Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 07:45:29 -0800 (PST)
From: Already Chosen <alreadychosen06460@yahoo.com>
Subject: Who Would Have Thought 9

This is a story about two college guys who fall for one another.  If you
are offended by two guys being in a relationship, having sex etc. don't
read it.  If you are under 18 don't read it.  If it is illegal to read this
in your state, don't read it.

For those of you who can read this enjoy!

Who Would Have Thought
Chapter 9
By Already Chosen

I got home Sunday evening still as happy as could be.  Aidan really liked
me and I really liked him.  I thought he was going to be around forever.  I
knew though, that I still had some things to deal with, mainly my parents
and Phoenix.  I knew I was going to have to ask them if Aidan could stay
with us and I knew it was going to be a battle to get them to agree.  I
figured the best way to deal with it was to just get it out of the way and
ask them.  I went strait to the family room when I got home.

"Hi guys.  I'm home."

They both kind of grunted their hellos.  I knew they were pissed off at me
for going to Boston, but they could have been a little nicer.

"Ummmm, I need to ask you guys something."

"What do you need Adam?" came from my father.

"Well, I want to know if Aidan can stay here next weekend?"

"What?" was the reply from my mother.  "You want us to let your boyfriend
stay with us for the weekend?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm asking."

"No Adam.  Absolutely not," was my father's answer.

"Why not?  If I was asking for a girl to stay with us for the weekend you
wouldn't have a problem with it."

"That's right," he said, "because that is normal."

"The word "normal" set me off.  "You know what?  The two of you pretend to
be okay with who I am and the fact that I'm gay, but obviously you're not.
You use the word normal in your terms.  What you have to remember is that I
have determine normal for myself.  I have no role models; I have no social
norms to go by.  I have to make it all up for myself.  Here I am trying to
develop a healthy relationship with a really nice guy, who if he wasn't
gay, the two of you would love, and all you want to do is hinder that.  I
need this.  I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life, and if the
two of you continue to disregard my feelings and the fact that I love men,
not women, I am going to be alone for the rest of my life.  Don't you think
I want what everyone else wants?  I want to bring my partner home for
Christmas, I want to share family things with him, but that is never going
to happen because you can't accept me and you certainly won't ever accept
whoever I'm with."

I knew it was melodramatic, but I stormed off to my room nonetheless.  I
felt it was the thing to do.  I slammed my door and plopped down on my bed.
I felt somewhat relieved that I had stood up to them.  I didn't think they
realized how important it was to me not to be alone in life and I felt like
my final statement had conveyed that to them.  Now I just hoped it would
work.  I hoped they would cave in and let Aidan stay with us.  If not, I
would get us a hotel or something.  I was still sitting on my bed thinking
about what I was going to do with Aidan this weekend, when my phone rang.
I was expecting it to either be Aidan or Zoe, so I was really surprised
when I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Phoenix.  I let it ring
a couple more times before I answered.  It was bitchy, but I wanted to make
him sweat a little.  I was still really mad at him.

"Hello," I answered in a not-so-nice tone.

"Hey."

"Hey."  I wasn't going to be the first one to speak.  He was the one who
called; I felt it only fair that he break the ice.

"So, uh, I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have been so judgmental of you or of
Aidan.  I don't even know the kid.  I know I haven't made life easy for you
in the last couple of months and I shouldn't have added to it by being such
a bitch.  The truth is, I want you to be happy and I want you to find the
perfect guy.  I guess I'm a little bit jealous."

"Jealous of what Phoenix?"

"Everything.  The way you guys met, the fact that I wasn't with you and
didn't get to go to Provincetown, the fact that I have to share you."

"I can't feel bad for that Phoenix.  You don't want to be with me and
that's fine because you know what?  I don't want to be with you.  I really
want to be with Aidan.  Some changes are going to be happening Phoenix and
I don't know if you are going to like them, but if you are my friend, as
you claim to be, you have to just be happy for me and let me enjoy this.  I
don't know where this is going to go, but judging from this past weekend
and the phone conversations we had all week, I think it is going to go
somewhere good."

"Well, that's good.  I'm happy for you."

"No you're not, but I expect you to at least be civil and get over your
jealousy."

"I'll try."

"Good.  Actually, there is something else I have to tell you.  He's coming
down here this weekend to visit."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Where's he gonna stay?"

"Hopefully here.  I just had a fight with my parents about it, but I'm
hoping they are going to cave and respect the fact that I like him a lot
and would like him to be a part of my life."

"What do you think they're gonna do?"

"Well, based on the little tirade I gave them, I think they will let him
stay.  I hope they will anyway and hopefully they will be nice to him."

"Do I get to meet him?"

"I don't know.  Are you going to be nice to him?"

"Come on Adam, do you really think that I am that big of an asshole?"

"No, but I need to be sure that even if you don't like him, you won't make
him feel completely uncomfortable."

"I promise I won't make him uncomfortable."

"Thank you.  But, I have to go, I still have work to do for class tomorrow
and if I don't get it done I'm screwed."

"Alright.  I'll talk to ya tomorrow then."

"Alright, bye."

I hung up the phone feeling a little bit better about the Phoenix
situation, although I wasn't completely at ease.  I felt like something bad
could definitely happen.  I just had to trust Phoenix to be on his best
behavior and not let his jealousy take over.

The next thing I did was call Zoe and let her know that Aidan would be
here over the weekend.  She was ecstatic she went on and on about how she
couldn't wait to meet him and how we were all going to have such a good
time.  I finally got her to shut up and told her I had to go and do work.
I was really going to call Aidan, but a little white lie never hurt anyone
right?

I dialed his number and waited impatiently.  He answered on the second
ring.

"Hello."

"Is this the sexiest man on earth?"

"No, he actually left about 4 hours, is there a message I can get to him?"

"You jerk," I laughed, "you were supposed to take the compliment, not turn
it back around on me."

"Well, you are the sexiest man on earth."  I could hear the smile on his
face.

"Dammit, won't you ever just let me give you a complement?" I asked mock
angry.

"No," was his simple answer.

"Well alright then; I guess that's that."

"Did you tell your parents I was coming next weekend?"

"Yeah, they didn't take it so well.  I think we are probably going to have
to stay in a hotel for the weekend, which is fine with me.  We don't have
to be quiet so they don't hear us," I said wickedly.

"I'm sorry it didn't go better."

"Don't be sorry Aidan.  Eventually they will realize that my being gay is
not going to change.  Until then, I will adjust my life accordingly."

"But you shouldn't have to adjust your life.  They should just accept you
for you and not worry about the unimportant little details like being gay.
I never realized how lucky I was to grow up in New York City and have
progressive parents.  My being gay was never an issue.  In fact, my mother
asked me if I was gay, I didn't even have to volunteer the information."

"I wish my life could be that easy, but its not, so I guess I will have to
just deal."

"Someday, I'm going to take you away from all this crap, I promise.  You
won't ever have to deal with stupid shit and ignorance."

"Aidan, that is so sweet."

"I mean it Adam, I won't have you being miserable.  You're far too cute to
be miserable about anything."

"Where did you come from?"

"What?" he asked sounding somewhat confused.

"Where did you come from?  I mean you are the closest thing to perfect I
have ever met in my life.  How did you end up like that?"

"Trust me, it took a lot of soul searching and a lot of mistakes to end up
where I am now.  When I was still living in New York, I did a lot of things
I'm not exactly proud of, but everything I did definitely made me the
person I am today."

"What could you have possible done that was so bad?"

"Well, I slept around a lot, and did plenty of drugs, and partied like
there was no tomorrow.  Luckily nothing awful ever happened to me and I
managed to not get any diseases, or get seriously hurt, but one morning I
woke up next to some guy.  I didn't know his name, I had no idea how I met
him and I had no idea where I was and no idea what I had done.  I woke him
up and he told me I was in Connecticut, that we had taken the train back
there after meeting at Exit."

"What's Exit?"

"It's a club, probably the most famous gay club in New York.  I can't
believe you've never heard of it.  Anyway, I freaked out, got my clothes on
and walked out of this guy's apartment.  I had no idea what to do or how to
get to a train station so I could go home.  I just started walking and
eventually I ran into a woman who told me where I could get the train.  The
moment I got on that train, I vowed to myself that I would never do
anything like that again.  From that point on, I have made major changes
and lived my life much better than I ever thought I could."

"Thank you," was all I could say.

"Thank you for what?"

"For being so honest with me.  I couldn't ask for anything more from you.
I feel like you have let me in to a place that was very hard for you to go
back to.  It just makes me feel important.  I feel like you value me enough
to tell me your darkest secrets."

"You are that important.  Adam, I have never felt like this before.  I've
never been so completely enthralled with a person before in my life.
You're all I think about. I already hate that we are so far apart from one
another and we've only known each other for a week."

"Aidan, you're wonderful."

"Not half as wonderful as you."

We chatted for a few more minutes, but ended our conversation soon after,
both feeling content and comforted in one another's voices.  I went to bed
happy again.  Despite everything that had happened between my parents and
me, I was feeling great.

The next day I went to school and sat through the usual mindless tasks, but
I couldn't get my mind off of Aidan.  I had a half hour break, so I took
out my cell phone to see if I had any messages.  The phone blinked
indicating that I had messages waiting in my mailbox.  I dialed my password
and waited for the message to start.

"Hey Adam it's Aidan, I was just thinking about you and wanted to leave you
a message letting you know I miss you.  I'll talk to you later."

I was beaming.  There is nothing else that could be said about that moment.
I was thrilled.  I was awoken from my daze of joy by Phoenix.

"Adam, Adam, ADAM!"

"What?" I asked completely startled.

"Where were you just then?"

"Just thinking about Aidan.  He left me the cutest message, just to tell me
he missed me."

"Can I puke now or should I hold it till later?"

"Fuck you."

"Come on, let's go get coffee."

We went to the student center and got coffee and then sat down.  It was
nice.  We just had a normal talk.  There was no tension.  It was the first
time it had been like this in a long time.  I felt like everything was
returning to normal, but better than normal, everything was happy.

We went our separate ways about 20 minutes later agreeing to meet later
that night for a drink or something.  I finished my classes and was
dreading going home.  I knew it was not going to be a pleasant place to be.

When I got there I was surprised.  Both of my parents were in a good mood.
I felt like they were going to ambush me.  We sat down to dinner and I
could tell they had something to say.

My mother started.  "Adam, we want to talk to you about something."

"I'm listening."

"Well, we thought about what you said last night, and if this boy is really
that important to you, I guess we have to make an effort.  I'm not saying
it's going to be easy, but I think that we need to try and see this from
your perspective.  So, we have decided to allow Aidan to stay here this
weekend."

"You're kidding me right?"

"Nope not kidding at all," my father interjected, "we are going to try and
be supportive."

"Thank you both so much, you have no idea what this means to me."  They
both just smiled.  I could tell they were nervous and really didn't know
what to expect, but I knew Aidan would be charming and polite and that they
would be impressed with him.

Right after dinner I called Aidan and we made arrangements for him to come
on that Friday.  He would arrive early in the afternoon since I only had
one morning class.  I gave him directions and we chit chatted for a while
and then I remembered I had to go meet Phoenix for a drink.  We said our
goodbyes and then I headed off to the bar.

It was an uneventful evening.  We had a couple of beers, smoked some
cigarettes, and played pool.  It was really nice, we hadn't done anything
in a long time, and there was no tension.  I filled him in on my parents
and Aidan and he seemed truly pleased for me.  By the time the night ended,
I was on cloud 9.  Everything was perfect.

The rest of the week went by peacefully albeit slowly.  It felt like all I
did was wait for Aidan to arrive.  I just wanted to see him and hug him and
hold him.  At the same time though, I was scared to death.  My parents were
going to meet him.  Who knew what they would do or say and Phoenix, he was
an even bigger worry.  He said he was happy for me and he would behave, but
I knew what could happen.

Friday finally arrived.  My nerves were completely on edge.  Aidan would be
arriving at my house in a matter of hours.  I felt like I was so
unprepared, not that there was anything I could really do to prepare.  I
must have smoked 2 packs of cigarettes just waiting for him nervously.

I got home from school at noon and took a quick shower.  Aidan was leaving
Boston at 9 so I expected him around one.  I got out of the shower and
dressed quickly in a cute little outfit that I hoped he would be impressed
with.  After I got dressed, I sat around for a little while longer trying
to busy myself, but nothing really worked.  I just fidgeted.

About five after one I heard a car in the driveway.  I jumped up and looked
out the window and there was Aidan.  God, he was so beautiful.  He got out
of his car looking calm and confident.  He knew what this weekend meant to
me, but he didn't let the pressure get to him.  He remained calm.  Thank
God one of us could do that.

I ran out the front door and down to the driveway.  I practically bowled
him over, picked him up, spun him around, and gave him the biggest hug I
could muster.  I was so happy to see him.

"Well, someone is mighty excited."

"I couldn't wait any longer," I said with a sheepish grin on my face, "I'm
so happy you're here.  Come on in, I'll show you around the house."  I took
him on the grand tour.  I showed him the living room; dining room, family
room, kitchen, my room, my parent's room, but I saved the best for last.  I
took him through the family room, out the French doors to the patio.

"And this is the hot tub."  He just looked up at me with a little grin and
a look in his eyes.  "You wanna go in?"

"I thought you would never ask."

We got naked right there and jumped in.  We enjoyed each other for an hour
or two in the tub.  We kissed caressed, laughed, played, tickled and just
had fun.  We were both giggling like 13-year-old girls.  We finally decided
to get out around 3 and headed to my room to dry off.

We got to my room and kissed and played around a little more, but kept it
to a minimum.  My parents would be home from work soon and that wasn't the
kind of impression we wanted to make on them.  Instead we decided to just
relax and watch a movie.  We put The Broken Hearts Club in and sat back to
watch.  The next thing I knew it was 5 o'clock.  Aidan and I had fallen
asleep.  I panicked for a second, wondering if my parents had come in and
seen us.  I got up and headed towards the kitchen.  It appeared as though
neither of them were home.  I decided I would take advantage of that.  I
raided the refrigerator and the cabinets and decided to make a nice dinner
for all of us.

Aidan came in a couple of minutes later and started helping me.  I felt so
domestic.  It was really nice to have my boyfriend by my side, in my house,
helping me make dinner.  I could get used to this.  We were working on a
salad when I heard the garage door.  It was both of my parents.  I turned
around nonchalantly; I didn't want to make a bigger production of
introductions than was absolutely necessary.

"Well, what's going on in here?" my mom asked.

Aidan answered, "Nothing much really, we decided to make dinner."

"Isn't that nice," my mother answered with a warm smile, "I'm Jane, Adam's
mother, and this is my husband Paul."

"Very nice to meet you both," Aidan said shaking both their hands.

This was good.  It wasn't all that awkward and my parents really were
trying to be good and make nice with him.

"Aidan, why don't you come in the family room with us.  We'd like to get to
know you a little bit," my father said as I continued cooking.

Aidan followed them into the family room.  I tried to eavesdrop, but it
wasn't working all that well. I just hoped they weren't saying something
awful to him.  At that moment I heard a roar of laughter from all three of
them.  Things were looking up; laughter is always good.

"What's so funny in there?" I yelled from the kitchen.

"Oh, you're parents were just telling me a funny story about you when you
were a baby...Stinkweed."  "Ha, ha, ha," was the only reply I could come up
with for the divulgence of my childhood nickname.  I felt myself turning a
deep shade of crimson.  "Dinner's ready, if the three of you can pry
yourselves away from making fun of me."

We sat down to dinner and it was great.  The food was wonderful, if I do
say so myself, my parents were pleasant, and Aidan shined.  We were all
laughing and just having a good time.  I couldn't have thought that it
would work out this well.  I really had no idea that my parents could step
up to such a challenge and be gracious, kind, and actually enjoying
themselves.  After dinner, Aidan and I excused ourselves and headed to my
room to get ready.  We were meeting Phoenix and Zoe at a local pub for a
couple of beers.

The nerves that I had about Aidan meeting my parents began to rear their
ugly head again at the thought of Aidan meeting Phoenix.  I wasn't worried
about Zoe.  She knew I was happy and was happy for me.  But Phoenix, I
knew he was going to be tough.  He said he would be well behaved but
something inside of me didn't believe him.

When we got there, the two of them were already sitting at a table chatting
away about something mindless.  When we came into view Zoe jumped out of
her chair and came running over.  She grabbed Aidan into a huge hug.  He
was a little taken aback, but recovered quickly.

"Oh my gosh Aidan, it is so nice to meet you.  I have heard so much about
you."

"Nice to meet you too...I think," was his reply.

"I'm a little nuts don't worry about me," Zoe said, "You'll come to
realize I'm really affectionate and easily excitable."

"I'll keep that in mind," Aidan smiled.

We walked over to the table.  Phoenix was sitting there nursing his beer.
I was praying that he wouldn't be an asshole.  It turned out that he was
very polite.  He got up, shook Aidan's hand, and introduced himself.

We ordered a round of drinks and began talking about everything.  Aidan fit
in perfectly.  He made jokes, and talked to Zoe and Phoenix like they
were old friends.  It was really great.  Even Phoenix was pleasant.  We
closed the bar that night and we still weren't ready to leave.
Reluctantly, we got up and headed to our cars.  We made plans to go out to
a club the next night, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

When we got back to my house we were both really tired and headed strait
for my room.  We made slow passionate love that night.  We took time to
explore each other's bodies.  I wanted to memorize every part of Aidan, and
I think I did that night.  I went to sleep in bliss.  That seemed to be
happening a lot lately.