Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1998 20:38:20 PDT
From: Corey Phoenix <jayzee711@hotmail.com>
Subject: Jared and Christian Part IV: July 11th
The standard disclaimer stuff:
All work on the following pages are fiction. Any similarities to real
people, living or dead in almost completely unintentional (those that
aren't, you know who you are.) The work is copyrighted 1998 by Corey
Phoenix, and may not be re-posted without my express written
consent. Enjoy! :- P
Jared and Christian
Part IV: Morning, July 11th
"Good morning, Mrs. Christy!" Jared shouted as he opened the front
door, walked into the living room of Chris's house and threw his gym bag
on the couch. Mary had given him a key when he and Chris had finished
their junior year. Even though it was barely seven o'clock in the
morning, Jared knew that Mary would be awake, having just gotten James,
Chris's dad, off to work. Chris, on the other hand, seemed inclined to
sleep in as late as possible, wasting valuable
ninety degree temperatures. By noon, it would be over a hundred and any
sort of physical activity except swimming would be out of the question.
"He's still asleep, Jayzee," a male voice came from the kitchen.
Billy was home, for once. "Go ahead and wake up the lazy bum. I tried
to get him up for breakfast, but he mumbled something about partying too
hard, then threw a shoe at me."
Jared turned the corner to the kitchen and saw Billy sitting at the
table reading the paper and Mary washing the dishes. "Partying too hard?
He had two beers. He doesn't know what partying is."
Mary poured a glass of orange juice, which she handed to Jared. "Do
you two have time for breakfast?"
Jared gulped down the juice and shook his head. "No. I got to get
his lazy butt out of bed, then down to Metrocenter. Air Skate's doing a
photo shoot for it's new skateboard. I'm going to be in every skating
mag in America!"
"Cool!" Billy said.
"Well, I better get Chris up."
"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Mary said. "Chris is
always 'up' whenever you're around."
"Aw! Mom! That's gross!" Billy groaned.
Jared laughed, then went down the hall to Chris's room and went in
without knocking. Chris was sprawled out on his stomach, a light sheet
circling his waist, but entirely naked other than that. Quietly, Jared
went over to the bed, climbed on and laid on top of Chris.
Chris sighed contentedly, moving slightly to settle Jared into a
more comfortable position. Jared just lay there, enjoying the feel of
Chris's body under his. Finally, he kissed Chris's ear. "Time to wake
up, sleepy head." he whispered.
Chris groaned and rolled over, sending Jared sliding off and into
the wall. "Um. What a way to wake up," Chris answered, his voice
blurred with sleep. He turned over on his side facing Jared and hugged
him. "We should do that more often."
Jared answered him with a kiss, which Chris pulled away from.
"Don't do that. I haven't brushed my teeth yet."
"I don't care." Jared felt Chris's hand running down his back. "You
better not do that, or we're going to be late."
Reluctantly, Chris let go. "Late? For what? It's summer. We don't
have to go anywhere."
"I've got that photo shoot this morning, remember? Up at Metro."
Jared got up and started going through Chris's dresser. He pulled out a
pair of socks and smiley face boxers, then opened his shirt drawer and
pulled out a white sleeveless t-shirt and tossed them to Chris. Then he
went to the closet and pulled out a pair of jean shorts.
"Oh, yeah. I forgot." Chris got up and stretched, while Jared
admired his hard naked body. Then he slipped on a ragged pair of cut-off
sweat shorts that barely covered anything. "I'll just shower. Give me
ten minutes."
Chris walked out and into the bathroom. Jared followed him out,
then headed for the livingroom. Grabbing the cable remote he sat down on
the couch and started cruising through the stations. He finally stopped
on the X-Men. Even though he'd never told anyone, he had a crush on
Cyclops. He could just hear Chris making jokes about him being in love
with a cartoon. But he had to wonder about the people who drew them.
Almost every cartoon hero wore tights and showed a large bulge to let
you know they were super men in more than one way.
Jared got so engrossed in the cartoon, that he didn't hear Chris
enter the livingroom. Chris paused in the doorway and stared at Jared.
He couldn't believe how lucky he was. Jared was 5'7", three inches
shorter than he was, and their bodies fit together like two pieces of a
puzzle. Jared's platinum blond hair was starting to get longer. *He
needs a hair cut*, Chris thought. Jared's gray eyes were a mirror that
Chris could get lost in forever, when he wasn't distracted by Jared's
cute little pug nose, high cheekbones and full ruby red lips. And since
they had started working out together, Jared had put on some weight, all
muscle, so he no longer looked like a gangly boy who had grown too fast.
Chris felt the tell-tale movement in his jeans and decided to do
something about it. Sneaking up behind Jared, Chris crouched down behind
the couch, then sprang over the back and landed with his head in Jared's
lap, staring up into those gray eyes, a huge smile on his face.
"Hey, good looking," he said in his most seductive voice.
Jared had jumped, startled out of his intense concentration of the
cartoon. When he had regained his composure, he smiled down at Chris.
"Hey yourself, gorgeous." Then he bent over and kissed Chris's lips.
Chris responded by forcing his tongue into Jared's mouth and wrapping
his hands around the back of Jared's head. They were both so caught up
in their mutual lust that neither heard Billy walk in.
"Can't you two control yourselves?" Billy asked sharply, but with a
hint of teasing. Immediately, Jared stood up, blushing a bright crimson.
The sudden movement caused Chris to roll off the couch and land on the
floor. Pulling himself off the floor, Chris glared at Billy.
"Like I never caught you at least fifty times making out with Judy
White."
It was Billy's turn to blush. Chris had surprised him a number of
times while he was making out with his girlfriend. And even though Chris
had never said anything, Billy was sure that Chris had caught them doing
more than making out on a couple of occasions.
"Whatever. Mom wants me to pick up a couple of things from
Metrocenter, so I'll drive you there. Hurry up and get in the car or I'm
leaving you behind."
***** *****
The drive up to the mall was filled with Jared going on about how
cool the photo shoot was going to be and some of the more wild things he
had attempted while skating. Billy was interested in it, being a skater
himself, and kept asking Jared questions, while Chris leaned his head
against the window and yawned. Finally, they pulled up in mall parking
lot. Billy started to ask Jared where the shoot was going to be held,
but stopped, whistling.
"Oh, man! Is all that for you?"
Chris looked over to where Billy was pointing. Half of the parking
lot by the food court was taken up by several tracker trailers, a
half-pipe, quarter-pipe and street course. It looked to Chris like it
was going to be another competition. Jared nodded.
"Yeah. When Air Skate goes out, they really go all out. But I'm
sure that if you want to try it, I could talk them into letting you."
"That would be so cool, but I can't. I really need to get this
stuff done for Mom." Billy pulled up next to one of the trailers and let
Chris and Jared out. As soon as Jared was spotted, he was immediately
surrounded my people. Once he was sure that Jared was out of earshot,
Chris leaned back into the car.
"Thank's for doing this, Billy. It means a lot to me." Chris fished
in his pocket, pulled out a folded sheet of paper and handed it to
Billy.
Billy shrugged and took the paper. "No prob, bro. You'd do the same
for me. How long do you think this is going to take?" He gestured to the
circus that was starting, with Jared in center ring.
"I have no idea. Think an hour and half will be enough?"
"Should be. But to be sure, I'll park down my Macy's, then meet the
two of you at the food court when I'm done. If I'm not done before Jared
is, just wander around the other end of the mall for a little bit, then
check the court."
Chris smiled again at Billy. "Thanks. I owe you one."
Billy laughed. "You owe me a whole lot more than one, bro. But I'm
not counting." Then he pulled away.
***** *****
The shoot only lasted an hour. Jared had spent twenty minutes on
the different courses, doing some very dangerous tricks for the camera.
Chris had counted that the photographer had changed film at least ten
times. For his part, Jared had a perfect skate, never bailing once. When
the photographer decided that he had enough shots, he let Jared go.
Jared walked over to Chris, panting and carrying the new board that
Air Skate had given him. He put the board down, wrapped his arms around
Chris and gave him a kiss, then pulled back. He lifted an arm and acted
like he was smelling his pit, then wrinkled his nose. "Oh, man. I stink.
Why don't you go ahead inside? There's a shower in one of the trailers.
I'll get cleaned up, then meet you at the bakery."
"Okay."
Jared grabbed his gym bag and entered a trailer as Chris headed up
the parking lot of the mall entrance. Once he was inside, he looked
around for Billy. Billy wasn't there yet, so he walked over the bakery
and ordered two coffees and two muffins. Once he got his order, he sat
down and waited for Jared.
Ten minutes later, Jared walked in, dressed in his usual baggy jean
shorts, torn up t-shirt and baseball cap turned backwards. He sat down
across from Chris.
"Thanks, I'm starving!" Jared said as he took a huge bite out of
his muffin, then swallowed about half of the cool coffee. "I guess
Billy's not done yet."
Chris shrugged, trying to act indifferent. "Guess not. After you're
done eating, why don't we check out Van's Skateshop. I've been thinking
about learning to skate, if you'll teach me?"
A huge smile ran across Jared's face. "That'd be awesome. But you
should have said something earlier. I could have gotten you a board for
free during the shoot."
"I just remembered." Actually, Chris had no intention of trying to
learn to skate. He had gotten on Billy's board once and just couldn't
find his balance. He was sure there was no way he could do it. But Van's
was at the other end of the mall from the stores that Billy was at.
Jared finished his breakfast and they got up. On their way to
Van's, they stopped at the book store so Chris could pick up a couple of
the books that were going to be assigned reading Senior year. As they
walked close together, Jared would "accidently" rub up against Chris, or
their hands would meet, and they'd hold hands for a brief second before
letting go so no one would notice.
Once they got to Van's, Jared started showing Chris the different
boards, describing the pros and cons of each board. This one as only
good for street skating, this one was a good demonstration board. That
one just sucked all around. Chris did his best to look interested.
Finally, he shook his head.
"I don't really like any of these. Maybe we should check some of
the other skateshops later."
"Okay."
Christian looked at his watch, they still had ten minutes before
Billy said he'd be done. He looked across the balcony and saw a coffee
shop. "Why don't we get another coffee and hang out for a few minutes?"
They went into the shop. As Chris ordered for both of them, Jared
started looking at the different shaped mugs they had on display. Chris
was pulling out his wallet to pay, when someone bumped into him hard and
he lost his grip on the wallet.
"I'm so sorry," the man who bumped him said as they both knelt down
to pick up the wallet. When Chris touched the wallet, the man put his
hand on top of Chris's. "Billy's done," he whispered quietly. "Meet him
at MacD's in five minutes." Then he let go of Chris's hand and walked
out.
Chris stood up and paid for the coffees. Getting Jared's attention,
he handed one cup of Jared, then they walked out.
"Let's head back to the food court. Billy should be done by now."
Chris told Jared. The boys started back the way they had come, taking
their time.
When they reached the food court, Chris and Jared looked around for
Billy. Jared spotted him talking to a guy who looked like he had just
gotten out of high school a couple of years ago. Jared pointed them out
to Chris. They worked their way through the lunchtime crowd to the table
where the two men were sitting.
"Hey, Chris! You remember Corey, don't you?" Billy said as they
walked up. Chris looked at the man that Billy gestured to, the same one
who had told him that Billy was ready when he bumped into him in the
coffee shop. He looked to be in his early twenties. He had sort
of olive tanned skin that made him look either Hispanic or Italian,
Chris couldn't tell which. Corey's hazel eyes were magnified in thick
glasses. He had short black hair that was all but hidden under a
Diamondbacks baseball cap that was signed by Travis Lee, and several
days growth of stubble. In his right ear, he wore a gold hoop through
the cartilage and a ruby stud in the lower part, then his left ear had
it reversed, with the stud in the cartilage and the hoop in the
lower ear. He was wearing khaki shorts and a Phoenix Coyotes t-shirt.
Chris shook his head. Corey looked familiar, but he couldn't place
where he'd seen him before. "No. I can't say that I do."
Corey smiled. "I didn't really expect you to. The last time I saw
you, you were only four."
That brought it back to Chris. "Uncle Corey?!" He jumped forward
and hugged Corey in a tight bear hug.
Corey's smile widened. "So, you do remember."
Jared looked confused, he thought he had met all of Chris's family.
"You never mentioned you had an uncle Corey."
Chris laughed. "He's not a real uncle. He lived in the same
apartments that you live in a long time ago. He was walking down to the
Circle K one day and saw me trying to play soccer with Billy. God, I
sucked. I tried to kick the ball around Billy, but instead launched it
straight at Corey's head. He caught it, laughed and offered to teach me
how to play. Mom and Dad liked him since he was the only one who was
able to bring me out of my shell. You were what? Twelve at the time?"
"No. I was eighteen."
Jared's jaw hit the table after doing the math in his head. If that
was twelve years ago . . . "Then you mean you're thirty?"
Corey laughed at Jared's disbelief. "Yeah. I'm thirty. I know it's
hard to believe, but looking younger runs in the family. My Mom still
looks like she's in her early thirties and she's almost fifty, then my
younger brothers look like they're fifteen and thirteen, instead of
twenty-one and eighteen."
Chris sat down at the table. "You just disappeared a few months
later. What happened? What are you doing now?"
"Whoa! Whoa! Slow down, Christian. One question at a time. I joined
the Air Force and got stationed in Germany, then I bummed around the
States, doing some writing here and there. Never got anything major
published, though. Just a couple of poems, and an article or two for a
newspaper. Then I came back here. I ran into Billy at Macy's. God, I
thought he was your dad, until I realized he was too young."
Billy smiled. "Yeah. I couldn't believe it. It's so cool to run
into him."
A light went on in Chris's eyes. "Why don't you stop by the house
later, we can catch up?"
A looked passed between Corey and Billy. Corey smiled. "Sounds like
a plan. Besides, Billy's already invited me . . ."
"Jayzee!"
All four of them turned around at the shout. Jared was the first
one to spot the person who had shouted. It was Gordie!
"Gordie!" Jared took off and ran to where Gordie was standing. They
hugged.
Chris felt an unfamiliar feeling gripping his heart. He turned to
Billy and Corey. "Excuse me!" A grim expression on his face, he caught
up with Jared, who had just pulled away from Gordie. Chris put his arm
around Jared's shoulder. "Why don't you introduce us, babe?"
"Sure," Jared said. "Christian, this is Gordie Billingford. Gordie,
this is my friend, Christian Christy."
Gordie put out his hand to Chris. Slowly, Chris took his arm away
from Jared's shoulder and shook it. "Nice to meet you finally, Chris.
Jayzee's told me a lot about you."
"Yeah. He's told me *all* about you, too." Gordie winced at the
coldness of Chris's voice and the implied threat.
Through all of this, Jared was oblivious to everything but the fact
that Gordie was there. "When did you get to Phoenix? How long are you
here for?"
"I'm down here for a month. I told C.J. and everyone that I was
going to Europe for the summer."
"Great!" Jared exclaimed. "Chris has an old friend of his coming
over this evening to talk, so why don't you come over too?"
Chris let go of Jared and walked out the door. When Billy saw
Chris storm out of the mall he followed him. Billy caught up with Chris,
grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
"What's wrong, bro?"
"Him! Gordie!"
"What's wrong with him?"
Chris sat down on the bench. "Gordie's Jared's boyfriend."
Billy sat down next to Chris, a confused look on his face. He was
surprised to see tears in Chris's eyes.
"I thought you were his boyfriend."
Absently, Chris wiped his eyes and sighed. "Gordie was his
boyfriend back in Indiana. They broke up when someone found out that
Jared was gay."
"Hey, now," Billy said gently, "you don't have anything to worry
about, then. Gordie's his ex. It's natural that you feel a little
jealous of him. I felt the same way when I first met Judy's
ex-boyfriend. But once I got to know him, he was a pretty cool guy."
"But did you see the way Jared ran up to him and hugged him? What
if Gordie came down here to get back together with him? And Jared
invited him over tonight."
Billy hugged his brother tightly. "Don't worry, Chris. Everything's
going to work out okay. I promise you."
Okay - I'm gonna stop guessing when the next part's going to be ready.
I guess I just don't work well under a deadline, even a self-imposed
one.
What's Billy and Chris being so secretive about? You'll find out soon
enough. :- P Does Jared still have feelings for Gordie and why is
Gordie in Phoenix? I don't know yet. Gordie's appearance was as big a
surprise to me as I hope it was to you. I'd hate to think that I'm
getting predictable in my writing. And before anyone complains about
the lack of sex in this part, just remember "Make up sex is the best
sex." Now, are Chris and Jared going to make up, or is it
Jared and Gordie? Besides, to me this story has become more than just
something to get people off. I hope it's a good love story, and love
isn't just about sex, even though it is a part of it.
So until next time, take care. As always, comments and suggestions are
welcome at jayzee711@hotmail.com. Flames will be ignored.
Corey