Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2012 19:35:41 -0700 (PDT)
From: Henry Brooks <hankster1430@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Another Ordinary Guy 6

Another Ordinary Guy
Chapter Six

During the next year, Ricky toured America and Europe.  The closest thing
he had to call home was a hotel bed, usually occupied by one...him.

When his album was released it was an instant success, and it climbed
rapidly to the top of the charts.  He named the album, Tempting Fate, and
ironically, it contained thirteen original songs by Ricky Albert.  The
airwaves and the smart phones were full of his music.  Three songs from the
album were in the top twenty.

One of the songs had a haunting, melancholy melody.  The lyrics were simple
and repetitive:

I keep trying
I keep trying
Trying to figure out
Trying to figure out
Figure out
Figure out
Who I am
Who I am
Who am I?
Who am I?
Why Can't I
Can't I
Figure out
Who I am?

The lyrics were an obvious reference to his homosexuality.  He wanted to
let the world know, but lacked the courage to shout it out.  He could only
express his frustration through his art.

He stayed in constant touch with Red and Larry.  His cupid darts had found
the right hearts.  His two friends were happily ensconced in the same bed,
and they were looking after his apartment for him.  They made sure that the
temperature and the humidity in the apartment were always just right to
protect his piano.  It was, in fact, a precious instrument.

When he arranged the tour, Ricky made sure he would not be on the road
during the week before and after his twenty-first birthday.  It was
important for him to spend his coming of age with his family and best
friends.  His parents and sisters were planning a big birthday bash for him
in Red Bank, the first Saturday he got home.  When they asked for a guest
list from him, all he could come up with were Red and Larry, and his
childhood friend and school mate, Joey Carson.  He thought about that; he
thought he should be hurt to have such a short guest list.  In the end, he
concluded that three close friends were worth more than dozens of business
friends and entourage leaches.  The other guests at the party were his
sisters' boy friends, some aunts, uncles, and a smattering of cousins.
Joey had been the only wasp in Ricky's class.  Everyone else was Italian,
Jewish or Hispanic.  Joey, poor guy, was uncomfortable at the party.  He
was the only real outsider.  He wanted to leave a couple of times, but
Ricky begged him to stay.

"Joey, everybody is going home after the party.  They'll all be gone by
ten.  Please stay and hang out with me.  Stay and we'll have a sleepover
like when we were kids."  Joey reluctantly agreed, and Ricky employed Larry
and Red to keep an eye on him and not let him escape.  Nonetheless, Joey
seemed moody, and stayed pretty much to himself during the entire party.
He was sitting alone out on the front porch swing, when Ricky's future
brother-in-law, Randy Lopez, came outside. Randy was engaged to Maria, the
elder of Ricky's two sisters, who had just turned nineteen.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked.  Joey didn't answer, but he motioned to the
empty part of the swing right next to him.  Randy almost fell when he sat
down.  He was obviously quite drunk.

Neither one said anything, and after awhile, just to break the awkward
silence, Joey said, "Nice party, isn't it?"

Randy didn't answer the question.  Instead, he put his hand on Joey's knee.
Joey decided not to notice or make a thing of it, since Randy was so drunk.

"I've had my eye on you all evening, Joey.  You're one handsome dude."

Joey removed Randy's hand from his knee, and stood up.  "You've had way too
much to drink, Randy.  I think you better quit."  He went back inside and
joined the party.  Randy followed him into the house, went right up to
Maria, and tried to kiss her, but she turned her face away, because he
smelled so badly of booze.

Poor Joey didn't know what to do.  He should tell Ricky that Randy had come
on to him, and that probably he shouldn't marry Maria, but he was afraid
that Ricky wouldn't believe him.  It was like when he told his mother that
her brother had touched him inappropriately.  She slapped his face and told
him to stop telling lies.  The groping continued, and his uncle even
exposed himself to the young boy, but he couldn't tell his parents.  He
decided to say nothing to Ricky.  It was Maria's problem.

The party was a blast, and before he knew it, Ricky was kissing everyone
goodbye.  Red and Larry were the last to leave.  Ricky walked them to their
car.  He didn't think anyone was watching so he kissed them both goodbye on
the lips.  Hidden in the shadows on the porch, Joey observed the whole
thing.  The scene ignited long suppressed desires in him.  He tried to
dismiss the whole thing from his mind.  Kissing was something all show
business people did.  It didn't mean a thing.

Rickey, his two sisters, and Joey started to help Mama clean up, but they
seemed to be more in the way than helpful, and she finally shooed them
away.  The girls went to bed.  The young men went out on the porch where
they shared the swing together.  They stared at the stars, and started to
talk about old times.

"Why didn't we ever do it again together when you came home and finished
high school?" Joey asked.

"Do what?" Ricky asked.  He had no idea what Joey was talking about.

Joey made his palm into a cylinder and started waving it in the air as if
he was jacking off.  "That," he said.  "We used to do it together before
you ran off to sing with The Sons of Song."

"Oh, that," Ricky said.  "It was always fun to do that together.  I guess
by the time I was a junior in high school, and you were a college man, we
didn't think it was the manly thing to do."

"Maybe not, but when we jerked off together, I always felt very close to
you.  I felt that we were connected somehow."  As he finished speaking,
Joey put his palm on Ricky's knee, much like Randy had done to him.  It was
the remembrance of Randy's inappropriate behavior that had stirred up his
boldness.  Ricky made no attempt to stop him.

After a silence that seemed to last for hours, but was only a few seconds,
Ricky asked, "Is there something you are trying to tell me Joey?  Whatever
it is please speak.  I promise not to judge you, or condemn anything you
tell me."

"First I have to ask you something?  There are always rumors and innuendos
in the press that you're gay, Ricky.  I really, really, need to know if
there is any truth in those stories."

"Why is it so fucking important?  Everyone and all his relatives want to
know, and it's nobody's business but mine."

"Please don't be angry at me, Ricky.  The reason I need to know is that I
have loved you since we met in nursery school, and I need to confess
something to you.  I'm a gay man struggling to find love.  It keeps eluding
me, because all I can obsess about is being with you.  I'm scared shitless
that it will never happen, and that I'll never have any kind of
relationship with any one.  Now you are asking me to spend the night.  What
should I make of that?  You are sending me mixed messages.  My conclusions
are poles apart, depending on your sexual orientation.  That's why it's
important for me to know if you are gay or not."

Joey stopped talking.  He buried his head in his hands and started to cry
softly.  Ricky honestly didn't know what to say or do.  Well, at least it
did help to explain why they were always such good friends.  Their other
friends came and went, but he and Joey never lost touch and never grew
apart.  Now Joey was crying, and Ricky couldn't let him continue.  He put
his arms around Joey's shoulder, pulled him tightly to him, and whispered
in his ear, "Joey honey, there's only a standard size double bed in my
room.  There's no cot either, so here are your choices.  You can sleep on
the floor, or you can put your naked ass in the bed with my naked ass.  Now
I'm not pushing, mind you.  It's your decision to make."

Joey sobbed a little harder, and Ricky held him even closer.  He picked
Joey up to a standing position, which was pretty difficult since Joey was
about three inches bigger than Ricky, and about twenty pounds heavier.
They walked into the kitchen together.  You couldn't tell that there had
ever been a party.  Mama was just removing her apron.

"Where's Papa?" Ricky asked.

"He's gone to bed, where I'm going now too."

"Us too."

"Is there anything special you boys would like for breakfast?" she asked.
They both shook their heads, and she watched them walk up the hall
together.

As Mama watched them, suddenly they turned into two four year olds, holding
hands, wearing only jockey shorts, and running into the bedroom.  The
vision of déjà vu brought her to tears.  She never once thought
in terms of a carnal act, or that they were being inappropriate at
twenty-one.

Ricky and Joey entered Ricky's bedroom, shaking like leaves.  They were
both so nervous, you would think they were virgins.  Ricky's door had no
lock, but he shut it tight, and as quietly as he could.  He was relatively
sure that nobody would enter without knocking.  They stood looking at each
other, not moving, not saying a word.  Suddenly Joey started to rip off his
clothes, so Ricky did the same.  They had seen each other naked a hundred
times as young boys and many times in gym locker rooms, but this was
different.  They were about to make love, and each of their cocks took on a
new look, and a new significance.

"Good!  You trim your pubes now.  So do I." Joey observed.

Joey fell to his knees and gobbled Ricky's hardened, uncut manhood into his
mouth.  He released it long enough to say, "I have wanted to do this as
long as I can remember."  Then he went back to work.

"Let's get into bed," Ricky whispered, "and we'll play sixty-nine.  Joey
did as Ricky requested.  The minute Ricky's lips touched Joey's crown, he
felt an orgasm surging.  He tried to stop it, but he couldn't.

As soon as Ricky heard Joey mumble, "I'm cumming," he took as much of
Joey's cock as he could inside of him, so he could swallow every drop and
there would be no mess.  Afterward the two men lay in bed, side by side,
holding hands.

"I'm sorry I came so fast," Joey apologized.

"Don't sweat it, Joey.  This isn't a one night stand."

When Joey heard those words, he said, "Ricky, I love you.  I've loved you
since before we were in kindergarten."  They kissed each other
passionately.  "Fuck me please," he begged.

"I have no rubbers, but I have some Vaseline in my nightstand."

"Fuck me, Ricky.  I don't care about condoms."

Ricky remembered Red's words about not ever going bareback.  "I don't care
either," he said.

The Vaseline did its job.  Ricky entered Joey rather easily.  He went in
doggie style, and he was in no rush to start stroking.  He just lay quietly
on top of Joey, absorbing Joey's body with his own, and also with his love.
Joey was purring like a kitten.  Unexpectedly, he said to Ricky, "Ricky,
you just broke my cherry.  I always prayed it would be you.  God heard my
prayers."

Ricky was suddenly filled with emotions he had not ever felt before with
anyone he had ever made love with.  He felt like his and Joey's bodies had
fused into one.  He didn't realize he was pumping until he felt Joey's body
tensing.  Joey was cumming again.  He tried to stifle his screams.  As he
came, he tightened his ass muscles and put Ricky over the top.  It was all
Ricky could do to stifle his screams as well.

Even after his cock fell out of Joey, the lovers remained in position,
reluctant to separate.  "I'm so happy," Joey whispered.

"I'm happier," Ricky responded.

"I've been accepted to Fordham Law School," Joey announced out of the blue.
"I'll be moving to The City.  Do you think I could live in your place with
you?  I'll be glad to pay rent.  I know you won't be there a lot, but I can
look after the place, and I'll be there whenever you are."

"That's the greatest idea I ever heard.  Do you think you could move in
yesterday?"

"Sure thing!"

"Shit," Ricky said.  "We're going to have to give our parents some sort of
explanation.  My parents know I only have one bedroom."

"Honey, I'm out to my folks.  It's your turn."

"Shit," Ricky repeated.  "I love you, and I want to be with you.  I'll just
have to bite the bullet."

"I've got your back, sweetheart.  We'll make it through."


To be continued....