer rather than the seduced. He always considered his tricks to be work rather than sex, which Dr. McGregor explained was one of his ways of distancing himself from what he was doing. But here he was, on his own king bed, with a sexy boy fondling his boner and then undressing him. He wondered what Drake was going to do with him.

 

Pierce found out as soon as Drake lifted his shirt off, leaving him naked except for his orange socks. Drake set his head on Pierce’s belly and started licking his leaking cock. Pierce let out a long, loud moan and then shook when Drake slowly took his cock onto his mouth.

 

From there Drake used all his skills and experience to give Pierce not only the best blow job he had ever experienced, but maybe his best sex. It was sex where nothing was demanded of him, sex that he could totally enjoy, sex where he could experience every lick, every suck, every tingle. Pierce was so worked up and so horny he felt his orgasm boil up within a couple of minutes of Drake placing his lips around his cock.

 

“Oh, fuck, Drake, I’m gonna fucking…,” Pierce couldn’t say anything more as a primal howl worked up his throat and led to a long loud screech as he blew shot after shot of his hot, sweet, teen cum into Drake’s mouth as his body spasmed and shook with the most intense, satisfying orgasm he ever remembered having.

 

Down in his office, Walker was working on a program for work while wondering what the two teen boys were doing alone in a bedroom with a big bed when he heard Pierce’s howl. He was certain the voice he heard was Pierce as his son was obviously getting the kind of maximum enjoyment from his equipment he had desired for months. And from what he had seen of Drake, Pierce may have found himself a good partner. Walker pulled his cock out and started furiously masturbating.

 

As Pierce tried to get his breath back, Drake opened his pants, pulled out his own six inches, jerked off quickly, and shot his wad over Pierce’s belly and chest. He then dropped down on the bed beside Pierce and smiled at his new friend. Drake was amazed at the beauty and intensity of Pierce’s blue eyes - he was going to compliment him but remembered hearing Pierce say that he wanted to leave the “Blue” part of his life behind so he said nothing.

 

“Damn, that was so incredibly awesome,” Pierce huffed. “Thank you, and I mean THANK YOU. I can’t even begin to tell you how good that was.” He rubbed Drake’s cum along his chest. “I could have gotten you off.”

 

“Save it for later,” Drake said. “Today was all about you. I’m glad it worked, because I really like you Pierce.”

 

“I like you a lot, too, Drake.”

 

“Your dad had to have heard your scream.”

 

“I’ll explain why some other time, but I’ll tell you right now, I think my scream made him really happy.”

 

The boys kissed. Then kissed harder and longer until Pierce said he had to pee. After they had peed side-by-side and dressed, they went downstairs to tell Walker it was time to order dinner.

 

Walker said nothing about what he had heard. He would leave it up to Pierce to tell him about it later, which Pierce did that night after Drake went home. The teens enjoyed Luigi’s pizza with Walker and later made arrangements for Drake’s next visit, which would be a sleepover. At just before eight, Walker and Pierce took Drake to the UW Link Light Rail station.

 

That night Pierce enjoyed a calm, happy sleep, his last waking thoughts being about Drake. Pierce didn’t realize it yet, but he had fallen in love. What he didn’t know, is that when Drake got into his bed, he had strong feelings for Pierce he had never felt for anyone. Like Pierce, he was falling in love as well.

 

<SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1>

 

<Aiden and Barry>      

 

Aiden had told his Dad the night before that he didn’t want to make breakfast in the morning. Phil told him he understood, and he would be happy to supply the bread and water for breakfast.

 

“Dad” Aiden had said, “you know that me being the Naked Chef is special, but this was a tough day and I just want to cuddle with Barry and sleep and get up in the morning and have breakfast.”

 

And so, when Aiden woke up Sunday morning, he eased out of bed to take a piss and shower. He thought Barry probably wanted to sleep in more than he wanted to share the shower. But as Aiden started up the shower, Barry came into the bathroom. Like Aiden, he was naked.

 

“I gotta piss bad then I’ll get out of your way,” Barry said before releasing a torrent of urine.

 

“It’s cool,” Aiden told him. He was impressed by Barry’s flow. “You can shower with me if you want.”

 

“Awesome,” Barry grinned. Aiden turned off the shower, waited for the toilet tank to refill, and then turned it back on.

 

The boys stepped in and soaped up, washing themselves and each other’s backs. Aiden was impressed by Barry’s physical maturity, from the developing six pack, to his defined biceps, to the hairs developing under his arms and on his shins, to his thick bush of pubic hair. As for the teen’s ass, all Aiden could think was, Wow, very impressive. So impressive that Aiden was more than pleased when Barry didn’t object to him thoroughly washing it.

 

Barry thought it was awesome that he only had to wear his boxers while eating breakfast. Aiden, who was dressed in black Hanes briefs, didn’t tell him that the dress code allowed nudity when his long-time friends came for overnights.

 

Barry’s mother called just after breakfast, saying she would be picking him up at eleven. That gave the boys time to do the breakfast cleanup and then get a couple of games of naked foosball in. Barry was dressed and ready to go at eleven. He thanked Aiden for a great time and walked down the steps to the driveway. Aiden focused on the teen’s ass, and wondered if he would ever get a chance to fuck it.

 

<Pierce and Walker>

 

Since they lived in a naturist home, Pierce and Walker had no problem with each other’s nudity. Sometimes one or both found it to be sexy even though they knew they couldn’t act on their erotic thoughts.

 

The two wore aprons, however, as they cooked breakfast together. Pierce took care of the bacon and eggs while Walker prepared and cooked his fabulous breakfast spuds. Pierce felt they were the best breakfast potatoes in existence. Once breakfast was ready, the aprons came off and the two sat together at the dining room table and ate.

 

“You and Drake looked like you really hit it off, yesterday,” Walker observed.

 

“He’s really a cool dude and I like him a lot,” Pierce responded. “I can’t wait until we do an overnight.”

 

“I got the impression you two will know how to spend your time in bed, and I wasn’t referring to sleeping.”

 

“I guess you heard me.”

 

“It was hard not to. You weren’t very subtle about it.”

 

Pierce blushed and tried to explain. “Dad, you know I’m a horny boy and that was the first time I’ve had real sex since before you picked me up. That is, if you call getting a blow job real sex.”

 

“Drake must have known what he was doing.”

 

“Fuck yes he did. That dude has had his lips around a few dicks, that’s for sure.”

 

“I hope he got some satisfaction out of it.” Even though Walker’s crotch was mostly obscured by the table, Pierce could tell his dad was sporting a hardon.

 

“He jerked off. I was so exhausted I could hardly move to do anything. I’ll be sure he gets well taken care of next time, whenever that is. Hint, hint.”

 

“When Keegan and you two teen horndogs can come up with a mutually agreeable date, that will be the time.”

 

“A date, huh,” Pierce grinned. “That would be cool. We could go to a movie and have dinner together first. If you don’t mind playing chauffer in your fancy set of wheels.” Pierce had an erection now as well.

 

“Maybe it could be arranged. But I feel obligated to ask you one question about this developing relationship.”

 

“Dad, Drake is gayer than I am. And trust me, he’s one hell of a kisser and he’s got a beautiful cock on him.”

 

“That wasn’t the question. He did little to hide that aspect of his personality. Hell, just the way he was looking at you gave his sexual preference away. No, my question has to do with Eddie and how he fits into all of this.”

 

“Well, first, I told you that he and I had a long talk and we decided      we’re more like cousins or brothers, not boyfriends. We love each other, but not like that. He knew about Drake coming over for a visit, and he said he hoped something would happen between us because having me as his cousin’s boyfriend would be really cool.”

 

“So, he’s thinking way ahead of you then with this talk of you and Drake becoming boyfriends,” Walker chuckled.

 

“Eddie is a horny little fucker and I know he gets plenty of sex from his brothers. And I know he’s going to find somebody just because he’s so hard not to notice and like once you get to know him. So, don’t worry about Eddie. In fact, I’d be willing to bet he gives me a call sometime this morning. I’m also willing to bet that no matter what goes down between Drake and me or between Eddie and somebody, Eddie and I will have sex together again and probably more than once.”

 

The two finished their breakfast and admired each other’s hard cocks as they got to work clearing the table. Pierce couldn’t help but be impressed by Walker’s thick, seven-inch man tool.

 

“I know you’ve made quite a few friends at school, but it’s good to see you getting a special friend and maybe start having a social life,” Walker said as he filled the dishwasher.

 

“And two of those friends are gay, but they’re boyfriends. Still, they’re great guys and good friends. You should get yourself more of a social life, too.”

 

“I’ve gone out with friends.”

 

“And probably had sex with them, too.” Pierce couldn’t read Walker’s reaction well enough to know if he was right or not. “But, coming home by eleven isn’t a partying adult’s social life. You might try an overnight. I’m fifteen and can handle being home alone.” Pierce thought about making a comment about Walker no longer looking for young men on the streets but decided to eat his words—this time.

 

“I kind of got away from the party scene for a while.” Pierce knew that Walker was referring to his looking for sex on the streets. Pierce had gathered that when Walker hit forty the twenty-somethings were no longer all that interested in him, so he lowered his standards and went hunting. He could also tell that Walker becoming a dad had him raising his standards to where they once were.  Both erections had gone down by the time the kitchen was clean.

 

Just as Pierce stepped out of the kitchen, he heard his phone, which was on the dinner table. He looked and saw that the caller was Eddie. “I told you, dad!” Pierce grinned as he picked up the phone. Pierce ended up being right about one other thing—Eddie was pleased that his big “cousin” had a sexy time with Drake, his real cousin.

 

<MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2>

 

<Aiden and Kalie>

 

“Good morning, Aiden,” Mrs. Emerson said as Aiden boarded the school bus. “You’re looking better than you did Saturday night.”

“Good morning, Mrs. E. I feel better, too,” Aiden responded. “I’m going to start getting ready for baseball now.” Aiden walked to where Kalie was seated and sat next to her.

 

“You have your Mariners hat on,” Kalie grinned. “Does that mean…?”

 

“It doesn’t mean anything except that I have a Mariners hat on. But I am going to say that I think we end the groping on the bus no matter what hat I wear.”

 

“But you said when you wear a Mariners hat I could do it.”

 

“Kalie, you’re better than that. You know I don’t want to do it on the bus and you know enough to respect what I want.”

Kalie took a deep breath. The reason Aiden respected Kalie more than the other girls who kept bugging him was that Kalie understood what “no” meant. Plus, she was a nice person and a good friend, which didn’t hurt her cause at all. “You’re right. I’ll not bring it up again until you say it’s okay to, and if you never say it is, I won’t do it. But what about messing around at my house?”

 

“That’s okay, with our usual rules about respecting what people want.”

 

“I guess that will work.”

 

“You only guess it will work?” Aiden asked, knowing it was the kind of question one of his dads would ask.

 

“Okay, it DOES sound okay. You’re going to make a great teacher and coach someday,” she grinned.

 

“Thank you for that.”

 

“Now, let’s talk about what happened against Kentburg.” And until the bus reached the school, the two friends talked basketball.

 

<Eddie and Maria>

 

It wasn’t unusual for Eddie’s mind to wander during third period math. It was his last class before lunch, plus math was not his favorite subject. If it weren’t for his brothers, especially Curt, he probably would be failing the class. Even with their help he was barely pulling a C grade. Mr. Hunt’s explanations often sounded as if they were being given in a foreign language.

 

Eddie also had another distraction, and it was seated in the row to his right. The distraction was named Maria Estrada. For the first time in his life, Eddie found himself smitten by what Logan called, “a girl of the female species.” Until a week ago she was just another girl, although he had to admit she was a good-looking girl and seemed like a nice person. And then came the dropped books event. As Mr. Hunt droned on, Eddie began reliving the whole thing in his mind.

 

The bell dismissing third period had rung and Eddie found himself following Maria out of the classroom. He knew her locker was situated two classrooms down the hall while his was two more classrooms further down. He couldn’t help but admire the movement of her nice ass as she hustled down to her locker. He thought it looked almost as good as Logan’s ass, if not better. No, she is a girl, he thought. Logan’s ass has to be the better-looking one. Then he thought maybe he only thought so because he had fucked Logan’s fine ass.

 

All kinds of confusing and conflicting thoughts were twirling through the twelve year old’s head when he saw an eighth-grade boy take a couple of steps to his left to avoid a collision with an oncoming boy and bump into Maria, causing her to drop the two books and notebook she was carrying. Eddie was certain that the bump was accidental, but what happened after was without a doubt intentional.

 

“Oh, excuse me,” Maria said.

 

“Maybe you should watch where you’re going, you dirty spic,” the boy snarled. He kicked her math book away from her just as she got her hand on it.

 

Eddie had seen enough. It was there in one of the hallways of Blaine Middle School, that Eddie Shaefer truly became Eddie Miller. He stood in front of the bigger boy and looked him in the eye. “That was so wrong—maybe you should apologize to her.”

 

“Hey, asshole, it was an accident, now get out of my way.”

“Yeah, bumping her was an accident, but calling her what you did was totally wrong.”

 

“Why, is she your girlfriend or something?

 

“What if she is?” Eddie saw a teacher coming up behind the boy. He recognized him as Mr. Evans, a science teacher and the boys’ baseball coach.

 

“That would mean you’re as big a loser as that spic whore is.”

 

“Is there a problem here, Jake?” the male teacher asked, knowing full well that there was.

 

“No, everything is cool,” the eighth grader smirked, his stare almost daring Eddie to say otherwise.

 

Eddie was not one to back down from a fight. Even with Blue’s help, he never would have survived on the street without being willing to stand up for himself to anybody, no matter what their size.

 

Eddie squatted down, both so he would look even smaller to the eighth grader and picked up Maria’s math notebook. He looked up at the eighth grader. “He called Maria a racial slur,” Eddie said forcefully. Eddie knew about using racial slurs—less than two years before he had used one on Darnell Carr. Darnell was now his friend.

 

“That’s a lie. All I did was accidentally bump into her,” Jake protested.

 

“It’s true,” Maria said as Eddie handed her the notebook. “He called me a dirty spic.”

 

A girl who had watched the entire affair spoke up. “I heard it too, Mr. Evans, and worse.”

 

“Well, Mr. Hawkins, maybe you and I should take a trip to the office,” the science teacher said.

 

“I don’t think he bumped me on purpose, Mr. Evans,” Maria said.

 

“I agree,” Eddie said.

 

“But there is no doubt about what he said, right?” the teacher asked. “Mr. Danielson will probably ask to speak to the three of you.”

 

“And he can speak to me,” Ross Barnes, a black seventh grader and a friend of Eddie’s, chimed in.

 

The students agreed that Jake had called the Maria a spic and Mr. Barnes led a furious Jake Hawkins to the office. He didn’t know why he did it, but Eddie walked Maria to her locker and waited for her to put away her books. The next thing he knew the two of them were in the lunchroom eating lunch together.

 

And now, a week later, Eddie and Maria had eaten lunch together each day since. This was going to be their sixth lunch together—not only that, but they had arranged to meet for ice cream after school.

 

Jake Hawkins had been suspended for a week, effective the previous Wednesday. He would be returning to school in two days, with the promise of expulsion should there be a repeat of his behavior. “Do you think Jake’s gonna give us a bad time when he returns to school?” Maria asked Eddie as they ate their school lunches

 

“Jake can give me all the shit he wants,” Eddie replied. He liked that Maria didn’t mind if he said things like “shit” if he didn’t overdo it. “But he better leave you alone.”

 

“You’re not going to fight him, are you? I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

 

“Don’t worry, Jake Hawkins is not worth getting in trouble over. But, like Mr. Danielson said, if I hear him say anything to you, I should tell him right away. And since I’m going to be around you a lot, I’ll hear anything he says. I can hang around with you at school, right?”

 

“I like it when you hang around with me. And it will be really special when we go out for ice cream after school. You’ll be able to meet my mom when she picks us up from Gracie’s.” Eddie and Maria planned to have sundaes at Gracie’s Ice Cream Castle, which was four blocks from the school. Since they were both bus riders, they needed to arrange for rides home. The reason they gave for the after-school   meeting was so Maria could help Eddie with his math, which was true for the most part.

 

Maria’s mother said she would pick them up and give Eddie a ride home. While she made sure to give her daughter the impression she was being a caring mother doing her daughter a favor, her real reason was to meet the boy her daughter was so infatuated with.  Maria had never talked much about boys until Eddie Miller had stepped into her life a week ago. Now it seemed like she could talk about nothing else.

 

As soon as Eddie and Maria were off the school grounds, Eddie reached for Maria’s hand. He felt a flush of warmth when Maria took it and squeezed it. Eddie was no stranger to sex and yet this was the first time he had ever held hands while walking along a sidewalk. The feeling of having Maria’s smooth hand wrapped around his was so incredible he felt like he was walking on air. For Maria, it was her first time touching anyone in an erotic manner. She knew she wanted more of it and she wanted it with Eddie.

 

While they didn’t admit it to each other, Eddie and Maria thought their first “date” was a success. Maria had a flair for explaining concepts. Having parents who were teachers along with her natural intelligence was a great combination. Her mother taught Spanish and English at Nathan Hale High School and her father was a professor of Mathematics at Seattle University.

 

Using simple examples along with some hand drawn diagrams, Maria helped Eddie garner an understanding of how to divide a decimal number by a decimal number. While Chase had been a big help with Eddie’s homework, his teaching skills were limited, and Eddie hadn’t been able to grasp most of the concepts. Eddie and Maria enjoyed their sundaes, talked for the first time about their backgrounds (Eddie left out most of the details about his time as a street kid and about his sexual history), and realized they liked each other very much.

 

Maria’s mother, Alicia, was impressed by Eddie’s politeness as Susan’s constant drilling was now paying off. She knew that he was adopted and that his father was the County Prosecutor (she had voted for him in the last election) and his mother worked in the health field. She felt that if her twelve-year-old daughter was going to have a boyfriend, she had found herself a good one.

 

Eddie’s brothers were waiting in the living room when Eddie was dropped off. The three virtually tackled him to the floor to find out every detail about the big ice cream date.

 

“Is Mary your girlfriend now?” Logan asked.

 

“Her name is Maria,” Eddie replied. “And she’s not my girlfriend. We’re just friends.”

 

“Tell her that then,” Curt grinned. “You’ve been having lunch with her every day for the last week, and I saw you two holding hands when I looked out of the window of the bus.” Eddie blushed—he hadn’t even noticed his “C” bus go by.

 

“I didn’t see it,” Logan said.

 

“That’s because you were sitting on the other side of the bus.”

 

Susan came out of the kitchen with a wide smile on her face. “I think it would be nice to invite Maria and her parents for dinner.”

 

“MOM! She’s just a friend. Plus, she has a little brother,” Eddie protested.

 

“Then we’ll invite him too, of course. You guys are always inviting friends for dinner.”

 

“Yeah, but they’re guys.”

 

“And that makes a difference how?”

 

Eddie could see he was going to lose the argument. “I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow and see what she says.”

 

“Or you could give me her mother’s phone number and I’ll make the invitation. I have a feeling I would sound much more enthusiastic about it.” Susan was excited that one of her boys had actually had a date with a girl, even if it was just an after-school ice cream date, and she wanted to see if she could help move things along.

 

“Let me ask her about it first, okay?”

 

“Okay but do what you said you were going to do and ask her tomorrow.”

 

Eddie agreed to his mother’s request. He then went to his room and worked on his math, which for some reason seemed easier to do than it had been over the weekend. He realized he had to credit Maria’s tutoring for that.

 

Before getting under his covers that night he felt the urge to jerk off. He was surprised, and yet not surprised, that he was fantasizing about feeling up Maria’s small bare breasts when he shot his load. He cleaned himself off and went under the covers wondering why he was so into a girl. As he fell asleep, he told himself he needed to sleep with one of his brothers the next night in order to feel normal again.

 

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3

 

<Aiden and Nolan>

 

Nolan stood in the Meadow Park Middle School pickup area. His books and school material were in his backpack and his overnight items were in his gym bag. He smiled when he saw Phil’s pickup turn into the school driveway. After tossing his gear into the backseat, he sat in the front seat with Phil.

 

“Hi, Coach Phil. Thanks for getting off work early to pick me up,” Nolan said.

 

“You should be thanking me more for getting up early this morning so I could get off work early,” Phil grinned.

 

“I thought you were the boss.”

 

“I am, but I still have to follow my rules. That helps keep the peace in the workplace.”

 

“Aiden said he’s ready for baseball,” Nolan remarked as he steered the conversation away from adult stuff, like work.

 

“Baseball is right here for him. He’s on the committee to pick the new coach for the Yard Goats and tomorrow evening they will be interviewing the candidates,” Phil said.

 

“Yeah, I knew about him being on that committee, but not that things were happening so fast. But it’s really only a couple of months until summer ball turnout starts, so I guess they need to get on top of it.”

“Plus, they have some tournament invitations, and they need the new coach in place so they can start planning. The money is there, but they need to have a coach running things.”

 

“Can’t the committee do it?”

 

“Enterprises run by committee rarely work. Any successful operation needs a person in charge. It is where the buck stops and the decisions have to be made.

 

“I think I get it. The committee is around to find the person in charge and then it’s up to that person.”

 

Phil nodded. “You’ve got the idea, Nolan. But for most of those in charge, even if the buck appears to stop with them, they are still answerable to someone. I oversee the county roads department, but I still have to answer to the County Executive. Whomever the selection committee picks will run the baseball team, but will still be answerable to the board of the Mayfield Baseball Club.”

 

“It’s kinda like the checks and balances that the Constitution has.”

 

“Exactly.” Phil had never had a long one-on-one conversation with Nolan and was enjoying it immensely. Nolan was a bright, well-spoken young teen. More than ever, he was pleased by Aiden’s choice of boyfriend and wished the two lived closer together.

 

Aiden was sitting at his lookout window when he saw Phil’s truck appear on Lakeshore Road. He was out the front door and at the driveway when the truck turned in. While he would have loved to run out in just his underpants, or less, he was wearing sweats and a jacket; the thirty-six-degree temperature discouraged minimal dress. But it did not discourage a warming hug and a long kiss as soon as Nolan exited the pickup. Phil smiled to himself as he walked up the steps to the front door of the house. He thought yet one more time how Aiden truly had made a great choice of boyfriend.

 

The boys were soon on Aiden’s bed kissing, hugging, wrestling, fondling, groping, and making out in any way they could think of. Even though they remained dressed, they were bringing themselves close to the inevitable when the doorbell sounded the opening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.

 

“That has to be Marty,” Aiden said as he hopped off the bed.

 

“I’m so close I could almost get myself off just walking down the steps,” Nolan moaned.

 

“Well, just to keep that from happening, I’ll help you out.” Aiden reached into Nolan’s already unzipped pants, slid his hand inside the slit in his boxers, and jiggled his cock. It took only three little strokes to inspire Nolan to fill his boxers with a flood of hot teen cum.

 

“Oh, wow, thanks,” Nolan puffed.

 

“Boys, Marty and Rich are here,” Larry called out.

 

“Like we didn’t know that,” Aiden giggled.

 

“Do you need me to help you out first?” Nolan asked.

 

“Nope, I’ll survive. I’m not the big horny teen stud that you are.”

 

“You’re getting there.” Nolan zipped up and straightened his shirt. He didn’t bother to do anything about the sticky semen in his boxers. He almost hoped Marty could smell it if he got close enough. As soon as Nolan and Aiden got down the stairs, fist bumps, hugs, and kisses were exchanged between them and Marty and Rich. Larry and Phil retired to the kitchen to put the finishing touches on dinner.

 

“I thought for sure you guys would be stripped down to your underwear,” Marty told them.

 

“Or less,” Rich added.

 

“This is a special event,” Aiden responded. “It is finally the lasagna dinner you’ve been asking for and putting off. Of course, Marty waits to finally come for it on the day before he is leaving for Arizona.”

 

“What can I say?” Marty shrugged. “We’re all busy people.”

 

“You are going tomorrow, right? Or are you changing your schedule again? And maybe this time you’re going without bouncing back a week later.”

 

“Oh my, bro, I am hurt by your lack of faith in me. There is so much going on and to keep track of.”

 

“Yeah, for some people. And now Nolan and I can’t even spend the night with you since you’re leaving early for Portland to catch your plane. Or can we?”

 

“Sorry, bro. You and your lover are on your own tonight.”

 

“We can’t complain about that,” Nolan grinned.

 

Larry stepped out of the dining room announcing that dinner was almost ready and asked that Aiden and Nolan set the table. Aiden turned down Marty’s offer to help. Aiden, Larry, and Phil were seated with the company, although it was hard to think of Nolan as being company.

 

The big focus of conversation was baseball. It ranged from Marty heading off to Phoenix to get in some last-minute work before Spring Training started, to Aiden being on the search committee for a new Yard Goats’ coach, to the prospects for the Mayfield High baseball team. Marty said he thought he would be well-prepared for Spring Training, Aiden thought they had two good candidates for the coaching job, but he liked Coach Hallion because he had played for him, and Larry said he thought the Mustangs would be Seamount League contenders but lacked the depth to go very deep in the postseason. When Rich was asked what his involvement in baseball would be other than watching Marty and the Mariners play, he said he planned on playing in an eighteen and over adult league.

 

Aiden brought up the subject of his committee meeting the next day. “Nolan still can’t believe that the players have a say in hiring the baseball coaches,” Aiden told Marty.

 

“Except for school coaches,” Larry reminded him.

 

“Which is a good thing, since what kid would want to hire a mean old grouch like you. Nothing personal. Coach,” Marty chuckled.

 

“None taken, but please be aware that you will now have to pay for your dinner,” Larry countered.

 

“Send the bill to my agent. And to get back to Aiden’s comment, it is true that the players have a voice.”

“And you helped start the whole organization, right?” Nolan asked.

 

“I was there for the start. Eric Simmons and Noah McCall were the real forces behind it. I simply provided the accumulated wisdom that comes from being a year older than the founding fathers. Or would they be founding sons?”

 

The chat went on from there. Marty pointed out to Aiden that this job was made easier by the fact that George Bednarzyk and Seth McCall, who were the club administrators, had vetted the applicants.

 

“Vetted means what?” Aiden asked.

 

“It means they checked out their backgrounds so all you have to worry about is what you think of them as coaches, not that they might be escaped bank robbers or something.”

 

“None of that helped when Coach Estes was hired.”

 

“And no system is perfect. But from what you’ve told me, one of the applicants took over your team after Coach Estes was shown the door. Plus, players have their say from middle school up and your team was a bit younger. Anyway, you’re part of the process, so make sure you take the responsibility seriously,” Marty said in his best Big Bro manner.

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll take it very seriously,” Aiden said sincerely.

 

The conversation went on a bit longer until Marty and Rich decided to leave about an hour after dinner was eaten. Marty complimented Phil on his delicious lasagna for maybe the tenth time that evening. He said he wanted to tell his family good-bye and play some with Drew, his little brother.

 

“He slept with me in my bed last night,” Marty said. Aiden felt a twinge of envy when he heard that. “He’s turned into a nice little snuggle bunny. And before your mind wanders into dangerous territory, Aiden, he was wearing his Mariner PJ’s.” Aiden gave Marty an extra-long hug at the front door, knowing he wouldn’t be seeing Marty live again until the regular season started in April (unless Marty had another change of mind—which Aiden didn’t think was going to happen).

 

After Marty and Rich were gone, Aiden and Nolan went down to the basement to play games. They quickly stripped naked and each picked out a ping pong paddle.

 

“Hey, before we play, I have a one to nothing lead on you in a different sport,” Nolan told Aiden.

 

“What sport is that?” Aiden asked.

 

“Bed sports.”

 

“Oh, why didn’t I think of that. And you want to give me a point, right?”

 

“That’s what I was thinking, but I expected you to get boned up as soon as we started to undress.”

 

“Well, thanks you to, I just got an instant hardon.”

 

Nolan got on his knees and placed Aiden’s tween cock in his mouth. While the result was not instantaneous, it was close. After Aiden got his rocks off,

Nolan proceeded to pick up 9-7 and 10-8 wins before Aiden finally pulled off a 9-6 win. They then agreed it was time to go up to Aiden’s bedroom and get into varsity bed sports.

 

The love making was as good as it gets for two horny young adolescents; a combination of wild making out and brute force, with moments of tenderness. As usual, a bed half as wide as Aiden’s would have been more than wide enough for the two boys—at least for now.

 

“I would love to see those two naked,” Marty grinned as he and Rich drove to Marty’s parents’ house. “They are two fine examples of athletic young adolescents.”

 

“You’d cream your pants just looking at them in the nude,” Rich smirked.

 

“I doubt you would do any better.”

 

“Speaking of creaming your pants, have you heard from Wade lately?” Rich asked referring to Marty’s gay teammate.

 

Marty calmly flipped his husband the bird.

 

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4

 

<Aiden and Nolan>

 

Aiden and Nolan slept in until almost ten. Nolan awoke first and gently shook Aiden awake. Unless one of them said otherwise, they agreed that the first to waken would wake up the other if the time was nine or later.

 

“Good morning, Sugar Cake, I’m hungry,” Nolan said.

 

“Good morning, Studly, so am I,” Aiden responded.

 

They peed and went downstairs. Larry was at school for a teacher workshop day and Phil was at work, so the boys had the house to themselves. They agreed pancakes sounded good for breakfast; they were filling and quick to fix. The Naked Chef donned his apron as did his naked assistant and they were soon sitting at the kitchen table scarfing down pancakes and bacon.

 

Since the house was theirs, they had one special thing planned and that was to fuck in a place they had never done it before. They discussed Phil and Larry’s bed, but decided it was an invasion of their privacy, even though they weren’t there. They settled on the kitchen instead.

 

“I heard some guys at school talk about how they rubbed cooking oil over themselves and nude wrestled. They said it was messy, but was great fun,” Nolan said.

 

“That’s all they did, was wrestle?” Aiden asked.

 

“That’s all they SAID they did. But come on dude, you’re naked with another guy and your sliding over each other—you mean you’re not going to get hard and bust a nut?”

 

“Gotcha. Well, in our case, I know we’re going to get hard and bust a nut.

 

“And I also know we’ll be mopping the kitchen floor,” Nolan added.

 

When their sexual adventure ended, they had indeed made a mess, but they loved every second of it. They didn’t fuck, but when they shot their wads it was just as intense and added to the oil already spread over their bodies.

 

“Okay, so we still haven’t fucked in the kitchen,” Nolan chuckled, “but that was so much fun and felt soooooooo fucking good it was as good or better than fucking.”

 

They agreed to clean the floor before showering and got out the broom, mop, and bucket and left the floor shining. After finishing, they finally showered.

 

Gordy, Kalie, and Miles showed up on their bikes just past one. They joined Nolan and Aiden and stripped naked. The five dug into the premade sandwiches Phil had left for the day and then enjoyed an afternoon of fun in the games room. Surprisingly, the five naked pubescent children, four boys and a girl at that, did not get sexual beyond a little rubbing, a kiss or two, and some groping.

 

They had been sexually active with each other before, and easily could have been this time, but they were more interested in games and fellowship. When Nolan and Aiden related their morning fun on the kitchen floor, it did create four hard cocks, which Kalie admired fully. They saw that as a good excuse to go hot tubbing. They kept as much of themselves underwater as they could in the forty-degree day, spending a half-hour enjoying the warm water and friendship.

 

Everyone was dressed by the time Larry arrived home. “I hate to break up this conclave, but I need to drive Nolan home,” Larry told them. Since that was how the day had been scheduled, nobody was surprised. Kalie headed east for home on her bike, while Gordy and Miles headed west on theirs.

 

Aiden rode with Larry and Nolan as a pleasurable day with friends came to an end. He and Nolan would share later how much fun being naked and sexy with friends without doing sex could be.

 

“I bet if the five of us were together like that again, that’s not the way it would work,” Aiden said.

 

“Probably not, but it was still fun. It was like we wanted to be sexy with each other without being all horny and shit,” Nolan said.

 

“I guess that’s called being responsible and or whatever.”

 

Nolan didn’t argue.

 

<Coaches’ Committee Meeting>

 

The committee meeting was held at David Fitzgerald’s house after dinner. David was the meeting chairman as well as the son of Coach Fitzgerald, the Athletic Director for Mayfield High School and the Mayfield School District. Aiden, David, Sammy, Anthony Jefferson, who was a junior, and Ben Cook, one of the three adults on the board of the Mayfield Baseball Club, were in attendance.

 

Coach Fitzgerald knew his job was to stay out of everybody’s way. His status as AD had nothing to do with the operation of the summer league teams since they were not affiliated with the school district. He also understood that his presence in the room would undermine David’s authority as meeting chair. The committee was David’s baby and Coach Fitz resolved to stay away unless called on to answer a specific question.

 

David’s mother did enter the room, however, just before the meeting started, and nobody complained. After all, what adolescent boys could complain about someone bringing in slices of heated apple pie with bowls of vanilla ice cream for everyone. Ben complained that his waistline didn’t need the dessert, but he didn’t turn it down.

 

Everyone had received David’s agenda in an email and the meeting went quickly and smoothly. The purpose of the meeting was for the committee to organize the interviews of James Hallion and Glen Burns, the only two applicants for the position. The committee agreed to use the questions on David’s agenda and the order in which to ask them. Aiden did have one thing that concerned him. When David asked if there were any final comments, he told David he thought there should be a question or two about one more piece of business.

 

“Ask away,” David said.

 

“It’s about going to a tournament,” Aiden said. “And not just any tournament but one in California. Mark said we have some invitations, and everyone agrees that with the money left to us by Mr. Davidson we can afford to go. So, I think we should ask the two coaches what they think of us going to a tournament, especially in California.”

 

“I think that issue is moot and there is no reason to ask about going to California,” Ben Cook said.

 

“What do you mean moot?”

 

“What I mean is, we’re not going to approve a team of twelve and thirteen-year olds going to California. You’re simply too young. There are plenty of good tournaments in Western Washington to go to.”

 

“Who is we?” Sammy asked. He didn’t like where this discussion was going, and he could tell that Aiden didn’t either.

 

“The adults in the organization is who we are. Essentially, it is me, George Bednarzyk, Seth McCall, Aaron Lansing, and James Hallion. Once we realized how much money was available for out-of-state tournaments, we thought it was essential that a decision be made about restricting that privilege to high school kids only.”

 

“I thought the players made the rules for the Mayfield Baseball Club,” Aiden said, wondering if he was missing something.

 

“Yeah, since when did the adults run the organization?” David asked. 

 

“Since a big chunk of money became available for spending and an executive decision had to be made quickly,” Ben replied. “Look, I know this is disappointing to you kids, but times change, and sometimes experienced heads have to take over.”

 

“Tell that to Marty Carlson, Eric Simmons, and Noah McCall,” Sammy said. “I can’t believe that Seth McCall agreed to all of this—I mean his son helped found the Mayfield Baseball Club. And there’s no way my dad would agree to it.” George Bednarzyk was Sammy’s father.

“Well, I haven’t made it an official proposal, I’ve brought up the subject and everyone said they would listen to what I have to say.”

 

“Jeez, Ben, you mean all of this came from left field?” Ben Cook’s business was a big financial supporter of Mayfield athletics. Sammy and the others were shocked about what Ben had just told them.

 

“What I wanted was to have you guys put the tournament question on hold so it could be discussed by adults before you asked it. Everybody seems to think it’s nice to give you kids all this power, but you had to understand how to use it responsibly.”

 

“How about we have the committee take a vote about whether or not to ask the question? That sounds responsible to me,” Aiden proposed. He had run multiple pauses through his head as he worked hard not to lose his temper.

 

“Would you like to phrase that as a motion?” David asked.

 

Aiden nodded. “I move that in our interview we ask the coaches what they think about going to a tournament in California.” Anthony, who had sat quietly throughout the controversy, quickly seconded the motion.

 

David reread the motion and asked if there was any further discussion. Ben was the only one with a comment. “Look, guys, I have nothing against the job the Mayfield Baseball Club has done. All you kids have been phenomenal. But, like I said, times change, and you kids have to adjust.”

 

“Or maybe adults have to adjust to ‘kids’ running their own organization,” Sammy said.

 

Since there was no further discussion, David called for a vote. The motion won 4-1 with only Ben voting against it. Anthony, who had volunteered to be the meeting secretary, made a few notations. Since he was recording the meeting, he could save the details for when he got home and wrote the minutes.

 

“Well, I guess that means we ask the coaches that interview question,” David said as if he wanted to make sure that Ben understood what had just happened.

 

Ben surprised them, however. “Good job gentlemen. I don’t agree with the decision, but you boys handled the entire controversy very…well, very professionally. It is a pleasure to work with you young men. Yes, Aiden, you showed yourself to be responsible, as did your peers.”

 

After the meeting adjourned, Aiden texted his dads for one of them to pick him up for a ride home. He asked Sammy if he wanted a ride.

 

“Thanks for asking, but I don’t live far away from here, and even I can find my way in the dark. And it’s still early enough that if I can drag David away from the ‘rents we might have time for a quick romp in bed.”

 

“Horny teens,” Aiden said shaking his head as he looked out the front window for his ride to pull up. He felt good about his role in the meeting. He had not been intimidated by working with older boys and an adult and he had been complimented on being responsible and, with the rest of the committee, being professional.

 

<FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6>

 

<Aiden and Gordy>

 

Between Wednesday night and Saturday morning, Aiden talked about the Wednesday committee meeting as well as the upcoming interviews with his dads, with Marty on Skype, and with the other committee members, including Ben, who turned out not to be the villain Aiden and his peers thought he was Wednesday night. Aiden even received a text from Anthony, who he really didn’t know at all, praising his good work. Aiden texted a thank you note back to him.

 

The interviews were scheduled at the town’s community center, who donated space to the Mayfield Baseball Club because they were a non-profit community organization.

 

Because Nolan would be spending Saturday at his cousin Shelby’s house for Shelby’s birthday party, he couldn’t overnight on Friday with Aiden. Aiden treated Friday night much the way he did the night before a game. He wanted to be in a zone, but he wasn’t as strict with himself about it.

 

He thought that since Nolan couldn’t spend the night, Gordy’s calmness would make him the perfect overnight companion. The two friends enjoyed snacking and watching the Sonics on TV with Larry and Phil. Some of the talk centered around the next day’s interviews.

 

“I don’t see how Eric, Noah, and Marty and those guys could do what they did,” Aiden said during the half. “They were doing all this from scratch and didn’t have any high school kids doing the big jobs like we do. Eric and Noah were seventh graders like Gordy and me and so were most of the kids in the Go to State Club.” Aiden was referring to the original name of the Mayfield Baseball Club.

 

“I remember those days as does your dad,” Larry said. “They had some adult help and advice—Mr. B was active even back then, but they did the real building and made the final decisions.”

 

“Well, this weekend we pick the person who is going to be my baseball coach. Too bad there can’t be a second Goat helping to interview, like Gordy. Gordy would be great at the job. But it has to be board members doing the interviews.”

 

“Trent would have been there with you if his father wasn’t one of the candidates,” Phil pointed out.

 

“I know. I tried to talk Mark into letting Gordy onto the committee, but he said the bylaws didn’t allow it. So, guess what?”

 

“I can easily guess,” Phil chuckled. “You’re going to work to get the bylaws changed so there are at least two members of the team looking for a new coach on the interview committee.”

 

Aiden was astounded. “How did you guess?”

 

“Your pop and I have our ways.”

 

“Just like my dad does,” Gordy chuckled. “Sometimes it’s like you guys are mind readers.”

 

“And sometimes it’s like we don’t have a clue about what is going on in that twisted space between your ears.”

 

“Well, I know from talking to Marty that the players on the team picking the coach used to have a lot more to say about their new coach, like they did in selecting some dude named Phil Miller. I think we need to go back some and get closer to the way that was.”

 

“I’m not sure you’re right,” Phil said, “but your pop and I will support your endeavor. You’re showing yourself to be a responsible young man who is willing to think things through, and we will support you any way we can.”

 

Gordy and Aiden slept naked together that night but didn’t have sex. Aiden wanted Gordy’s company and his hugs and snuggling, but he wasn’t in the mood for sex. What he wanted was restful sleep.

 

“Just in case you’re really horny, I’ll make it up to you sometime,” Aiden said. “Or you can roll over and jerk off if you need to.”

 

“Sometimes you think about sex too much,” Gordy said. “I’m happy to snuggle with you and be your best friend.”

 

“Gordy, Gordy, Gordy, what am I going to do with you? A guy can never think about sex too much. Well, except maybe for tonight.”

 

Whatever the boys ended up thinking about as they fell asleep, it was the perfect way to bring on a peaceful night for both of them.

 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7

 

<Coaches’ Interviews>

 

Aiden and Gordy showered together and went to breakfast fully dressed. Larry cooked up French Toast and sausage and the boys dove right into eating. The first interview was with Glen Burns at ten o’clock.

 

“I wish Gordy could sit in on the interview,” Aiden said as he and Gordy sat at the dining room table with Larry and Phil.

 

“He just might be able to,” Phil told him.

 

“How?”

 

“You need to do a better job of reading the bylaws. Any member of the team may sit in on the interview with the permission of the coach being interviewed and the permission of the committee. He may only observe, he cannot participate. He may participate in the discussion following the interview, however.”

 

“I read the bylaws and I never saw that.”

 

“I’ve only been off the board for a little over a year and I know it hasn’t been changed.” Phil left the table and soon came back with a bound paper booklet. He flipped through a few pages, nodded, and handed the booklet to Aiden. “Second paragraph, page five.”

 

Aiden read the paragraph and set the booklet down. “I guess I read it and forgot.”

 

“It would be a good idea in the future to make sure you review any relevant section of the bylaws when you take on a responsibility for the Club.”

 

“Yeah. It almost makes it like school, or even playing on a team. It’s a great idea to know what the rules are.” Aiden looked at Gordy. “What do you think, Gordy? Do you want to sit in?”

 

“Yeah, I do,” Gordy answered enthusiastically. “If everybody lets me, that is. I’ll have to call home and let my parents know. They should let me go since I know we don’t have anything planned.”

 

“I hope everybody says yes. It would be great to have you. And I still want to get the bylaws changed so somebody not on the Board can be on a selection committee. But that’s for later. Pop’s great French Toast is for now.”

 

When Gordy called home, his father, Aaron Lansing, who was on the Mayfield Baseball Club board, was more than happy to give Gordy his permission to sit in on the interviews. Larry drove Aiden and Gordy to the community center at nine-thirty when David scheduled the committee to meet so they could review their notes from the Wednesday meeting.

 

The first order of business was to approve Gordy’s sitting in on the interviews. David and Ben Cook both knew what the bylaw said. Ben wanted to know why Gordy wanted to be part of the process. Gordy said he wanted to learn more about how the interviews worked and wanted to learn more about what their new coach would be like. David called for a vote and it was unanimous for Gordy to sit in on the interviews.

 

The committee then agreed not to discuss the first interview until after they had finished the second one. At ten sharp they asked Glen Burns to come into the meeting room.

 

Coach Burns agreed to allow Gordy to sit in on the interview and David started the procedure. After asking the first questions, David turned the questioning process to the other committee members. Aiden’s big question had to do with the possibility of playing in a tournament in California.

 

“I am all for the team playing in tournaments,” Glen answered. “But I feel that players below high school age are too young for an out-of-state tournament, or any tournament requiring the team to overnight away from home. No offense to you, Aiden, but age and maturity are key factors in making those kinds of decisions.”

 

“Have you ever coached kids older than the ten-year-olds you coached last year?” Anthony asked. The committee members were once again surprised but pleased to hear Anthony speak up. They knew he was much more outgoing than he had been on Wednesday and were happy he was showing it.

 

“No, I haven’t. But the difference in ages is about two years, which really doesn’t change things much.”

 

Coach Burns really needs to learn about how fast kids grow up, Ben thought. He’ll be amazed when his kid is twelve and knows everything.

 

Coach Hallion’s interview was scheduled for eleven, but he arrived early, the committee was ready to go early, and everyone agreed to start fifteen minutes early. Coach Hallion said he would be delighted to have Gordy sit in on the interview. What he didn’t say was he wished that he and his sons had caught that little paragraph in the bylaws; he would have loved to have Trent sit in on the interview as well. He promised himself to give the booklet another reading as soon as he could.

 

The interview went even smoother than Coach Burns’ interview had. All the committee members knew Coach Hallion since he was not only the father of two board members but was on the board himself. Plus, Aiden and Gordy had played for him for part of a season.

 

When Aiden asked the question about a possible tournament in California, Coach Hallion gave a much different answer from Coach Burns. “With enough parental support, meaning parents who are willing to suffer the hardship of spending some sunny days in Southern California not only watching a team of young adolescent boys play baseball but also helping supervise those boys off the field, my answer would be that I think it’s a great idea.”  Aiden wondered if Coach Hallion had run out of breath when he finished his long answer.

 

“I know the money is there,” Coach Hallion went on. “If I am appointed the new coach of the Yard Goats, one of the first things I plan to do is look at invitations with some of the players to see which appeals to us the most.” Aiden liked that Coach Hallion was planning to include the players in the selection process. His statement didn’t surprise him, however, because he knew that was how the coach operated.

 

The committee thanked Coach Hallion for his time, telling him what they had told Coach Burns; the board would be making their decision this coming Wednesday.

 

“Well, guys, what do we recommend to the board?” Ben asked when the committee and Gordy were alone in the room.

 

“I’d like to hear everyone’s opinion before we vote,” David replied. “And that includes Gordy’s.” After everyone spoke, there was no doubt where the committee stood. Everyone thought Coach Burns would be a good choice, but they had no doubt that Coach Hallion was the better choice. Even Ben was in favor selecting him, although he didn’t like his position on out of state tournaments. That was a battle he could fight later—right now he wanted to see the better coach selected.

 

The vote was unanimous for Coach Hallion. David said he would tell Mark the result so he could have the board ready to officially select him as the new coach of the Yard Goats.

 

Gordy and Aiden ate lunch at Bob’s Burgers with Sammy and Anthony. As they ate their burgers, they agreed they had made the right choice and, more importantly, that the committee had done a great job.

 

“You can tell that David’s father is an administrator,” Anthony said. “He did a fantastic of job running the whole selection process. He could give Jackson a run for his money when the elections for president come up in the spring.”

 

“I think Jackson would have done a great job, too,” Aiden said. “It wasn’t his fault he wasn’t eligible to be on the committee since we were interviewing his dad.”

 

“I thought Aiden did a really good job with the whole tournament thing,” Sammy said. “It was like none of us really wanted to get into that mess, and Aiden kind of rubbed our noses in our shit and made us do it.”

 

“I didn’t make anybody do anything. I just wanted to know what the coaches thought because some of us Goats are getting excited about going to California to play. And I don’t care what Ben Cook said, the guys on the Yard Goats are great guys and I know we’ll behave great—especially if Coach Hallion brings my dads along to be the enforcers.”

 

“Shit, the last thing anybody on that baseball team would want to do is get Coach Sanders mad at them. You don’t want to piss off the head high school baseball coach when you’re playing thirteen and under baseball,” Anthony chuckled.

 

“I so agree,” Sammy said. “Hey, Aiden, how well do you know Alex Guerrero?”

 

“Not very well. He’s a tough dude to talk to. It’s like he doesn’t want to have any friends.”

 

“Or maybe he just doesn’t know how to make friends. I know he came to a couple of Fourth Dimension meetings, but he didn’t hang around for long. And I know Grant is worried about him.”

 

“Yeah, Grant thinks he’s getting fucked up a lot.”

 

“Grant told me a couple of lowlifes from the high school have been giving him drugs and booze in exchange for sex. I know who those two guys are and they are pretty much a waste of oxygen. Anyway, I thought I’d ask. My dad says there’s not much I can do unless Alex asks for help, but from what Grant says, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

 

“Grant has wanted to be his friend, but Alex keeps pushing him away.”

 

Gordy, who was uninterested with the topic of the conversation, started talking about baseball. From then until the boys finished their Burgers, they speculated on who would have good summer league teams, if the Mayfield Middle School Titans were good enough to have a chance for the league championship, and how good the Mayfield High School Mustangs would be. The lunch ended with everyone in good spirits.

 

Gordy ended up spending another night with Aiden. This time, they did get sexual as Gordy asked to have another practice round to make sure he was ready when he and Kalie were finally ready to go all the way. Aiden was pleased with the way Gordy had fucked him hard and confidently and told him so. Gordy grinned with pleasure.

 

But as he fell asleep in Aiden’s arms, he wondered why he had no problem asking Aiden if he could have intercourse with him but was scared to death to ask Kalie.

 

Next: Stuff Happens.