Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 21:36:18 +1000
From: Mark Peters <mp_ponyboy@hotmail.com>
Subject: After We Danced - Part 9

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Dear Reader: Well, I know that you have all been eager for this part to
arrive, so here it finally is...as promised. As always, it is mainly thanks
to the encouragement that I have continued to receive from you peoples out
there that has enabled me to continue. In particular I owe some of you BIG
TIME, so a special thanks to my regulars...Bren, Rick, Cam, Sam, Peter,
John, Cy, Jim, Danny, Matt (all three of you), Dave, Nick and anyone else
who has ever written to me (I know there are others I should have
mentioned, but hey...its getting late -- sorry guys).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this continuation of the story.


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Legal Stuff: The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual
acts. Don't read this story if: You are not 18 or over, OR, if it is
illegal to read this type of material where you live, OR, if you don't want
to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex.

The author retains copyright to this story. Placing this story on a web
site or reproducing this story for distribution without the author's
permission is a violation of that copyright. If you would like to respond
to the story, make suggestions or other constructive' comments or advice
may be sent to: mp_ponyboy@hotmail.com. All e-mails will be answered.


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After We Danced - Part Nine

by

Mark Peters



- Chapter One -

As the magpies sang in the trees on this glorious morning, and the sun
climbed gradually higher in the sky, the three of us just stood around the
back of the car, numb with shock at the thought that someone could be as
callous as this.

None of us seemed to quite know what it was that we should do next, so none
of us did anything.

The words we were staring at almost jumped off the back of the car, as if
they were saying, "Here we are, you poofters! Now, what are you going to do
about us?"

We all wished that we knew.

Finally it was Matt's father that made a move, leaving Matt and I and
walking across towards the garage workshop, where all the tools and paints
and polishes were kept.In the few minutes that he was gone, all that either
of us managed to say was, "Who", and "Why".

"Well boys, it isn't going to clean itself", Matt's father said to us as he
handed us rags and a can of Prepsol - which was a fairly good quality paint
thinner.

Matt took the lid off the can and we were immediately hit by the strength
of it's fumes, even allowing for the fact that we were outdoors and there
was a slight breeze blowing, which ordinarily would carry the fumes away.

"Assholes", Matt said as he started rubbing at the pink paint with the
soaked rag. "Just wait until I get my hands on them."

I picked up another rag and soaked it in the strong liquid as well, then
started working on the other side. After a few minutes we had barely even
smudged the bright pink surface. It looked as if it may have dried already.

I stopped and stood up, wiping the sweat that had quickly built up on my
forehead.

"Don't stop, Luke", Matt said. "We've got to get it off."

I looked over at Matt's father, who was standing there with his arms folded
across his chest. He simply shrugged his shoulders when I looked at him, so
once again I bent over and dutifully started rubbing.

"It's got to come off", I could hear Matt saying quietly. "It's got to."

At this point, Matt's father walked off towards the house, saying, "Be back
in a little while", over his shoulder as he walked away.

I kept on rubbing, as hard as I could, but it looked like the offending
paintwork had dried and was now stuck fast. It was going to take more than
just some paint thinner to fix this one.

A few minutes later I stood up once again and stretched, trying to iron out
the kink in my back. Matt just glanced at me and kept going.

I looked closely at what we had both done, but honestly, the only
difference I could see between now and when we had started was that we had
managed to remove the thin spray from around the edges of the
lettering. Apart from that, nothing appeared to be happening at all, the
lettering was still as bright and bold as it had been when we first found
it.

"Matt, it isn't working mate", I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

He quickly pushed my hand away.

"We've got to keep going", he said. "It has to come off."

I tried again, and started rubbing once more at the paint. I looked up at
Matt a couple of times; his eyes were set in a steely glaze. Determination
was etched into his features.

"It's got to come off", he kept repeating. "It has to."

I wasn't sure if he was talking to me, or to himself, but he kept saying
those same words over and over again.

"It's not working mate", I said to him, again.

"I'm not stopping", he said, almost snapping at me. "It's got to come off."

"Yeah, but it's not going to come off this way", I said.

"It has to", he almost cried. "It has to."

"Matt", I said forcefully, rapidly becoming exasperated with him. "Listen
to me. It's not going to come off. Not like this."

Once again, I put my hand on his shoulder. And once again, he pushed me
away.

"Keep going", he said to me. "We've got to keep trying."

"We are going to have to try another way", I said, trying to reason with
him.

"We can't stop", he said.

"Matt!", I said loudly, reaching down and grabbing him firmly by both
shoulders.

This time he didn't push me away. He stopped rubbing at the paintwork and
his hand dropped away from the car.

Finally, he stood up and faced me. I could see the pain in his eyes. He was
near to crying, but he was trying to be strong.

"How else can we get it off?", I asked him.

He simply shook his head.  I wanted to slap his face to get him to snap out
of this morose frame of mind that he had descended so quickly into, but I
knew that I wouldn't be able to do that. More to the point I knew that I
couldn't do that.

"Come on Matt, think about it", I said to him, trying to keep his mind
focused on the job we were trying to do and not let him get too emotional.

"I can't think", he said. "All I want to do is punch someone."

"Well just make sure it isn't me", I said. "When we find out who did it you
can go for it as far as I'm concerned."

"Yeah. I think I will", he responded.

"That's better", I said. "Now, how else can we get this off?"

He was silent for a moment, then said, "Paint Stripper. A sander, maybe."

"Alright, now we're thinking", I said. "You got either of those?"

"We've got a sander", he answered. "It's just a little hand held orbital
job. Should do the trick though, I think."

"Alright", I said. "You going to go and get it?"

Just as he was about to answer, we heard the sound of someone walking down
the driveway, and we both looked up to see J.D. and Ox walking towards us.

When they noticed the pile of rags and the can at our feet, they both
looked from that, to us, and then to the car.

When their eyes settled on the writing they both said, "Holy, fuck", at the
same time.



- Chapter Two -

As Ox squatted down by the car, running his fingertips over the bright pink
paint, tracing the outline of the letters, J.D. asked, "Who do you reckon
did this?"

The three of us were just standing there looking at the car, with our arms
folded, watching Ox. In answer to J.D.'s question, both Matt and I simply
shook our heads.

"I suppose it could have been anyone, really", Matt finally said. "There
would be enough sick bastards out there now who would know about Luke and
me and would get a kick out of this. If I find out who though, I'll give
them all the kick they want."

"When did it happen?", Ox asked, looking up at us from where he was
crouched down behind the car.

"Last night, while we were at the cinema, we think", I answered.

"So, what now?", asked J.D.

I looked at Matt, who I could see was deep in thought.

"Well, I can't afford to get the whole boot re-sprayed, so I guess I'll
just have to patch it up as best I can, myself, for now", he finally said.

"We'll help", Ox said.

For the first time since early that morning, Matt smiled. I noticed how
quickly his whole demeanor had changed once we got him talking, and I
smiled too.

"Thanks", he said to Ox. "I appreciate it."

"How about we mask off the top, right along this edge", J.D. said, as he
ran his finger along where the top of the panel bent over and dropped down
almost vertical, to where the words were painted. "Then we sand this whole
part back smooth, prime it and then paint it black again. It's only about
six inches by about four feet. We'll have it all finished today."

"Sounds too easy", Ox said.

"Yeah, that is too easy", Matt answered. "But he's got the right idea at
least.  It'll take more than just today to finish it though, because each
coat has to be dried and then sanded smooth before the next coat is
applied. Besides, I don't have a spray gun. I'll have to ring Phil and get
him to help. At least I've got some primer and paint that was left over
from when we first did the job."

"How many coats of paint altogether?", I asked, not really being up to
speed with the finer points of automotive repairs and spray painting.

"I'm not sure exactly, but it will probably take a couple of coats of
primer, at least, then at least a couple of coats of paint, probably more,
to get a finish that looks sort of close to the rest of the car. At least
it is only a relatively small area."

"OK, lets get stuck into it. It's not going to fix itself", J.D. said.

"Where's that sander?", I asked Matt.

"In the garage", he said, almost laughing. "Let's back the car in so we can
work on it."



- Chapter Three -

It didn't take us long to get the first part of the job done, once we had
set our minds to it. Ox and J.D. started covering all of the back end of
the car with old newspapers and masking tape, intending to leave just one
black panel with bright pink lettering exposed, measuring about six inches
high by four feet wide.

While they did that I went into the flat and retrieved Matt's mobile phone,
so we could ring Phil and ask him to come over. Just as I got back to them
with the phone, it rang in my hands.

"Hello", I said, answering it on about the third ring.

I could hear someone breathing on the other end, but no one answered me.

"Hello, who's there?", I asked again. Then it went dead.

I looked at Matt and just shrugged my shoulders, saying, "No one there", as
I handed it to him.

He shrugged, then simply dialed Phil's number, heading outside into the
morning sun to talk to him while we finished the masking job.

He was smiling when he came back into the garage a few minutes later. We
looked up and noticed him standing there just staring at us with this huge
grin on his face.

"Well, this isn't going to be the best job ever seen, but it will have to
do", he said.

"Don't worry about it", J.D. said. "It'll be perfect."

"Of course it will", Matt said, walking over towards the workbench. "I
shouldn't doubt you like that."

As Matt walked past, J.D. feigned a jab at him, which Matt quickly
sidestepped, spinning around, and offering three quick air jabs in return.

J.D. grabbed at his stomach and took three very artistic steps backwards,
staggering up against the wall, his face contorted in mock pain, as if he
had just been laid out by Mike Tyson.

"Very nice dive", Ox said to him, clapping his efforts. "Maybe we should
get you a job in the ballet?"

We all laughed at them, as Matt quickly installed a new sanding pad onto
the sander and plugged it in.

We then all stood back as he turned it on, I guess we were expecting
something loud and obnoxious to start up. Instead we got little more than a
quiet hum.

Matt pulled a facemask on and then turned his attention to his beloved car.
He ran is hand gently over the car, almost as if he were apologising to the
vehicle for what he was about to do, then carefully brought the sander down
onto it's target.

It didn't take long for the black and pink paint that had adorned the back
of Matt's vehicle to disappear, being replaced by the dull grey of the
primer underneath, now seeing daylight for the first time in months.

He didn't take it right back to bare metal, just far enough to ensure that
all of the black and pink from the unmasked area was gone. It simply meant
that we wouldn't need as many coats of primer, he told us, and no one
argued with him. He was the only one amongst us who had any idea about what
he was doing.

Phil arrived just as Matt turned off the sander and started wiping down the
panel with a rag soaked in Prepsol, nodding his approval as he ran his hand
over Matt's handy work.

"Good job", Phil said.

Matt beamed.

"So, what's next?", J.D. asked.

"Well, this needs to be washed thoroughly then allowed to dry, then this
afternoon, if we are lucky, we'll be able to hit it with the first coat of
primer", Phil answered.

Matt threw J.D. a clean rag and a bottle of car wash. "You wanted to help",
he said. "Your turn now."

J.D. mumbled something to him about didn't he hear that slave labour was
outlawed in this country, but went off in search of a bucket.

"Well little cousin", Phil says. "It looks like you have everything under
control here. You right with the painting this afternoon?"

"I think so", Matt answered.

"Good. Well come on, we better get the spray kit from my car", he said,
playfully grabbing Matt around the throat and dragging him, struggling, out
of the garage.

Ox and I followed them both outside, into the sunlight, watching them as
they continued to wrestle, much like a couple of school kids...or lovers.

Then I suddenly remembered that they had been lovers, and as I watched them
groping each other I felt these strange and unfamiliar pangs of, dare I say
it, jealousy, rising up within me.

Watching them like that, with their bodies rubbing together, their hands
all over each other, trying to pin each other to the ground, I suddenly
wanted Phil to stop it. I wanted them both to stop it. I wanted Phil to
leave Matt alone. He was mine. And mine alone. Didn't he know that?, I
thought.

I looked at Matt and could see the outline of his cock in his jeans. This
was getting him excited.

"Come on. Knock it off, you guys, before you make total fools of
yourselves", I said to them both, trying to make it sound as reasonable as
possible.

Just then, Phil looked up at me, grinning broadly.

"What's wrong with you?", he asked. "Scared you're going to miss out or
something?"

I laughed at him. "Yeah, right."

He released Matt and then pulled him to his feet. They were both facing me,
then they started advancing towards me, with both of their faces contorted
with an expression I couldn't quite make out. It was something that was
somewhere between the look that a kid gets when he's been caught with his
hand in the cookie jar, and the look that a villain gets when he is about
to commit the perfect crime. A glassy eyed grin, mixed with steely
determination. Knowing and dangerous.

I started backing away from them, thinking that this did look dangerous,
and after that they both soon grabbed me, quickly picking me up and
stepping forwards until I was pinned, quite forcefully, against the garage
wall.

"Come on, guys", I pleaded. I was half scared, yet at the same time I was
half excited, at the thought of these two gods rubbing their bodies up
against mine like this.

I managed to glance across at Ox, who looked like he was blushing, or was
it that he was getting hot at the thought of this? I don't know, but he
looked like he was enjoying it anyway. He hadn't left, anyway.

Someone's hand, which had been on my leg, suddenly slipped up inside my
thigh. I looked down and saw it wasn't Matt's.

I looked into Phil's eyes and could see a fire in there that I had never
seen in them before. I looked at Matt and found his expression to be
exactly the same.

He was enjoying this. They were both enjoying this.

Suddenly the hand moved again, sliding upwards.

Surely not?, I thought. Not out here, in the middle of the yard? Not in
broad daylight? Not with, oh so straight Ox, looking on?

I felt myself growing hard. I didn't want this to happen. Or did I? Anyway,
struggling was useless. I just closed my eyes and waited. Oh, well, I might
as well just enjoy it.

Then someone's lips met mine. I opened my eyes to see that it was
Matt. That was a relief, at least.

Then the hand, Phil's hand, reached my groin and started massaging me,
slowly.  This was just too much, I thought. For fuck sake Phil was supposed
to be engaged. And Matt was helping him! What was going on here?

I quickly looked around and couldn't see Ox anywhere. I figured it must
have gotten a bit too much for him. I just closed my eyes again.

Just then we were all brought crashing back to earth, as a bucket of cold,
soapy water was thrown over us.

"What the fuck is going on here?", J.D. asked, as we separated, laughing
and trying to shake off the water. "And why the fuck wasn't I invited?"



- Chapter Four -

After we had dried off, and Phil had left, we all decided to head down to
MacDonalds for lunch, with the four of us squeezing into Ox's mother's car.

It was Sunday and it was quiet, and we found a cosy corner booth and
retreated into it.

"So, what the fuck, exactly, was that this morning?", J.D. asked us, just
before he took his first bite of his burger.

The three of us just blushed. Ox especially.

"And what the fuck were you doing watching it?", he asked him, jabbing him
in the shoulder at the same time. "You're the only straight one here! You
ain't going dodgy too, are you?"

Ox buried his face into his burger, staying silent.

We all just looked at him.

Nah, couldn't be?, I thought.

We ate in silence for a little while, then Matt asked, "So where is Dwayne
today?"

"His place, I suppose", he said, rather indifferently.

We all picked up on the vibe and our heads snapped towards him.

"What?", he said to us, looking from one to the other, sounding as if he
didn't care, but we all knew differently. We could hear it in his voice.

"What's going on?", Matt demanded.

J.D. just shook his head.

"Come on, give", I demanded.

He took another bite of his burger.

"You're not getting away with it that easily", Matt said to him.

He glanced at each of us, and saw that each of us wanted an answer. We all
sat there, waiting. When he had finished chewing and then swallowed a
mouthful of Coca-Cola, he finally spoke.

"We had a fight", he said quietly. "Now, are you satisfied?"

"Hardly", Matt answered. "What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. It's too late to do anything now, anyway."

"Bull shit!", Matt said. "I know that you fancy him. More than fancy him
actually. Why aren't you around there trying to work things out?"

"Just leave it, OK, Matt?"

Matt shook his head. "Can't do that", he said.

J.D. just glared at him.

"So, what happened?", I asked him.

He was quiet for a minute, then finally answered.

"We had an argument, about his work. I told him he takes it too seriously,
or something like that, because he didn't want to go out anywhere on Friday
night. He said he had to finish off some job or other."

I had to think for a minute. Friday night. Shit, New Years Eve. How could I
forget that?

"Well, we didn't go anywhere special either", I said to him. "We can't
party every night you know?"

"And I doubt if Dwayne could either", Matt added. "It is his job, his work
after all, and if something needs to be done on time, then I supposed he
has to do it."

J.D. was quiet. We hoped he was taking this in.

"What did you say to him?", I asked.

"I told him he was selfish."

"And what did you do?", asked Ox.

"Went out to a party", he answered, rather sheepishly.

"And did you go back there after the party?", Matt asked.

J.D. just shook his head.

"Have you been back there at all since then?", I asked.

Once again, he shook his head.

"Then what the fuck are you doing here?", Matt demanded. "Get your ass back
over there and say you were sorry."

"I...I...don't think I can", he answered. "It's too late."

"It's never too late. You get over there and fix things. Or do you want us
to fix things for you?", Matt said to him.

"I suppose you're right...again", he finally said.

"Good, now lets get going", he said, half pushing me off the seat as he w
as going.



- Chapter Five -

As we were leaving, we bumped into our old school captains, Chris Smith and
Donna Booth, who it appears were now more than just good school friends.

There was an awkward moment, as we all met at the doorway, but it soon
passed.  We couldn't tell what they were thinking about us, as no doubt
they now knew all, but they didn't seem to treat us any differently to when
we had been at school, which we were thankful for.

As we were about to go our separate ways, Chris put his arm on Matt's and
said, "Oh, did you get the message from Davo?"

We all just froze.

"What message?", I cautiously asked him.

"I don't know", Chris answered. "We just saw him on Friday night at a New
Years Eve party and he said that he had to get some message to Matt. He was
half pissed, so we couldn't make much sense of him anyway, but that's just
what he said."

"Yeah, we got his message", Matt said, then just pushed past them and
walked out the door.

"What's up his ass?", Chris asked.

"Don't worry about it", I answered. "He's just in one of his moods."

"I hope it passes then", he said, then took Donna's hand and they said
their good-byes to us and walked over to the counter.

When we got to the car we found Matt leaning up against the door, with his
arms folded and just staring at the ground.

"You alright?", I asked him.

He didn't answer.

We got into the car and Ox said, "What now? Where to?"

"Just drop me around at Dwayne's, will you? I think I've got some groveling
to do", J.D. said.

That brought a smile to the face of Ox and myself at least, but Matt was
still looking thunderous.

Ox started the car and pointed it in the direction of Dwayne's, and a few
minutes later we pulled up outside the house, where we found Dwayne
outside, watering his lawn.

He watched us as we pulled up and gave us a wave, which we returned, then
J.D. got out of the car and started walking over to him. Dwayne turned off
the hose and they spoke briefly, then went inside, both of them giving us a
wave as they walked up the few steps onto the front landing.

"Well, at least that one looks like it will work out", Ox said as we drove
away.

I looked across at Matt, who seemed to be still smoking. I didn't know if
this problem work itself out, however.

"Can you just drop us home?", I asked Ox.

He looked at me, then looked at Matt, then nodded. We were going to ditch
him for the afternoon, but I think he understood. It wouldn't be a good
time to be hanging around at our little flat. Not today. Not after that
news.

When we reached home he pulled up on the street and we got out. We waved
and I gave the car a thump on the roof as he drove off, then we set off up
the driveway towards our flat, with Matt walking a few steps in front of me
and not saying anything.

"So now we know", I said to him as I unlocked the door to the flat.

"Hmmm", Matt replied.

As we stepped inside I said, "What are you going to do?"

He walked across to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of cold drink,
pouring himself out a glass.

"Want one?", he asked, just before he put the lid back on the bottle.

I just shook my head, then he put the bottle back in the refrigerator.

"Well?', I asked.

"I don't know. I think I need time to think about it", he answered, then
swallowed his glass of drink. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Sure", I answered.

"Thanks. I think I'll go and give the car a coat of primer."

"You don't need my help?"

He shook his head. "It'll be alright I think. Besides, I think I'd rather
be alone for a little bit to think about a few things. I call if I need
some help.  Is that alright with you?"

I nodded. What else could I do?

He left me then, so I put on a CD (an old Dan Fogelberg album that I really
liked), and sat down to read the new Stephen King book, "Dreamcatcher", for
a while.



- Chapter Six -

Matt never came inside at all that afternoon, and I was so immersed in what
I was reading that I lost track of time.

When I eventually went outside at about five thirty and wandered over to
the garage I found the tail end of the Commodore nicely painted, and all
his equipment neatly packed away, but Matt was nowhere to be found.

I walked up to his parent's house. They were both there, and hadn't seen
Matt at all, but their car was gone. Obviously, Matt must have taken it
somewhere.  But where?

"Shit, not again?", I said to myself as I walked back down to the flat, by
now have out of mind with worry.

"Don't panic", I said to myself. "He'll be back."

I sat down, tried to read some more, but couldn't. For the next hour I was
up and down, looking out of windows, walking up and down the length of the
flat, stepping outside and looking across at the garage, coming back inside
and doing some more pacing. I felt like a nervous wreck.

When finally he walked back in through the door, about half an hour later,
I almost ran over to him. I hugged him and I told him not to do that again.

"What's wrong?", he asked.

"I've been worried sick here. You never said that you were going
anywhere. I didn't know what you were doing or where. For all I knew you
could have been lying at the bottom of the cliffs."

"Relax", he said to me, trying to calm me down. "I'm back, and I'm alright,
and I didn't go anywhere near any cliffs."

He hugged me back.

"I'm here", he whispered into my ear.

When we separated I grabbed him by the hands, and was about to tell him
that I loved him, when I noticed him wince in pain.

"What's wrong?", I asked him, bringing his hands up in front of me for a
moment, before letting go of them.

"Nothing", he answered.

I looked at him suspiciously. I had noticed the swelling and the beginnings
of a bruise, but said nothing.

"I...", he started to say, but I placed a finger on his lips.

"I don't want to know", I said to him. "I just want you to make love to
me."

He smiled, then leaned in and kissed me.

"Is that good enough for a start?", he asked me, in a whisper.

"Good enough", I whispered back to him, then led him to our bedroom.



- Chapter Seven -

The next day was Monday. Back to work. Yet again. I can tell you that it
never seemed this monotonous when we were still at school.

We were laying awake in bed long before the radio came on, with Matt
snuggled up neatly behind me, with his arm draped over me, gently stroking
my hardness.

This was my favourite time of the day. Here and now, just like this. I
wished we could stay like this all day, but I knew we couldn't.

"So, will you tell me some more about Phil?", I asked him.

"Phil? What about him?"

"Well, that was a pretty good show you guys put on yesterday, and then
dragged me into. You do that often?"

He laughed. "Not for a long time", he answered. "It seemed to have the
desired effect though."

I laughed. "On some of us. You should have seen the look on Ox's face just
before you kissed me."

"I can just imagine it."

Just then the radio came on, it was some old sixties tune that I had never
liked anyway. Two minutes to seven. Time to get up. Another day was ahead
of us.

We lay there for a few minutes, just as we were, until we had heard the
morning news, then Matt let go of me and rolled onto his back.

I rolled over and looked at him, and that was when I saw the bruise on his
ribs.

I reached out and touched it, and once again he winced.

"You alright?", I asked him.

"Yeah", he answered.

As curious as I was, I didn't ask him how it happened. I had an idea that I
knew what it had been caused by, but I also knew that he would tell me in
his own sweet time. Or at least I hoped he would.

After showering and having a quick bite for breakfast, we headed off to
work, as usual, making it just on time. We pretty much had a routine now
and we could time it fairly well from bed to business. We would come
unstuck one day we knew, but things were working now and that was all that
mattered.

The day proved to be pretty much the same as any other. When we compared
notes at lunch time we found that there was no let up for either of us from
the Christmas shoppers, everyone seemed to be demanding more bargains, even
though Christmas and New Year were now behind us.

We were joined by the whole gang at lunch time when we went to Cons
café; Ox, plus J.D. and Dwayne, who, we were pleased to see, were
apparently now over their little problem.

Dwayne made a point of thanking us for helping them to get back on
track. We weren't sure what it was that we actually did, but we were just
pleased that they were together again.

"Hey, did you hear that Davo got bashed up yesterday?", Ox asked excitedly.
"Apparently he has a hell of a black eye, and maybe a busted rib or two.
Stupid prick."

I looked straight at Matt, giving him a knowing kind of look.

He looked away from me, then shook his head and said, "No, I didn't know
that.  Anyway, I thought you two were mates?"

"Huh! Not bloody likely. Not anymore. You guys are my mates. And that's the
way it's going to stay."

"When did you find out about it?", I asked him.

"This morning. I was talking to his brother downtown."

After that our lunch was served, so we turned our attention to that. Matt
stayed fairly quiet throughout lunch and I never said anything else about
Davo, and especially nothing about where Matt had disappeared to yesterday
afternoon.

"So, how is business?", I asked Dwayne.

"Flat out, actually", he answered. "Normally it's a bit quiet at this time
of year, with everyone usually going away, but I've got enough to do to
keep me busy for weeks."

"And how is your apprentice going?", Matt asked him.

He laughed. "When I can actually get him working, he's fine. The trouble is
all he wants to do all day is download porn from the internet. He's found
these sites with erotic stories on them, and he keeps reading bits and
pieces of them to me while I'm trying to work. It can be a bit of a
distraction."

J.D. blushed. We all laughed, and Dwayne gave J.D. a playful ruffle of his
hair.

"Once I get him out of a few bad habits though, I think he'll be alright."

"You don't know how bad some of my habits actually are yet", Dwayne shot
back at him. "You could end up being sorry."

"I'll take my chances", Dwayne added.

As Matt and I had to get back to work, we left the three of them there at
the café, and started back towards our shops.

"It was you, wasn't it?", I asked Matt after we had walked in silence for a
while.

"Would you be upset if it was me?", he asked.

"Hell, no!", I answered. "The bastard deserved it. But what if it had have
been you on the receiving end? Then I would have been upset."

"You ever seen me on the receiving end of a flogging?"

"Ummm, no. But there's always a first time for everything."

"Not for that", he said, confidently.

"Let's hope not."



- Chapter Eight -

We called around to mum and dads place after work, to see how they were
doing, and ended up staying for dinner.

Matt and I ended up sitting on opposite sides of the table, and for the
very first time Matt was actually treated like one of the family by
everybody, including my father, and that lifted our spirits like you
wouldn't believe.

Everything looked like it was back to normal, which, I can tell you,
pleased me no end. For once, things were finally looking up.

Nothing was mentioned about the car. Or about Dad's upcoming court case. Or
about Davo. Or about Tony and Aunt Margaret and our own impending court
case.  For once, we were all living in the present, and it was like we were
living in an entirely different world to that which we had inhabited over
the past few months.

"So Luke", my father asked. "How long before your exam results are out."

"The end of this week, I think."

"You both looking forward to getting them?"

Dad looked at Matt first, who just shook his head, then me.

I shrugged. "Yes and no", I answered.

He looked at me, in a kind of disapproving way, but said nothing more.

I didn't want it to end there, so I said, "I mean, I want to know that I've
got a good enough score to get into the type of course I want at a decent
university, but I'm as nervous as all hell about the results actually
getting here."

"Well, don't you know that all good things come to those who wait?", he
asked.

I looked across at Matt, who suddenly smiled at me.

"Yeah, they do", I said, smiling back at him.

"What about you, Matt?", dad asked him.

His smile was suddenly gone. He looked nervous.

"Well, I'm not really expecting a great score, not like Luke will get
anyway.  And I don't expect it will be good enough to get into university."

"So, what are your plans?"

"Come on, Tom", Mum suddenly interrupted. "Leave him alone. What's with the
third degree?"

"No third degree", he said. "I just want to make sure both of them know
what they want in life."

I wanted to say that all I really wanted was Matt, but thought better of
it.

"It's alright, Mrs. S", Matt said. "I don't mind. I've already got a good
part time job, and there is a good chance that it may become full time very
soon, so I'll be quite happy there for a while."

"And what about if, or when, Luke goes off to university somewhere?", dad
asked him.

"We've already spoken about that, and we've both decided that we'll cross
that bridge when we come to it. Someone close to me told me, not so long
ago, that everything works out in the end, no matter what it is or how bad
it may seem. And while I doubted him at the time, I now believe what he
said.  I truly do. So I know that whatever happens, it will be for the best
and everything will work out."

Matt was looking directly at me when he said that, and straight away I
could feel myself blushing. Dad looked from one of us to the other, then
just shook his head and took a sip of his coffee.

I smiled at Matt. He beamed back at me.

We left them not long after that, after we had finished our coffee, and
headed home to our own little world where we could love one another like
there was no tomorrow.




- Chapter Nine -

The next day, Tuesday, we once again met 'the gang' for lunch.

It was a beautiful day outside, so we settled on a sidewalk table in the
Mall, where we watched the world go by. As always, it was interesting, to
say the least. The inhabitants of our fair town certainly were a diverse
collection of people, and they never ceased to amaze me.

A few minutes after our meals were placed in front of us, I noticed J.D.'s
eyes fix on someone, or something, which was approaching us.

"Don't look now boys", he said to us, "but here comes your old flames. Both
of them. Together."

Of course Matt and I both had to look around, and who should we see but
Julie and Kerrie strolling up the street. They hadn't seen us yet, but it
would only be a matter of time.

"Do you think they know about us yet?", Matt whispered to me.

We didn't know if they knew about us or not. We could only assume that they
did, but as this was the first time we had seen either of them in ages,
since 'schoolies' week in fact, we were about to find out.

We watched them as they approached us, looking everywhere about them, but
not at us. At least not yet anyway.

When Kerrie finally spotted the five of us sitting around the table, we
could actually see the falter in her stride. With her next step she grabbed
at Julie's sleeve, then, once she had her attention, nodded in our
direction.

They both stopped and stared at us.

"They know", Matt said.

"Yup", I answered.

I offered them a small wave, then after a moments indecision they started
towards us.

"What did you do that for?", Matt whispered.

"Relax", I said to him.

"Ummm, hi", Matt said to them when they joined us.

"Hi", they both answered.

"How have you both been?", I asked them.

"OK, I guess. You?", Kerrie said. Julie didn't answer.

I shrugged. "OK, I suppose".

Matt and Julie were just looking at each other. Neither knew quite what to
say to the other. I mean what can a girl say to a guy who runs off with his
best friend?

"So it is true?", she finally asked.

"You have a problem with that?", Matt asked.

"It's your life. I hope you are...happy together", she answered, looking at
me, with an expression that clearly spelt disgust, and then at Ox and J.D.
and Dwayne.

It was clearly one of those awkward moments where no one knew what to say
or do. We all wanted it to pass.

"Well, it's been good to see you again", Julie finally said, tugging at
Kerrie's sleeve. "We really have to get moving."

"Yeah, OK. Goodbye", I said.

Matt and Kerrie just looked at each other, but said nothing.

The girls turned and walked away, with both of them glancing once back over
their shoulders.

"Did you see how fat she's got?", Ox asked.

"Put a sock in it, Ox", I said.

Just then Matt's mobile phone rang in his pocket. He reached in and
retrieved it, then flipped it open and answered it.

"Hello. Who is this?", he asked. "Hello."

He folded the phone shut and put it back in his pocket.

"Another wrong number", he said. But I could see something in his eyes that
told me differently. I made a note to ask him later, when the other guys
weren't around.

I looked up and noticed the clock above the Court House, the place that I
knew we would be visiting all too soon, and saw that we were both due to be
back at work in five minutes.

"I'm afraid that we're going to have to run boys", I said to them as I
stood up from my seat, trying to drag Matt to his feet as well. I pointed
up at the clock.

"Shit, we've only got five minutes", Matt said.

As we were leaving, Dwayne said, "Lunch at my place tomorrow guys? J.D. is
cooking."

"I am?", he said. "Yeah, what the hell. Come over for lunch. The rich dude
can feed us all tomorrow. Alright?"

We smiled at them.

"Yeah, sure thing", I said. "Sounds great. I think."

Dwayne laughed. "He might surprise you."

"I doubt it", Matt answered. "But we'll be there. Thanks."

Once again we left the three of them sitting there, as we headed back to
work.  It wouldn't matter if we were a few minutes late back to work, but
we couldn't have afforded to hang around there for much longer.

"Who was it on the phone?", I asked him as we strolled along.

"What makes you think it was somebody?", he asked.

"The expression on your face when you hung up."

"Oh."

"Well?"

"To be honest, I wish I knew. I've had about five calls like that in the
past couple of days, counting that one you took on Sunday when we were
working on the car."

"No one there?"

He shook his head.

"Julie seemed a bit strange today", I said, trying to change the subject.

"You thought she was strange all of the time", he answered.

"True. But she seemed even more different today."

"I didn't really notice."

Just then Matt's phone rang again. He took it out of his pocket and was
holding it, seemingly not wanting to answer it.

I took it from him and flipped it open.

"Hello, who is this?", I said quite forcefully.

"Errr...Harry Lawson", he answered. "Is that you Luke?"

"Yeah...ummm...sorry about that, Harry. Matt's been getting some strange
calls."

"Oh", he said.

"Is Matt there with you? Can I speak with him?"

I passed the phone over and told him who it was.

"Hello, Harry."

They talked for a couple of minutes, with Matt saying "Yes", "Fine", "OK",
"Right.  See you then."

"He just wants to see us tomorrow", he said to me after disconnecting.



To be continued...


(c) 2001 Mark Peters. All rights reserved.


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