Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 12:49:19 -0800 (PST)
From: Willie Hewes <williehewes@yahoo.com>
Subject: The learning years (6)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

This is part 6, actually, I planned to make it a
little longer, but I've been very busy. Hope you enjoy
it anyway. More next week.

Part 6

Charlie came in, and stopped in the door opening. He looked shocked,
to say the least.
     "What?" I asked innocently. "You think it doesn't suit me?"  I
made a little model-turn. He stared, dumbstruck. "Do you think I
should take it off?" I asked teasingly, and slowly started to undo the
first button.

     That seemed to snap him out of his trance. He came up to me and
took hold of my hands. "No." His voice was soft, but urgent. "Eddy,
wait, I don't want you to misunderstand this, but," he struggled for
the right words, looking away from me. "I don't want to do this, yet."
I think even my toes blushed. I felt terribly embarrassed, and for a
moment, we were both speachless. "Eddy, you're great, you're
wonderful, you're," he pressed my hands to his lips, "the Best Ever,
you hear me?" I nodded, and couldn't help smiling. It didn't matter
anymore that I was embarrassed, this was great. Charlie said, "Ed, I
*want* this, ok? You're not the only one whose sheets are getting
stiffer every day. I want this but I want it to be something..."
     "special," I finished.
     "Yes, and somewhere where we can take our time, and don't have to
worry about, er, people looking in through that window over there,
which they can very easily do, or homeys barging in on us or breaking
houserules or whatever."
     "Houserules?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder at the window.
     "Yeah, rule number one: No Necking in the Fusion."
     "What?"
     "No necking in the fusion. This is the fusion," he said with a
broad gesture, "the living room, the, the rooms we share. And this is
necking." But just before he started his demonstration, he raised his
finger in front of my face. "NO! No, I will not showing what necking
is, 'cause it's against the rules, and you're practically naked, I am
just going to turn around for a moment and let you put on your clothes
again and you better not try anything funny, 'cause we're dealing with
a very delicate equilibrium here. It's pretty hard to say no."
     "I know," I said, looking at his bum, and quickly started to put
on my clothes again.

                                ***

I can't say I wasn't disappointed, but I understood what he was trying
to say, and he had a point, now was perhaps not the best time. We
prepared our dinner together (I peeled the potatoes, he did all the
fancy stuff) and then turned off the lights and ate it by candlelight.
It was great, almost like having dinner at a restaurant, exept that
there weren't any waiters. Charlie had bought a bottle of wine, which
I don't drink very often. It tasted good though, and it was probably
stronger than I thought. And then, somewhere halfway the third glass,
Menno got home.

      He walked into the room and snapped on the lights before he
realised he was an unwanted intruder.
      "Oh," he said loudly when he realised we were both just staring
at him, "You're having some kind of romantic dinner here, are you?"
      "Yes Menno," Charlie said coldly, "as a matter of fact, we are."
      "Oh, I'm sorry, Charles. I guess I'll be out of your way then,"
he said with a wide grin on his pierced lips. His dirty hair drifted
in front of his face.
      "Thank you, Menno," Charlie answered. And he was almost gone,
Menno. He had almost left the room, when he suddenly asked,
      "Hey Charles, aren't you supposed to be at that AMT-meeting
tonight?"
      "I don't think so," Charlie said, suddenly being serious, "why
do you ask?"
      "Well, Einstein, that's where Bart and Bart are gone. I mean, I
don't Know about you, but I Think..."
      Charlie cursed. He jumped up. "What's the date?" he asked.
      "13," I answered. "What's AMT?"
      "Er, something pretty important. I'm sorry." He looked like he
meant it. "I have to go there. You can... you can stay here, if you
want to, I'll only be gone for an hour, tops."
      Menno checked his watch. "You've got 15 minutes to get to the
science park. I wish you Good Luck."
      "Yeah, that's ok," I said to Charlie. He gave me a quick kiss,
and then dashed out. Menno zapped on the TV.