Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2015 11:42:17 -0400
From: CJ Abello <cjabello1997@gmail.com>
Subject: CJ: Summer: Chapter 13: No Surrender

CJ: Summer: Chapter 13: No Surrender

This is a work of fiction set in the real world.  Certain living
individuals make appearances in the story; all other characters and the
events in which they all participate are the creation of the author. Any
resemblance of the fictional characters to actual individuals is purely
coincidental.No Surrender


Friday, 31 May 2013

"Hey dude, what's up? Where's Chatri?" CJ arrived at Yates on Friday,
wearing a light gray Georgetown t-shirt, to find Landon standing by himself
at the front entrance.

"Morning, CJ. The stinker decided to skip lifting this morning. He's trying
to get the place ready for his girl's arrival. Since I'm using a guest
pass, I have to be escorted inside by a member."

"That's cool. You'll be my guest. Let's get in there and work up a sweat."

"Thanks for offering to play tour guide later, bud. My brother's schedule
is so screwed up I would have been alone all day. At least he's off
tomorrow. If'll get to spend the day with him."

"Did you bring clothes to change into after we shower?"

"Yep, that's what's in the backpack."

Typical of teenage boys, their workout turned into a game of
one-upmanship. They pushed each other to cycle longer, to make each
dumbbell lift as perfect as possible and to squeeze out as many chin-ups as
they could. Tired and sweaty, they headed back to their lockers to shower
and change. They barely talked as they left the gym floor, concentrating
instead on slowing down their breathing and doing a few last
stretches. They stripped, grabbed a towel, and headed towards the showers
with CJ leading the way. Landon took the opportunity to checkout his new
friend's backside. Neither boy appeared to be shy about their body, but
both tried to keep a conversation going while still sneaking peeks at each
other.

Even though Landon was a bit older, they were both about the same height
and had similar muscular development. CJ had more body hair, his skin tone
was a bit darker, but their equipment was similar in size. The one obvious
difference was CJ had not been butchered after birth and still had his
foreskin. There was definitely some plumpness in their cargo shorts as they
stepped out of the locker room.

"Let's drop the bags off at my place, Landon. We don't need to carry all
this stinky crap with us all day. We'll put them in the garage; I'll get
one of the rents to give you a ride home if we get back late."

"Chatri mentioned your family lives real close to the university."

"See the brick house at the end of the block? That's home."

"Wow, it's beautiful!"

"It's a pretty cool place. I'll give you a tour when we get back this
afternoon. We'll go in through to the garage."

"Fuck! Two Harleys? Do you ride?"

"Not yet, but I plan on it as soon as I get my license. Those belong to my
dads. I ride behind one of them whenever we take them out."

They jogged down the Exorcist Steps on their way to M Street. CJ explained
how the 97 steps became famous and earned their current nickname. Running
up and down them was a popular part of many a cardio routine for Hoya
sports teams and for the area residents.

"Where are we going to lunch, CJ?

"I'm taking you to Rogo's. It's less than a mile away, so we'll just walk
there. Great bar that serves good food and it's owned by Uncle Danno so I
get treated right. He's not really my uncle; he's one of my dads' best
friends and they all want me to call them uncle. About a dozen gay men and
I'm the only kid, so they all treat me as if I was their son. Which is
pretty cool."

"Dude, I want to ask you a personal question. The other day you mentioned
something about how you turned your parents life upside down when you got
here. I asked Chatri about it, but he said to ask you directly."

CJ recounted the events in Miami and how they led to his move to
Washington. How he had decided to write off his stepfather as stupid and
useless and how he was still pissed at his mother and hurt by how she
abandoned him.

"Shit, man, if I had gone through all that I'm not sure I'd be acting as
normal as you are."

"Oh I still have my bad moments; there are nights I end up crying some. To
use a line my Marine dad says all the time: no surrender is allowed. I'm
not letting the bastard who kicked me out get me down. Dad and Papa have
gone overboard trying to make me feel welcome and their friends are doing
the same. One of those dudes is a social worker and deals with abused
children all the time. Whenever we've been together, he keeps an eye on me
as if I was an expensive piece of art or something. He was the first one to
call me on my phone, he was the first one to invite me over to his place,
and he was the first one to try and help me last weekend when I had a
little disagreement with some jerk at a biker's thing. They all treat me
real good.  They let me do what I think is right, but they're always there
if I need them."

"That's great, dude. It's good to have adults who keep an eye on you
without trying to just run your life."

When they got to Rogo's, Danno greeted them and had the staff treat them as
royalty. He introduced them to a very hot man wearing a t-shirt, split at
the sides revealing a massive chest and sculpted abs, as Montana, his
cabinetmaker. The hug he gave the boys, before he left them to go inspect
the man's work at his place next door, could have crushed bones with just a
bit more strength behind it. Landon was almost drooling and CJ snickered
promising him more eye candy at dinner on Sunday.

After learning of the circle of friends of CJ's dads, Landon, a bit
subdued, explained how jealous he was of him. He admitted he was completely
closeted at home, had decided to come out to his brother, and was planning
to do so before he left town.

"Bud, anything I can do to help you out, you let me know. If Chatri likes
him, I'm sure he's a good guy and will be cool. Just remember to be
yourself, whatever happens, happens. If you need a place to chill, you call
me and I'll come get you."

X X X

They decided to spend the afternoon visiting the War Memorials down by the
Mall. The half hour walk to the Constitution Gardens area was enjoyable and
spent in comfortable conversation; both teens feeling very at ease with
each other.

First stop was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, honoring those who died or
disappeared during the fighting in South East Asia. Brett had talked at
large about it on the Sunday of the Ride to the Wall so CJ was very
familiar with its history. He explained to Landon the Vietnam Wall, the
best-known part of the memorial, had been designed by American architect
Maya Lin when she was twenty-one years old, and completed in 1982. Since
then the Three Soldiers statue and the Vietnam Women's Memorial have been
added. Both teens, although too young to remember the actual conflict, were
deeply moved and stared at the wall and names in somber silence. The
magnitude of such a structure, inscribed with almost sixty thousand names
evoked similar strong emotions on most who saw it.

"You should have seen this place over Memorial Day Weekend, Landon, it was
crazy!"

"Crowded?"

"That's an understatement. The Rolling Thunder organization holds a
motorcycle rally that Sunday and there were tens of thousands of bikes and
hundreds of thousands of people. The actual ride portion is called the Ride
to the Wall; it starts at the Pentagon and ends here at the memorial."

"So you got to see it?

"Bro I rode in it! It was epic! Both my dads, two other guys who are part
of their inner circle of friends, myself and this cool guy we met that day
named Elliot, rode together. Not sure when I'll do it again, it gets a
little too crazy. But it was one of the first things I did after getting
thrown out by my step-father and I'm never going to forget it."

"Hey, can we go to the Korean War Memorial next? My great-grandfather was a
doctor and served in Korea, he died in a helicopter accident near the end
of the war."

"You mean he was like those guys in the old TV show M A S H?

"Yeah, we have pictures of him with a bunch of other soldiers in front of
those type of tents and stuff. We have his old uniform, medals and a bunch
of other things of his back home. It's pretty cool, especially the letters
he wrote. Some of what he wrote about is pretty sad."

"I bet."

"He's become like this family hero. Because of him my grandfather and my
father became doctors, and now my brother is studying medicine."

"That's cool, nice tradition."

Just south of the Vietnam Wall they entered the Korean War Veterans
Memorial. The main section of the memorial was in the form of a triangle
intersecting a circle. There were shiny black granite walls with a large
number of sandblasted images representing all troops who supported the
actual fighters.

Within the walled triangle were nineteen large, stainless steel statues of
soldiers. The boys read in the National Park Service brochure the statutes
had been designed by Frank Gaylord; they represent a squad, with members
from each military branch, on patrol, dressed in full combat gear. Strips
of granite and juniper bushes, where the statues were placed, represented
the rugged terrain of Korea.

The new friends were impressed by the detail of the sandblasted images and
the various expressions on the faces of the cast figure. To them, the
Vietnam wall was a passive reminder of the country's losses, while the
statues and sandblasted images seemed more dynamic.

In a somewhat somber mood, remembering Landon's family loss in Korea, the
boys walked towards the National World War II Memorial, located on the
eastern side of the reflecting pool, across from the Lincoln
Memorial. Dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as
civilians during World War II, it consisted of fifty-six pillars and a pair
of arches surrounding a plaza and fountain.

Each pillar was inscribed with the name of one of the forty-eight states of
1945, as well as the District of Columbia, the Alaska Territory, the
Territory of Hawaii, the Commonwealths of the Philippines, Puerto Rico,
Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The northern arch was
inscribed with 'Atlantic', the southern with 'Pacific'.

"Dude, I have learned more about the history of our country and our
participation in all these wars today than I have in all my life! Thanks
for inviting me to tag along, bro!"

"My pleasure, buddy. I don't think I would have enjoyed this afternoon as
much if I had been by myself. Having a hunky boy as an exploration partner
is definitely the way to go."

"Hunky boy? Are you flirting with a senior, you little sophomore?" asked
Landon while smirking.

"Maybe..."

CJ splurged on a cab back to Georgetown and the teens hugged and said
goodbye promising to talk to each other the next day and looking forward to
Sunday dinner.


Saturday, 1 June 2013

The first Saturday in June was similar to the last one in May for CJ and
his dads: a nice long jog together, some hoops in the back patio, lunch,
and then a lazy afternoon. The housekeeper, who came twice a week to clean,
did not change linens or do laundry, so each one of them was responsible
for their own. Brett also did his usual cleaning and detailing on the
Harley; he rode it to work almost every day and the dirt was quick to
accumulate. The teen enjoyed helping him with the project and could not
wait until he had his license and could ride on his own.

In the evening, they went to Rogo's for dinner, at CJ's insistence. The kid
enjoyed the fact he was treated as an adult there. The crowd was lively
with a nice mix of gay and straight people.  When he purchased the place,
Danno posted a sign outside, next to the front door, informing prospective
customers the patrons inside were mixed as to race, gender, sexual
orientation and nationality. It warned any comments or actions deemed
offensive to any group would not be tolerated, the offender would be
ejected and subsequently banned from the premises.

On a Sunday night, with an NBA Eastern Conference Finals game on TV, the
only woman in the place was the assistant manager. Danno, along with
Montana the cabinet-maker, sat with them for a bit before excusing
themselves to go check on some of the work done that afternoon in the loft
space. Smiling, Brett and Cesar gave each other a raised eyebrow look, and
their kid started to giggle.

"What's so funny, kiddo?" asked Cesar.

"Oh nothing much. I met Monty yesterday when I had lunch here with
Landon. He's walking a little funny today."

All three burst out laughing, attracting looks from several patrons. The
loss by the Miami HEAT was not enjoyable for CJ, or his dads, who had to
listen to his bitching all the way home.

X X X

"Did you notice the way our boy almost drooled over that Monty guy? We're
gonna have to get him laid sometime soon."

"Don't go meddling in that shit, Brett. I'm sure it'll happen soon
enough. And remember, he has his first sleepover tomorrow night."

"Stop laughing, you silly man, I have a feeling that sleepover is not going
to be about reading comic books under the blankets with a flashlight."


Sunday, 2 June 2013

"So, guys, what do we do about Chip?" C‚sar poured himself a glass of
wine and sat next to Brett at the kitchen counter. Potus and Pope, invited
to come over in the early afternoon, arrived bearing half a case of chilled
Coldstream Hills Chardonnay from Australia's Yarra Valley.

"Cut his balls off and dump them in the Potomac?"

"I like your way of thinking, Detective Kennedy. But as a cop you should
know that's illegal.  Damn, this shit's good! You may just turn me into a
foo-foo wine drinker, JP."

"Sure, Jarhead, sure--glad you like it. Back to the important shit; I think
we need to confront Chip and we need to support Doc big time."

"Guys, I've known Doc the longest out of this group," said Cesar. "He's
going to hurt a lot when all this comes to a head, but he's one tough
fucker. He'll be fine long-term; I just think the whole scenario shouldn't
drag out much longer."

"How about we do an intervention next weekend?" asked Tommy. "We're all
going to Rogo's on Saturday after the Capital Pride Festival. Let's ask
Danno to borrow his place next door so we can talk to Chip and Doc."

X X X

"Grandma?"

"Hi, CJ!"

"Hey, bro! This is a nice surprise, how come you're calling me direct? What
are you doing at Grandma's?

"Mom and dad had some dinner to go to so I'm sleeping over here
tonight. Grandma said it was okay to call you."

"Cool! I just talked to her and Grandpa yesterday. How you doing, baby
brother?"

"Fine. Missing you. Hey! I start those boxing lessons next Saturday. Dad
took me to the gym and we talked to the trainer. He wants me to gain
weight. Dad told him we had protein powder at home, the stuff you left
behind, and I'm supposed to drink two shakes a day. Stuff tastes lousy."

"You'll get used to it. I'll email you a couple of my recipes, and a list
you can give Mom so she can buy the ingredients. I've got Dad and Papa
hooked on them. You need to exercise a lot though, so you build muscle and
not fat."

"I know. He had dad buy me a jump rope and I'm doing a zillion of those
every day."

"That's great exercise. How's Mom?"

"She's fine. Still has all those charity meetings all the time. Mom told
Dad you and I talked last week during dinner, afterwards I heard them
arguing and she just kept saying he had agreed to the deal. You know what
she was talking about?"

"I'm not sure of all the details but I know they agreed you and I could
stay in touch."

"Why would that be a problem?"

"Who knows bro, grownups are weird."

"I know. The two of them seem to be arguing all the time and a lot of it's
over money. Dad's always complaining about how much Mom spends."

"You stay out of their way whenever it happens, buddy. Just go to your room
and read or listen to music. It's their problem, not yours."

"I know, but they're so loud. Oh, gotta go, Grandma's got dinner
ready. Bye, CJ."

"Bye, Ritchie. I'll email you this week."

Fuck, fuck, fuck. This is all my fault. But if Rich lays one finger on my
brother I swear I'll kill him.

X X X

The remaining invitees arrived minutes apart from each other; after
introductions all around, Cesar began pouring cocktails. Brett gave a house
tour to the first time visitors while Landon and CJ scurried up to the
second floor.

"This is quite an art collection you and your partner have here, Captain,"
said Mrs. Edwards as they entered the master suite on the fourth floor of
the townhouse. "The Britto hanging above your bed is superb. Not many
individuals can boast of having and original oil by Romero in their homes."

"Thank you, ma'am. That piece was a housewarming present from Cesar's
parents when we moved here. They've known the artist from his early days in
Miami after he moved there from Brazil."

"Tell me about the exquisite metal sculpture on the table by the window."

"That one is called Warrior and is by Randy Barney, also a Miami
artist. Cesar acquired it at a charity auction years ago."

"Edward! Where are you? I'm sure his eyes glazed over as soon as we began
discussing art."

The Colonel had been exploring the bathroom area on his own while Martha
inspected the artwork. Brett provided comments on each piece while Chatri
and his girlfriend Helen just stared at the entire space in awe. Chatri had
seen the room before but hadn't paid much attention to it.

"Captain, that shower enclosure is so large it could fit half a dozen
people." The Colonel had been inspecting a series of controls on the wall
outside the glass enclosure with the multiple showerheads. "Is it also a
steam room?"

"Yes, Sir, it is. That's the reason for the floor to ceiling glass
front. And the most it's ever held is three. The kid joined us for a steam
one time after a Sunday morning run, but ran out after five minutes
complaining about the heat. He didn't even bother to dry off, his running
shorts dripped water all the way down to his own bathroom."

When the group returned to the second floor they were greeted by the sound
of explosions and shouting. The former came from a large television screen
mounted on the wall while the latter came from the two teenagers sprawled
on the bed with game controllers in their hand. Pausing the game
momentarily, the two boys waved at the adults standing at the door before
returning their attention to the battle on the screen.

"We never envisioned having a teenager living with us full time when we
gutted this old house and had the interiors rebuilt. I can just imagine the
noise once he starts school, makes friends and they have sleepovers." Brett
said as they all backed away from CJ's room and he directed the visitors
towards the room at the front of the house. "This is our remaining guest
room now that CJ has taken over the other one. They're mirror images of
each other and having both closets back up to each other in the middle was
the idea of the architect, I'm happy we did it since it will provide some
sound proofing from a noisy teen if we have friends or family staying
here."

"I noticed your son's room has artwork on the walls instead of posters as
most boys his age would have. Did he just keep items you already have
there?" This was the first time Helen had spoken since they began walking
through the house. She was a pretty girl with dirty blonde hair and light
brown eyes, the color of caramel. Those eyes had been wide open from the
moment she entered the elegant townhouse, absorbing the sight of so many
wonderful items and the beauty of the home.

"No, Helen, CJ made us remove what was hanging on the walls previously and
selected what he wanted in his room. The two David Hockney's originally
hung on the hallway, but he had fallen in love with them the first time he
visited us a few summers' ago. They were part of my parents collection
which I inherited when they died."

The evening's chef had prepared a simple meal: Arroz con Pollo, sliced
tomatoes and sweet onions, boiled ripe plantains and Cuban bread, which
Brett had picked up at a Cuban bakery in Arlington. Dessert was home-made
flan and the Colonel had seconds, his wife complaining about his sweet
tooth and his weight. Both the food and the wine received high praise and
everyone seemed to enjoy the meal.

The two ladies were at the center of every conversation. Towards the end of
the evening, they exchanged contact information and planned on meeting
sometime in the coming week. Martha promised to take Helen shopping and to
take time to clue the newcomer in about all things Washington. Aware of
what type of school CJ attended in Miami, Mrs. Edwards assumed the boy
would be attending either Gonzaga or St. Albans, two of the top all boys'
prep schools in the District, in spite of her previous pitch to the teen
about The School Without Walls. When told by Cesar the choice of school was
CJ's decision, and the boy did not want to be at a private school
preferring a public one, she once again went into her sales pitch and
obtained a promise from the boy of a visit to Walls within the next couple
of weeks.

Helen turned out to be not only pretty and extremely smart. The guys were
going to hook her up with Doc so he could help with the job search and
Brett promised to call her about some places he knew where reasonable to
rent by the young couple. They planned on getting their own place as soon
as they found something they could afford. She had no way of knowing the
properties would be amongst those owned by the marine and his partner or
that they would not be paying market rate. Cesar and Brett liked the couple
and wanted to help them out in a discreet way, this was another of their
frequent acts of random kindness.

X X X

"Hey, guys, are you sharing a room or should I check the guest room to make
sure it's okay?"  Brett asked, causing both boys to blush brightly. Landon
had been invited to spend the night since they planned on further
explorations of the National Mall the next day.

"Papa!"

"What? It's a fair question. We have no issues with you having an overnight
guest, we already had this conversation. I'll remind you once again, your
Dad and I were teenagers ourselves not so long ago."

"Fine," muttered CJ. "No need for the guest room. Night." Both boys ran up
the stairs while the adults looked at them and chuckled.

X X X

"I think you were very lucky to meet and befriend CJ, Chatri." They were
holding hands while as they walked home after the wonderful evening.

"Why do you say that, babe?"

"I think he's a smart, wonderful kid. And his dads are the most real people
I've met in a long time. You could feel how much they cared about their
guests and how much they love their son. Oh, and they went out of their way
to make Landon feel welcome. He was very subdued at first and by the end of
the night he was cracking jokes with C‚sar."

"Yeah, you're right--those three are special. I loved the crowd around the
table: African Americans, Hispanics and an Ameriasian, gay male couples and
straight ones, teenagers and middle-aged individuals made for an eclectic
group."

"I think we're going to enjoy making Washington our home. It felt kinda
scary at first, but my fears are quickly disappearing. Less than
forty-eight hours after my arrival, I have new start-up friendships with a
wonderful group of people whom I think we'll be great to spend time with."

"I'm glad you feel that way, babe. Now let's hurry home, we have the
apartment to ourselves tonight."

X X X

"That was a great evening, Jarhead. Good food and good people."

"You think they're gonna fuck?"

"WHAT?"

"CJ and Landon. Do you think they're going to fuck?"

"I can't believe you asked that. Didn't we just get on our boy's case for
asking the same thing about us?"

"Yeah, but we're grownups and we're his dads, so we're allowed to ask."

"The grownup part is open to discussion. Look, Brett, we have a smart and
very mature son, we've had several conversations with him about sex and
what we think is best, we've stocked his nightstand with condoms and
lube. Not much else we can do unless you want to be a hypocrite."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But I may still have nightmares about it!
Goodnight, Cesar. I love you."

"Love you too, Jarhead."



Copyright 2015 CJ Abello
Edited by: Mann Ramblings

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