Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 16:22:28 -0800 (PST)
From: John R Ohler <lightseeker19@yahoo.com>
Subject: Returning to Tate Chapter 4

Hey all, here is another chapter to Returning to Tate. I
hope that you enjoy it. I have appreciated all the e-mails.
It is good to hear people enjoying the story. My apologies
for taking so long to update, but things have been hectic
here. I hope to get one more chapter before Christmas, but
being in retail and getting myself prepared to go back to
school things are busy this time of year. So enjoy.

Once again I would like to say that this story is
copyrighted to the auther and cannot be reposted or copied
without my permission. All the characters in this story are
factious and created from the mind of the author. Any
likeness to anyone is purely coincidental.

                      Returning to Tate
                        Chapter Four:
                       A New Beginning

     Robert Jordan once wrote in his series of books that
there were no beginnings, nor endings, but at the beginning
of each of his books was a beginning. Right now in my life I
felt the same way. As the new dawn awoke over Tate, it was
not a beginning of my life, and it certainly was not an
ending, but it was a beginning of a new part of my life. It
was as if the dawn washed away the shadow that was the last
four years.
     Last night I had come back from the hospital in a more
determined and relieved mood then I could remember. It
seemed like that for the last four years I had carried a
great many weights and now I was finally able to throw them
off. The drive back to the Cross house was one that felt
like it was almost a dream. The air seemed sweeter then I
could remember and the cool air seemed to rejuvenate me. My
body felt tired from the events of the day, but my mind felt
alive with activity. There seemed so much to think about,
but no good way to start. I just resolved to work on it
tomorrow.
     When I arrived at the Cross house, Mrs. Cross had been
waiting up for me. She was always a good mother like that.
She had asked me if everything was ok. I just looked at her
and with a small smile I said, "Yeah I think for once
everything is going to be ok." Then I told her that I was
worn out and asked if it would be ok if we talked about it
tomorrow. Mrs. Cross just gave a motherly smile and told me
no problem. I think, no I know she was happy to see me look
happier then I had been in a long time.
     I had expected to hang out with Rick a little when I
got back, but Mrs. Cross told me before I went upstairs that
he had went out on a date tonight. I guess he had waited for
like an hour and then just couldn't sit around anymore. Rick
was not the type of person that was patient. It did remind
me on how things still were not completely right between he
and I. Tomorrow I had to make sure to have some time to
spend with him one on one so that we could talk. I knew that
once we talked for awhile we would work it out. That was the
cool thing with Rick, in all the years I knew him and all
the fights, there never was any grudges.
     Once I arrived in my room the weariness of the day
seemed to hit all at once. I barely got out of my, well I
guess Ricks clothes before I was out like a light. The sleep
that overtook me was a deep one. I know I dreamed, but it
was one of those sleeps that was so heavy that nothing that
happened in it would be remembered. The next thing I knew I
opened my eyes to the sun coming through my window. I had
not even closed the blinds last night to keep the sunlight
out. I was never someone that liked to be woken with the
bright light of the sun. This morning though it felt right.
     The clock said that the time was twenty minutes until
eleven in the morning. Usually when I woke up I was a groggy
person, but not this morning. As soon as I opened my eyes I
felt awake. I felt like I had slept forever and could sleep
no more. I am sure that if I tried, I might have been able
to go back to sleep, I always had that ability. Today I just
wanted to be awake. Life was worth not sleeping away.
     I didn't get out of the bed immediately. I just laid
there and took in everything. The house was quite at this
hour. The only noise was coming from birds outside and the
occasional car. At this hour on a Friday morning I knew that
Mrs. Cross would already be at work. I am sure that waiting
downstairs for me was a breakfast just waiting for me to
warm it up. She would not have left without doing that. I
smiled at that thought. Rick would not be up yet; that much
I was sure was a definite. The day he got up before eleven,
or hell probably even noon would be a sign of the
apocalypse. There was a thought at jumping on his bed to
wake him up the same way he did me yesterday, but the
thought of just enjoying the quiet was to tempting.
     My mind reeled from last night. To be honest, I could
not believe that I had managed to say those things out loud
and even more so in front of my father. Yeah it sounds easy
to say things to someone in a coma, but even in his weakened
state I still could feel his imposing nature. Some fathers
pass on some useful knowledge or insight, mine had left a
mark of fear on me. Still I felt the relief of finally
letting some of that out. Yeah I may not have made my point
with my father, but more importantly I had made a point to
myself. That was the important thing. I honestly did believe
that today was a new beginning.
     Finally after lying around for twenty minutes I got up
and took a shower. One thing I always had to have in the
morning was a hot shower. If there was not a fog bank in the
shower by the time I was done then I had failed to properly
shower. Rick and Patrick always hated when I would take a
shower before them because when I was done there was not
much, if any hot water left. That was the best part about
living in the dorms was the seemingly limitless hot water in
the showers.
     I think I must have been in the shower for about
fifteen minutes when I heard the sounds of a toilet
flushing. That was a moment that I realized I had been gone
too long, because I had forgotten the one bad thing about
the shower in this house, when a toilet was flushed the
water would get horribly cold, kind of like Titanic sinking
cold water. I yelped in annoyance and pretty much leapt out
of the shower trying to escape the cold water. As I slid on
the bathroom linoleum covered in soapy water I could hear
Rick laughing hard.
     "Hey bitch," He had trouble speaking with the fits of
laughter. "Didn't we have a rule that you never could have
the first shower of the day since you were a hot water hog!"
     I looked over and wiped soap out of my eyes to see Rick
sitting up against the wall, using the towel rack to hold
himself up from his fits of laughter. There was no way to
even think about trying not to look ridiculous in front of
him. All I could do was make sure to bring him down to my
level. In a quick fashion I leapt over to him and grabbed
him. Rick was not prepared for this. He obviously thought
that I would scramble for a towel or something, but growing
up like brothers we had seen each other naked many times,
besides there was a time for vengeance and a time for
modesty. He tried to get out of my grip, but with me covered
in soapy water he had no hope. In a quick move I flipped him
into the still running shower and turned and flush the
toilet on him.
     Rick tried his best to get out before the cold water
came out, but I quickly pushed him back in it. Yeah I got
hit with some more cold water, but I already had been hit by
it. I had to make sure that Rick got his fair share. After a
couple of minutes I let him get out of the shower.
     We both took a moment to laugh at each other. Neither
of us could say that we were the definition of dignity. I
was naked with soapy cold water all over me and while I
looked ridiculous, I think Rick looked even more. He sat on
the floor soaked in cold water. All he had on was his boxers
again. They were white ones that once they got wet clung to
him and showed everything through. I had to laugh staring at
Rick, I knew I was seeing a wet dream of any other gay guy
or even any straight woman. Rick though was just a bud.
     "Well I guess we just played out a fantasy for you,"
Rick said slyly after we both calmed down from our mutual
laughter.
     "Hey it was not me that started it, or you hiding some
subconscious feeling for me?" I replied back seductively. "I
mean you did get me out of the shower this morning after
leaping into my bed yesterday." We both laughed again.
     "Right, god this is going to suck to clean up," Rick
stood up and looked around the mess we had made in the
bathroom. "Go ahead and finish your shower, I guess I will
wait thirty minutes for mine, or hell I guess I have had
mine," Rick looked down at himself. "I promise no more
toilet flushing."
     "Cool, I'll be quick. I forgot about the lack of
infinite hot water here. I'm too used to the dorms." I got
up and started to step back into the shower.
     "Oh one more thing," Rick yelled at me as I was moving
to get in the shower. As I turned around I got hit in the
face with a set of wet white boxers. "Here is one more thing
for a fantasy." Rick moved into his room grabbing a towel
but not worrying about covering up.
     Once out of the shower I borrowed some more of Rick's
clothes for the day. He joked about charging me for them and
about how he already loaned me a pair of boxers for the day.
I wished now that I had thought to bring extra clothes with
me from Burke, but it was not like I had thought I would be
staying this long. Oh well, it was not a big deal to share
clothes with Rick for a couple more days and then I would
get back to my clothes at Burke.
     I got down to the kitchen and noted with satisfaction
that I had been right. Mrs. Cross had left me some pancakes
that just needed to be warmed up. You had to love her. Rick
commented when he got down there that he thought his Mom
liked me better because she never left him breakfast in the
morning. I just commented that she probably figured I would
eat it and not just walk out of the house wasting it. Rick
had to admit that it was true.
     Rick and I joked around for a little bit more and then
he said he had to go to a class. I was a little disappointed
with that because I did want to talk with him, but there was
a lot to do today. The irony of him going to class was that
he would not skip classes on the day that he had one class.
He said that it felt like he was skipping on a vacation day
and that one class was not worth having a skip day. Four
though, those were the days you wanted to skip. That was
Rick logic for you.
     After Rick was out the door I got on the computer and
logged into the Burke College website. I had to call my
professors today. Next week was finals and I was supposed to
have a paper due today. I knew I had good teachers but I was
not sure how cool they would be with me due to the
situation. It was a relief to talk to them all. Basically I
got out of the paper even though I actually already had it
done. The professor said he figured it was `A' work anyway
like my others. As for the finals, I basically got out of
taking all but two of them. The others said they would just
grade me on the work I had already done, which was `A'
material. The other two offered to let me do the finals
later and give me an incomplete, but I was going to have to
go back anyway and so I worked out taking both of the tests
on Monday. That way I could just get them out of the way. I
was already prepared for them anyway. That was the good
thing about always being ahead of the curve.
     Just after twelve thirty the house phone rang. I did
not bother to pick up the phone. I knew that it might be
Mrs. Cross and while she preferred if I answered the phone
while I was here, I just did not feel comfortable doing it
yet. For part of me this did feel like home, but another
part of me I felt like a guest, besides there was an
answering machine. If it was Mrs. Cross she would ask for me
over the machine. To my surprise it was the voice of Eric.
"Hey, I am calling for Justin. I hope that I got the right
number, but he said that he was staying there," I know I had
a stupid grin listening to his nervous voice over the
answering machine. Just hearing his voice, my thoughts went
to how cute he was and how his hand felt. I may have been
alone in the house, but I knew that I was blushing. God, I
had never been like this before.
     I leapt and got the phone before the message ended.
"Hey Eric, how goes it. It is Justin." I felt just goofy
being this excited.
     "Sweet, I was worried I got the wrong number," He
sounded relieved that I answered. "Dude you need to get a
cell phone so that nobody will get that confused..besides it
is easier to get a hold of you."
     "Yeah several people have told me that before.maybe I
will soon," I couldn't believe that I was saying that. I had
always avoided getting a phone because well people tend to
call when you have one. Now that I was talking to Eric, I
wanted to talk on the phone, besides I know that both the
Cross family and Patrick would be excited for me to get a
phone. "Anyway what's up? Are you home from the hospital?"
     "Yeah man, I got home like ten minutes ago. My Mom
wanted me to go lay down but I couldn't. I told her I have
been lying down for four days now and that I had had enough
of that crap. So what are you up too? Are you ready to get
your ass kicked in Halo yet?" God he sounded excited. I so
wanted to just go over to his house and start hanging out,
but there was only about ninety minutes before I needed to
be at the high school to talk to Mr. Culpepper. I could not
just duck out of that, no matter how much I wanted to just
run over to Eric's. I knew too that once I was over there, I
will not be able to get out in just under ninety minutes. No
time has a way of being lost while I was around him.
     "Hey I can't just yet," Over the phone I could just
hear the disappointment that Eric just in his breathing on
the line. "I have to be somewhere at two, but I can hang out
right after that. It probably will only take an hour or so."
     "Sweet, I guess I can wait," Eric's excitement rose
again. "Besides it gives you more times to dread the ass
whopping I am about to give you in Halo!"
     "Yeah yeah, like hell you will. I'll see you in a
couple of hours." I then got off the phone. I almost started
to switch subjects, but I did not want to get off task for
the day. I knew that if I did that with Eric, I would either
talk to him forever or end up over at his house. I have come
to realize I was weak when it came to Eric. Patience, I kept
saying to myself. If anything I didn't want to come off as
too weird trying to be around him as quick as I could.
     I was outside of Mr. Culpepper's office just before
two. I remembered when I was in his class, one of the life
lessons he always tried to impress upon us was the
importance of being always punctual. He used to always say,
"Tardiness will get you no where in life except behind those
that are always on time. Those are the people that will be a
success in life. So chose to be punctual and be a success or
be tardy and always be in the shadow of success." Rick would
always revel how he like being in the shadow because you
didn't have to worry about sunburn.
     I knocked on the door and I heard Mr. Culpepper's
familiar voice tell me to come in. His office had not
changed a whole lot.  It was packed with books, old and new.
There were always new ones laying around in his office. I
was always amazed that for a man as busy as him, he was such
a vivacious reader. He once told the class he read at least
one book a week, I could not imagine having time to do that.
On the far wall was a double window that overlooked the
front grounds of the school. Being on the third floor, his
window almost matched that of the flag pole. In front of the
window was his desk. It was an old wooden desk. One thing
about Old Tate High, they never seemed to replace the desks
or chairs unless they feel apart and then only if they could
not jury-rig it. There never seemed to be enough money in
the school board to do everything and the furniture
certainly suffered, although I suspect that Mr. Culpepper
would hate to lose his desk. It had several piles of papers
that were in different stages of grading and a computer that
did not looked used much. Mr. Culpepper was from an era
before the computer age. He always said that until the
technology was twenty years old or out of date, then it did
not fall into a history course or profession. On the left
wall was a twenty inch television, vcr, and low and behold a
DVD player. More then that, there were DVD's, it was obvious
that he had embraced DVD technology. Looking at the DVD's I
suspect that it was the history channel that brought him
into the twenty first century since a great deal of them
were programs from the history channel's collection. On the
opposite wall was a leather couch that looked like it had
seen many better days in the era of the seventies. You had
to admit that there was a certain charm about this room.
Honestly it was almost exactly like I remembered it.
     "Mr. Caldwell, how are you doing," Mr. Culpepper got up
and shook my hand. I then plopped into an old wooden chair
in front of his desk. I felt like I was back in high school
visiting his office again. "How is your father doing?"
     "Well pretty much the same as yesterday. I am not a
hundred percent sure but I suspect that my sister talked my
Mom into keeping him alive on machines. I would be surprised
if he ever got up again."
     Mr. Culpepper's lips tightened as he gave me a
sympathetic look. "That's tough. I never understood the
religious people that demand to keep people alive by
machines and then say that it is god's choice to let them
go. I guess I have always felt that if you leave it to God,
then you don't need the machines. I know though that it is
also hard to just let go."
     "Yeah I know. I guess though no matter whose decision
it is, there is one thing that I know, it is not my
decision. To be honest, I don't know how long he will last,
but I doubt I am going to go back to the hospital. Last
night I guess I said to him all I needed too. In a way, I
know that while he was unconscious and probably could not
hear me, it felt good to tell him everything finally. It was
sort of a release of everything I have been holding in. It
is weird isn't it?"
     He gave me a smile. "No, no it is not. You have needed
to do that for four years. I suspect like it or not, he
heard you. It is good that you have got to say what you
needed too, maybe now you will be able to stop running from
him."
     I looked at him in surprise. "You know I realized that
last night. I never realized I was doing that. How did you
know?" I know I looked dumbfounded.
     Mr. Culpepper just laughed at me. "Son, I have been
around three times your lifetime and some change and I know
when someone is running.  It is the type of running that
only you could stop on your own. We all here just had to
wait for you to stop and try to help you every chance we
could. I am glad to see that you finally have realized it
and it looks like you have stopped running." He gave me a
look that said he was proud of me. "So how your classes and
what are your plans this summer? I believe if I am correct
next week is your finals week."
     Damn, he always seemed to know everything. "Yeah it is.
I am doing pretty well. I have two finals to do Monday and
then I am done. I think I should have a four point oh." I
know I said it with more pride then intended, but my grades
the last couple of years really have been a source of pride
in a world that nothing else seemed to be.
     "Great, I always knew you had it in you. You know I
always thought of you as one of my brightest students even
when you were not giving you full potential," I blushed at
his compliment. I knew from someone like him, it really
meant something. He was a kind of a mentor to me. "Of
course.maybe I am losing it because I always thought Mr.
Cross was also someone of great potential." We both laughed
at that. "So what are your plans this summer?"
     I sat back a pondered that for a second. I had not
really thought that out a whole lot. "You know I am not
sure. I was thinking about summer classes. It would get me
through college quicker, but you know after yesterday, I
think I might want to come back to Tate, at least if the
Cross's would have me." That was a stupid comment because I
knew that they would always do that. Mrs. Cross had tried
hard last summer to get me to come back to Tate for the
summer, but then I just couldn't bring myself to return.
     "Well I say you deserve a summer break. I know when I
was in school I never took summer classes. Your only young
once and you shouldn't waste it all the time with work.
There is plenty of time for that, besides if I had done
that, I never would have met the wife. I am sure they will
let you stay and if not I think I could convince Martha to
let you stay with us."
     Wow that was something I never thought I would hear.
All this time I felt like I really was not wanted at Tate
and here was my old teacher offering to let me stay if
necessary. It was just a good feeling, even if I did not
have to take him up on that. I had to admit that it would be
a little weird staying with him for the summer. "Yeah that
is true, besides there is some things I really need to do
here. Thanks for the offer of letting me stay with you, but
I doubt you have to worry about me taking you up on it. I
know Mrs. Cross would be happy to have me over the summer.
She is awesome."
     "Good, well I guess that brings me to one of the points
I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted your help in
something. It is nothing major, but it is something I think
you could relate too and help. Remember when you had such a
hard time here the last two years of high school?" He had
shifted to a serious tone.
     "Yeah, those were not fun years at all. I sort of have
tried to suppress those memory unsuccessfully." That was
true. I hated those years.
     "Yeah, well we have a student this year that has had
more problems then even you had to deal with back then. He
was a new student this year and one that was more
comfortable with his sexuality at least in the beginning
when he arrived here. Here was from the east coast where
people were more accepting of differences. Unfortunately
several of the students, and even worse some of the faculty
did not take too kindly to his sexuality and his comfort
with it. I have tried to help him like I did you, but I
think he is wary to trust anyone in this high school and
truth be told I don't blame him. All year has been pretty
much hell for him, but last week it got a whole lot worse as
he got the ever living crap beat out of him by some
students. It was pretty bad. If someone had not found him
and called an ambulance when they did he probably would have
died."
     He took a deep breath and had a disgusted look just
talking about the attack. "To make matters worse, he refused
to names of who did it. He told the police he didn't know,
but I doubt that is true. I think he was afraid to tell them
who did it. It makes me mad that there would be students in
this school that would do that. No student or person for
that matter should have to live in fear."
     Mr. Culpepper took a moment to calm him down. I could
not remember seeing him so riled up. I understood why
though. It had to do with his son. Twenty years ago his son
had come out to being gay and actually had been beaten to
death. No one had ever been arrested for it or even suspects
found. The police just seemed to let it go. Mr. Culpepper
had never been able to let go of that. I could not blame
him, everyone deserved justice. When he had told me that
four years ago, I actually knew that he did understand. He
had always been a fighter of justice, but even more so after
that. If you needed a moral compass, there was no finer man
then Mr. Culpepper.
     "Sorry, I just get riled up when I talk about it," He
continued. "What I was hoping you could do was talk to him.
He needs a friend and since you both share a certain
commonality in the fact of your sexuality, your closeness in
age, and the fact that he is a lot like you were in class, I
figured you would do well. Besides unless I am not mistaken,
I bet you are still in need of a friend that can understand
that aspect of you."
     I blushed. It really amazed me how well Mr. Culpepper
knew me. He should have been a psychic. He took my silence
as a yes and continued. "Anyway his name is Eric Greene and
I believe that he was just released from the hospital today.
I have his address."
     I know the surprise on my face had to show because Mr.
Culpepper stopped looking for the paper with his address on
it and gave me a quizzical look. "You say Eric? He would not
have red hair and was in room 206 in the hospital would he
and live on Dunhurst Ave?"
     Mr. Culpepper raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, you don't
happen to already know him do you?"
     As strange as it sounds I felt sort of embarrassed.
"Actually.yeah I do. When I was in the hospital yesterday I
happened to come across his room while I was thinking. We
started talking. I didn't realize that he was.well gay. To
be honest I was scared he might find out I was. We hit it
off so well and he had helped me out over the last day or so
when I needed to talk to someone."
     He just laughed at me. "I guess you do not have a very
good, gaydar, I guess that is what it is called. I guess you
would be willing to talk to him then?"
     "Yeah I guess I can," I chuckled. "Actually I am
supposed to go over to his house to hang out for a little
while after talking to you. God this is weird." I paused for
a minute to ponder the situation. I began to feel like fate
had drawn me back with everything that was happening. "I
can't promise anything though. I am not even sure how to
breach the subject. He has not wanted to talk about it, but
I haven't pushed the matter. Neither of us has said anything
about why we were at the hospital. We just avoided those
subjects."
     "Well don't try to be pushy about it. Be a friend to
him and then when he is ready, he will talk about it. He is
just like you in that way. When I first talked to you, you
did not want to talk about anything, now look at you.
Besides he may help you through the problems you have had
too."
     "I can definitely be a friend. I already consider him a
friend and I think he already does me too."
     "Possible boyfriend," Mr. Culpepper gave me a sly
smile. He knew that would make me blush.
     "Hey, hey, just a friend. I maybe able to talk to you
about almost anything, but I don't think I am even ready to
talk about that with myself, let alone you." He laughed and
I could not help but follow suit. I couldn't imagine having
a boyfriend. It was kind of a cool thought though.
     It was just about a quarter after three when I got out
of Mr. Culpepper's office. I have to say that I felt good.
The day had been going pretty well. That was not really
true, no it felt like it was the best day that I could
remember in several years. That was saying a lot because I
still felt that the best part of the day had not even
happened yet, at least that was what I hoped.
     Walking to my car I realized that I was both nervous
and scared at going to see Eric. It might sound weird to
have those thoughts but deep down I could feel them
wrestling in my stomach. I wanted to see Eric. He made me
feel good about myself and that was not something I could
remember feeling for a very long time. That though was also
what scared me. I never have felt that way about anyone
else. I suspected that I was developing deeper feelings for
him then just friendship, ok I knew I was. Mr. Culpepper had
not helped this fear by telling me that Eric was gay,
instead it had only heightened those feelings. Most people
would say that it was good because that opened up more
possibilities, but it was those possibilities that scared
the hell out of me. I never have had a boyfriend and
wouldn't know what to do if I had one. The only time I ever
got close to someone and did anything was on my sixteenth
birthday and that did not work out well at all.
     Growing up in my family and even my community, I had
suppressed all those feelings that normal teenagers go
through. I fought to not have those feelings. There were
guys that I knew I was attracted to, but the fear of them
ever knowing my secret or really even admitting it to myself
was too much. The fear was able to keep those feelings in
check. The only exception had been on my sixteenth birthday,
but that did not have the intensity of the feelings I felt
now. Those feeling, at least in retrospect, were no where
close to the level I was feeling now. Now though things
seemed so different. It was possibilities that scared the
hell out of me. Possibilities that maybe there could be more
then friendship between us. Possibilities that maybe he
liked me too. These things should have excited me, but they
scared me as much as losing his friendship. I knew about
friendships. I knew how people should act in them and what
to do to be a good friend. To be honest I didn't have a clue
what to do if anything more developed.
     As I drove to his house though, I shoved those thoughts
to the back of my head. I decided that at least for now
friendship was all that was going to happen. Eric was the
best thing to happen to me for a long time, and I was not
going to risk losing his friendship. There were also more
important things then that to worry about. Eric needed a
good friend right now after what Mr. Culpepper told me. I
didn't know how I would get around to talking to him about
it but I knew that somehow I needed too. There was no need
to clutter the situation by worrying about the feelings I
was developing for him. Besides I was sure that he could not
develop those same feeling for someone like me.
     Upon reaching the address I realized I knew the house
that Eric lived in. It had been Robert McDougal's house when
I lived in Tate. I had attended school with him and he was
in the same class as I. I had not been good friends with him
but I had hung out with him a few times in grammar school.
When we began middle school he had started hanging out with
other kids of a cooler click. The one thing that I
remembered was that he had a really cool in ground swimming
pool in the back. He was my only friend in grammar school
that had one.
     The house itself was a white two story house. The front
of the house had a porch overhang that was supported by four
round pillars that were about two feet in diameter. There
were two huge elm trees in the front yard that seemed to
tower over the yard and a small three foot high hedge that
was along the front of the house. The yard was well
maintained, even more then when the McDougal's lived there.
A wooden privacy fence that was covered by ivy surrounded
the backyard. The house had connected to it a large two car
garage.
     The driveway was empty, but I suspected that his mother
might be home so I parked along the street. As I stopped the
car I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. All my life
I never had felt like this going over to see a friend. I
think now it was even worse then seeing him in the hospital.
To be honest I did not know what to do. I had hoped that he
might be gay, but now that it was true it was even scarier
to think about it. Oh well there would be plenty of time to
worry about that. I figured go in there and just hang out.
Just work on the friendship.
     I walked up to the front door. My nerves only got worse
as I walked towards the door. Every step was harder then the
last one. As I got to the door, I reached to push the
doorbell when the door swung open. I was startled by it,
hell I almost jumped, but felt comfortable to see a smiling
Eric in the doorway. Apparently he had been watching for me.
     Damn Eric looked good. He was wearing a loose fitting
black jogging shorts and a white Old Navy tee shirt. He
looked hot even with his injuries. The smile on his face
made my heart beat faster. The bruises on his face look a
little better and he was now just wearing an eye patch over
his eye. This was the first time I had seen him standing and
I had to fight my urge to gawk at him. He was slender with
the athletic build of a swimmer. He was a couple inches
shorter then me. I imagined myself just grabbing him and
kissing those beautiful lips.
     "Hey how goes it Justin?" Eric said excitedly. "I have
been so bored today and I really want to kick your ass in
Halo." He grabbed my arm and drug me into the house before I
could reply.
     "Damn you are excited to get beat by me," I laughed.
"How goes it? Have you started to miss the hospital yet?"
     "Screw that, the hospital sucks. If I see jello ever
again, that would be too soon. I am feeling pretty good, and
now that you are here, things are going awesome."
     I know I blushed infront of him, but he did not say
anything. Although I know he noticed because I could see a
big grin form on his face. "Thanks, don't worry though,
you'll get pretty bored of me soon enough. I am not that
exciting of a person."
     "Nah, I doubt that. You are cooler then you give
yourself credit. " We went into his bedroom. I have to say
that it was a good size bedroom. Growing up, my parents had
a twenty-seven inch television in the living room and that
was the largest one in the house, Eric had a forty-two inch
plasma television in his room. I know that my mouth dropped
open when I saw it. "Damn, that is a fucking awesome
television!"
     Eric laughed at me. "Yeah it is a great tv. My parents
got it for me when we moved here. I think it was a peace
offering for having to move before my senior year. I didn't
ask for it, but I won't complain. It is kind of my pride and
joy why I have been in Tate."
     "I know I wouldn't complain! I don't think I have ever
met anyone with a television that big." I looked back over
to Eric and saw him grinning and blushing at once. God he
was cute.
     The rest of the room was pretty nice. On the wall with
the television was a series of shelves that held a surround
sound system, DVD player, VCR, X-Box, and a Playstation 2.
It looked like he had about sixty or so DVD's and maybe four
dozen video games. He had two large windows and a deck that
looked like it overlooked the pool. Robert's room in the
house was not that big. He had a nice wooden desk with a
desktop computer and a seventeen inch monitor. On the wall
opposite the television he had a queen size bed with sheets
that were a messed up. He had a walk in closet that looked
packed with clothes. I suspected that he easily had more
clothes then Rick and that was a scary thought. The walls
were painted a light blue and he had a soft thick blue
carpet on the floor that was nice enough that I felt bad
about wearing shoes on. It was the type of carpet I expected
in the Cross household.
     "Wow this is a nice room. I am impressed," I patted
Eric on the back.
     "Stop it," He laughed while he kept blushing. "It's ok,
I didn't ask for it, but it is nice. Do you want anything to
drink? My Mom isn't home, so it is just you and I."
     That comment sort of made me nervous. "Nah I am fine. I
might want something to drink later, but not now."
     "Well you up for playing some Halo?" Eric grabbed a
couple of wireless X-Box controllers and leapt onto his bed.
"Kick off your shoes and lets get to killing," He patted the
part of the bed beside him. I paused for a moment to stare
at him lying in his bed. I felt nervous sitting in the same
bed even if we were just playing a video game, but I
composed myself and kicked off my shoes and leapt on the
bed. It really was not that big of a deal. I don't know
while I was so worried about it. If it had been Patrick or
Rick I would not have given that a second thought.
     "Time to kill," Eric declared. He then turned and
reached over to me to get the television remote control on
the bedside table that was on my side. He had to stretch
across me to get to it. I could tell that he was enjoying
this. Hell, I was too. He had to lean up against me to reach
it. His body was warm up against me. I wish it would have
taken him forever to get it, but alas it only lasted a few
seconds. After he grabbed the remote he stayed sitting right
beside me. I think that he might have been waiting for me to
say something, but I was not about to do that. It felt could
to feel his leg against mine and his arm against mine. The
only thing I was nervous about was something in my pants
springing to life. Thankfully I managed to retain control of
myself.
     "You know I am about to define to you a whole new
meaning of slaughter when we start playing." I joked to him.
     "Like hell you will," He playfully punched me. "I am an
expert in ass kicking and you are about to have you first
lesson."
     For the next hour we played Halo. I could tell that I
was out of practice. Eric won the first couple of games but
then I started to get into my old form and started to win.
Although I am not sure if it was because I was actually
getting better or if Eric was just letting me win. My
playing was not helped by the fact that my concentration
could not be focused on the game. Every time Eric move his
arm or leg or even worse when he turned left and leaned his
whole body on me I focused on him. Then there was the fact
that every so often my eyes shifted from the television to
his bare legs. I so wanted to reach over and feel them. I
never really thought about it but I guess I was a leg man. I
just worked to push those thoughts back into my head.
     As we played we talked. For the most part we just trash
talked each other about who was better at Halo, but we did
shift topics a few times. We talked about Eric's parents. I
found out that both of them worked. His father was the chief
engineer at the auto plant in town. That was the reason they
had moved here, he had got a transfer to his current
position. I guess it was an opportunity that he could not
pass up. His Mother was a college professor at Tate
Community College. That was where she was at now. She had a
late afternoon class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
She had been hesitant to go to work, but Eric had said that
he had finally convinced her that he did not need mothering.
I managed to avoid talking about my family and to Eric's
credit he did not ask me about them.
     After we had finished playing Halo, Eric asked me if I
wanted to watch a movie. I was more then willing too. To be
honest, I was not ready to leave anytime soon. If I could
lay here beside Eric forever, I think I would be happy. Alas
though he got up and put the movie High Fidelity in. He then
leapt back into the bed. I figured he might sit farther
apart from me, but no he plopped down in the same spot he
was in when we were playing Halo. He didn't say anything
when he took his spot again and I was not going to mention
it.
     "I love this movie. Jack Black is just hilarious in
it," Eric looked excited to share it with me. "Besides it is
one of those movies that makes want to not waste life away
and make my own way."
     "Really, I haven't seen it, but I love the other movie
Cusack is in, Gross Pointe Blank. Now that was hilarious."
     "Yeah, it is, but it doesn't have the message in it. To
be honest I have missed watching a movie with someone. The
friends I hang out with do not really like sitting around
watching movies. It is not that I don't like to do active
things, but sometimes I just want to sit and watch a movie."
     "I know the feeling. I watch movies all the time," I
replied. "I see that sharing movies with friends is also
sharing something of yourself when it is a movie that you
really like."
     Eric grinned and put his arm around me for a minute. It
felt really good to feel his arm around me. His hand was
soft but with a firm grip. "Wow, I feel the same way. I have
not met anyone else here in Tate that sees things like that.
Next time over here you need to bring or rent a movie that
you like." He slipped his arm off me.
     "Yeah I could do that. I think I am going to be here
for the summer, so after I go back to school on Monday to
take a couple of tests, I will have my DVD's here. There are
a few movies you would like I think."
     "You are going to be here this summer!" Eric's face lit
up. "That is awesome. I thought this was going to be a
boring summer here, but not anymore." It felt good to be
wanted. I guess there was no way I could back out of staying
in Tate for the summer now. I could not let that cute face
down.
     When the main menu came up on the DVD he once again
reached over me to get the DVD remote control. He seemed to
linger over me while he did that. There was a part of me
that really wanted to make a move on him, but I was
terrified to do anything. It was one of those times that I
wish I was more experienced in this type of situation.
Instead I just sat there and took the whole experience in.
He had a cologne on that I could not place the smell, but it
was driving me crazy. At one point he slipped forward and
feel against my chest.
     We settled into watching the movie. I know that I kept
glancing over at Eric. About twenty minutes into the movie,
he seemed to have fallen asleep. He looked so cute sleeping.
I did not think it could get any better then this, but I was
wrong. After about another fifteen minutes he rolled over
and placed his arm over me. His body was warm against me. I
could stay like this forever. He made me feel safe. I think
I had that effect on him too because he seemed to snuggle up
to me.
     I slowly placed my arm around Eric. It felt good to
hold him. It seemed like the world was all good. I knew I
could hold him forever. While I held him I pondered
everything and with Eric here, I thought I could be
comfortable with who I was. It was a good feeling. This day
seemed perfect as sleep soon overcame me.