Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 20:45:17 -0500
From: Deron Dreem
Subject: Come Sail Away / Chapter 6

All the usual disclaimers apply to this story. I am not going to say this
is all fiction, but I have tried to be as vague as possible to protect
those who might not like to be known. The following story Involves sex
between two teen males. If that bothers you, then please don't read. Please
be at least 18 or within your Legal right to be able to read it in your
area. Thanks 8-)

I also would like to thank 2 very important people. First, Billy Joe Walker
Jr. You were always an inspiration to me. Your writing moved me more than
you will ever know.  Secondly, Dave I love you. Thanks for being my best
friend


			      Come Sail Away
				 Chapter 6


"Don't cry. I wanted you to come." He paused for a second, and looked down
at the grave once again. I placed my arm over his shoulder and just stood
next to him.  "If we stand here and cry, he's going to think we are a
couple of Pussies" He tried his hardest to put a smile on his face.

It was ironic in a way. I was the one who was there to support him, and yet
I was now leaning on him......

	 I was standing in front of the store now and had tearstains on my
cheeks.  I reached up for the door handle and out walked my skater buddy
from earlier.  He didn't see me, and walked right into me. Looking up I
could see an attitude in his eyes. He glanced at me for a second, and
recognized me from earlier

"Hey dude, sorry. Didn't see you." He looked at me and I could see the
attitude fade a little.  "Damn, dude, you O.K?"

	 I looked up and tried to pretend I didn't know what he was talking
about.  "Yeah sure, I just came to get something to eat." He looked me in
the eyes and I seen something that looked so familiar. I had seen those
eyes before. There was toughness, and tenderness at the same time.

"Well it is a little windy out here today. I know that it can real cut into
you and make your eyes water." He turned to walk away.  I had to stop him.

"Hey." He stopped and turned around. "I didn't even catch what your name
was earlier."  He kind of smiled, and flipped his hair back.

"That's because I didn't give it."

It was like having a flashback; the smart-assed grin that was on his face
was like staring back in time. The way his eyes kind of twinkled, and the
swagger to his walk. God it was uncanny how much he reminded me of
Brian. He reached in his pocket for a smoke and lit one up.

"Oh I see we bought smokes." I smiled my best smart-assed grin. "And we
even have a lighter now. Well sorry I didn't mean to run you over. I was
just heading in to get something to eat." I paused for a second, and was
reaching for the door handle. I stopped.  "You gonna be around down by the
lake later on?"

"Yeah, I mean maybe. I don't know, why?"

"Well if you are, then maybe I will see you again." I smiled and he shook
his head, turned and walked away. I walked in and went to the Deli case. Oh
Boy I thought. There seems to be a real plethora of choices here. Egg
Salad, or would it be Bologna. Wow the choices were overwhelming. I chose
the ground up chicken embryos, over the taste of Beef lips and assholes. I
searched for a bag of chips and grabbed several pops. I once again made my
way back to the picnic tables. I still couldn't get over how much that kid
looked like Brian.

	 I think it was his eyes, the way they showed toughness and
tenderness at the same time. No matter how much Brian tried to look tough,
I always knew there was tenderness there....

	 As we drove back from the Cemetery, I felt for the first time
Brian was letting me into his world. That Private area you reserve for few
people in your life.  Most of us try and keep this wall up around us, a
kind of facade. Well pulled back in his driveway and spent the night at his
house. I never told his folks where we went, and they didn't ask.  I drove
home the next morning reflecting on a lot of things. Life. Death. And what
it must feel like to lose someone that you loved that much.

	 We spent most of the next few days kind of hanging out and playing
street hockey in his driveway. The weekend came, and Brian had to go out of
town to visit his Grandparents somewhere south. This would be the first
weekend since I met Brian, which I would be alone all weekend long. For the
last four weeks, we were always together on the weekends. It was that first
night that it hit me. I missed him, and I missed him a lot. I got up
Saturday morning and my Mom commented as to why the long face?  Nothing I
told her. She asked why I wasn't over at Brian's. I told her that he was
out of town. She kind of smiled and she knew why I was bummed out. Moms
always seem to know things. When she would talk about Brian, she would
always say things like.

"He's such a good looking boy. He such a handsome young man. Oh Brian is
going to make someone happy someday."

	 I never had the heart to tell her. I was hoping that it would be
me that he would make happy. I sat around all day on Saturday trying to
think of something to give Brian for his Birthday. I wanted it to be
something real special. I couldn't go to big. I wasn't a rich man. I just
wanted it to be special. I decided that I would make some calls. I had an
idea.

	 I was hanging out in my room listening to music when mom knocked
on the door and handed me the cordless. I didn't even hear the phone ring.

"Hello"

"Hey dude, what's up?"  It was Brian, God did I miss hearing that voice.

"Hey buddy, when did you get back?"

"Im still at my Grandparents. I was bored so I snuck into the other room
and decided to call."

"Man I'm bored too. Im glad you called, so when will you be getting home?"

"Don't know, should be early tomorrow night. I will call you, but I
probably wont be able to do anything. I guess I will see you at school on
Monday."

We talked awhile longer and he said he had to go. Something about running
up a phone bill at his Grandparents. He snickered when he said that, and
then we hung up.

	 We talked a little on Sunday night but it was late when he got
home. He caught me just before bedtime. I thought that was a nice way to go
to bed. I got to hear his voice before I went to sleep. I got up early the
nest day and for the first time drove to school.  Parking was at a premium,
and parking passes were hard to get. I stopped and picked Brian up and we
talked all the way to school. I mentioned his Birthday to him again, and he
seemed to just pass it off. That afternoon I dropped Brian off at his house
and we both agreed that this was way better than riding the bus. We went
inside, and Brian took off upstairs. I searched for his Mom and told her of
my Birthday plans. She looked kind of concerned, and said she would have to
ask his Father.

"Don't worry Scott, if anyone can convince him, I can."

"Thanks, I just wanted to do something kinda different that's all."

"Well I will see what I can do. I will let you know as soon as I talk to his
Dad."

I thanked her and made my way upstairs. Brian was in his room sitting on
his bed. He was searching through his book bag. He looked up when I walked
in.

"Where were you?"

"Oh I was downstairs talking to your Mom."

"What are you up to dude."

"Who Me?" I got this real big shit-eating grin on my face.

"Uh huh, yeah right."

"O.K., ok so your mom was showing me your baby pictures. Sorry, I just
wanted something I could put next to my bed stand at night."

"Oh wise guy eh, well little man, you'll get yours soon enough." He then
let go that grin.  I just had to smile. Anyone would of smiled if they
could see that damn grin of his.

	 I told Brian I had to go and take care of some things at home and
we said our goodbyes. Always saying goodbye to me was tough. I never really
wanted to leave. In truth I had to go and pick up Brian's present, at least
the first one I got him. I wouldn't know about the second one till his Mom
called me back. I did my running around for the day, got what I wanted and
smiled all the way home. I know he will love this. I patted my pocket and
just smiled. The next two days went along as normal. I picked him up in the
morning. Seen him a couple of times at school. Dropped him off and stayed
for a while, and then went home. Ate dinner, and did my homework.
Afterwards I would talk to him on the phone before bedtime, and then fell
asleep.

	 Brian's mom called me Wednesday night and told me that everything
was a go. I almost screamed with happiness. I wanted this so bad, and now
it was going to happen. I talked to my mom again and she made a couple of
phone calls for me. She came up to my room, handed me a piece of paper with
all the info I needed, and told me to be careful. I smiled and kissed her
on the cheek. I talked to Brian that night before bed, I wanted so badly to
tell him about this weekend. I said goodnight and told him that I would see
him in the morning. Friday morning came along and it was Brian's Birthday.
I went and picked him up for school. He jumped in the truck. Smiled as
usual, and we took off towards school.

	  "Morning Buddy. What's up?"

"Not a lot." I had seen him looking at me from the corner of my eye. He was
looking for some kind of reaction I think. I was playing off the fact it
was his Birthday. I wanted him to think I had forgot all about it. We drove
and talked as normal. He seemed kind of disappointed that I didn't mention
anything. I knew he wanted me to at least acknowledge the fact, but I
didn't.

"So, we still going to the hockey game tonight?" I looked over to see what
he was thinking.

"Huh, im sorry I didn't hear what you said."

"I said, are we still going to the hockey game tonight?"

"Oh, yeah as far as I know. I don't think Mom has any plans or anything. We
can ask after school"

	 We got out of the truck and headed into school. I know he was just
dying.  I just acted like it was just any other day. It was killing me. I
wanted so badly to reach over and hug him and just squeeze him tight. I
could wait. This time, I was going to get him. I was going to pull off the
sneak play of the century on him. The day went along and ever time he seen
me it was like he was waiting for me to say something. The longer the day
went on, it seemed like he was almost getting pissed. DAMN. should I say
something, he really looked like he was mad that I had forgot. Several
times I almost broke down. I looked up at the clock and seen school was
almost over. Nah, I came this far, I can wait.  Inside I was dying. I hated
this. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. The final bell rang and I walked
outside to see Brian leaning against my truck. He was waiting, and he had a
long sad face on.

"What's the matter buddy, we are now on break from school and you seem like
you are going to miss this place?"

"No, it's not that."

"Well what is it then? We don't have to be back to this place for 5 days"

"Nothing, I guess im just a little off today. That's all."

	 We pulled into his driveway, and I didn't get out of his truck. I
just left the truck running. And sat there.

"What, aren't you gonna come in?"

"Oh I don't know, do you want me to?"

" What's going on Scott, why are you acting so strange today?"

"I didn't think I was acting strange, what do you mean?"

I was trying really hard now not to break down and spill my guts. I
couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. I could
see that I was hurting his feelings as we sat here. I was just getting
ready to tell him when his mom came to the door and called out to us. THANK
GOD.. Everything was set.

"Well are you coming in?"

"Well yeah, lets go."

	  We walked in the door and the placed seemed really quiet. I had
hoped that I stalled long enough to let his Mom get everything ready. We
walked into the kitchen and there on the table was a cake with candles on
it. His Dad, Mom, and Brothers were all sitting in the family room
waiting. As we turned the corner, everyone yelled.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN"

He turned and looked at me. I could see he was embarrassed, and yet seemed
glad that no one forgot.

"Did you know about this?"

"Who me?" I gave him that smirk and just laughed. I put my arm around his
shoulder and squeezed him. " I told you before that I was planning a
Birthday Party for a friend. You didn't think I would forget did you?"

"Dude, when you never said anything, and no one mentioned it this morning I
thought".. He just shook his head. He knew he had been had.

Brian's mom had set up a buffet style-eating thing. We stood around and ate
and then came a few presents. After he had opened all the family presents,
I handed him mine. He opened it and then looked at me. He reached into the
envelope and pulled out a small stack of tickets. They were tickets to all
the home games left for this year. I called the Business office and talked
to the Public Relations secretary. She arranged it that I could get the
seat next to me for the rest of the year.

	 "Dude, man you shouldn't have. This is great. We can go to every
game the rest of the year." He smiled and did his <Macho hug thing>. I was
so happy to be able to make him smile. I still had one card up my
sleeve. When Brian ducked into the bathroom, I talked to his mom real
quick. Everything was set. She would take care of everything while we were
at the game.

"Hey Buddy, I have to head home and get ready for the game. I will be back
in a few.  O.K.?"

"Yeah, hurry up. Im really excited about going."

We walked out through the garage and he was saying goodbye. Before I could
turn to leave he grabbed me again, and hugged me once more. This time,
there was no Macho about it. It was the best hug I have ever got. I just
glowed as I walked to my truck. I was walking ten feet off the ground.


	 I drove home as fast as I could. After I finalized all the plans I
let out a sigh of nervousness. Everything was set. I picked up Brian and we
set off to watch the hockey game. Just one of the many we would see
together this season. He was having a blast. I was so happy that I could
make his Birthday a good one. During intermission, the rink announcer
mentioned that the team would be on the road tomorrow night in Green Bay
Wisconsin.

"Man, we have got to go see a road game sometime. That would just be the
greatest.  Remember, we talked about it that the night we stayed at the
cabin?"

"Yeah I remember, do you really want to go and see a road game sometime?"

"Absolutely. It would be great. On the road, away from the parents, like at
the cabin, only farther away. His face was aglow. I could tell he was
really excited about doing that.  PERFECT..

"Well then, as your genie. I grant your wish."

I reached down under my chair and into my coat pocket. I handed him his
last present.

"What's this?"

"Well open it up"

	 He opened the envelope and reached inside. He pulled out 2 tickets
to the game tomorrow night in Green Bay. I handed him a Birthday card from
my folks. He opened it and with a note telling him Happy Birthday, was a
fifty-dollar bill. Wrote on the inside of the card was a conformation
number to the hotel we were staying at.

His eyes shot up to me in disbelief. He kept staring at the tickets,
looking at the card.

"Does my Mom know about this?"

"Yep" I grinned.  "God, I can believe you did this. You are something else,
you know that?"

The horn sounded and the crowd went nuts, we had just scored another goal.
Neither of us moved. We didn't realize till later that we even scored. We
just sat there and stared at each other. I could see a small tear starting
to form at the corner of his eye.

"What's wrong Brian, did I do something wrong?" He wiped it away real fast
so no one could see. We did sit rink side. There was a wall behind us that
we leaned back against.  So I know no one saw. He smiled real big and got
real quiet.

"No, nothing is wrong. I just never knew it would be this fun to have a
Genie for a friend.  He looked down at the tickets again and squeezed them
tight. "MY best friend"

We watched the rest of the game, and talked about tomorrow. He was so
excited and kept asking me tons of questions. I kept telling him to
relax. I have been working on this for over a week now and had everything
taken care of.

	 "What do you mean relax, we have so much to do before tomorrow."

I made a buzzer sound with my voice like he had just guessed the answer
wrong on a game show. I smiled and shook my head. Doing my best Bruce
Willis imitation from the movie Die Hard.

"Sorry Hans, Would you like to try Double Jeopardy where the scores can
really change."

He shoved against me with his shoulder pushing me into the rail I was
sitting next to. He laughed. That was one of our favorite movies; we have
watched it several times together.

"Don't tell me, Im packed already too?" I kind of shrugged my shoulder and
giggled.

"Weellllll." Smiling, I cocked my head and gave him a grin

His jaw dropped down, and he just stared at me in disbelief.

"I keep trying to tell you, but you just aint listening BOY."

"You aint never had a friend like me"

	 I looked at him with all the love in my heart. It was pouring out
of ever pore in my body. I had never in my short life ever felt so much
love for one single person before.  It was wonderful and scary all at the
same time. A thought of rejection went storming through my mind. I kind of
tightened up a little. The smile faded for a second. I mean, I loved him so
much, what if he could never love me the same?

"What, something wrong? Did you forget something in your perfect plan?"

Looking up at him, I put a smile on my face.  Shrugged my shoulders, and
kind of lifted my arms. Letting him I didn't know.

"I don't know buddy, guess we'll throw caution to the wind and find out.
Come on, it will be fun. You, me, couple hundred miles from home. What's
the worst thing that can happen? Get stranded and not be able to come
home."

Brian looked at me, put a real sarcastic look on his face, "Wouldn't that
be a shame?"  And then he giggled. The laugh that warmed my heart, and made
my chest go tight.

	 The game ended and we walked to the truck. We then drove to my
house.  Brian came in and thanked my folks. Of course we got the -be
careful speech-. I grabbed all my stuff, including a surprise, and left to
stay the night at Brian's house. We were going to be leaving early
tomorrow. The game was against the Milwaukee Admiral's. It was an
exhibition game being played in Green Bay. The directions I got told me to
find the hotel across from Packer Stadium. That shouldn't be too hard I
thought. I mean how can you miss that place. I looked at the directions one
more time and figured that it was going to take about 6-7 hours to drive
there.

"Any problems dude?"

"Nah not really, we have to drive through Chicago that all. Kinda nervous
about that."

"Well its like you said, lets throw caution to the wind." He kind of smiled
and jumped on the bed next to me. It was obvious that he was on a high. "Im
so wired, I don't think im going to be able to sleep tonight."

"Well then pity me, cause I have to drive tomorrow."

He threw a movie in, and we kicked back together on his bed and watched
T.V.  for a while. I kept stealing glances at him now and again. I felt so
lucky to have met him. He has changed my life forever. I don't remember
what we were watching, but I know that we had seen it before. I laid my
head down on the pillow and just looked at him. The images flickering off
the screen played shadows off his face. It was magical to see him in this
light. I just smiled and closed my eyes. I remember stirring a while later.
Brian was putting a blanket over me. I opened my eyes and looked up. He was
smiling. I closed them again. I remember feeling that this was just so
right.so perfect......

	 I finished the last of my sandwich, God soggy bread. Is there
anything worse than eating a sandwich, when the bread is on the verge of
being wet. I grabbed all the trash and walked over to the trashcan. I
looked around and didn't see my Skater friend. I stretched and took in a
huge breath. I felt drained. I grabbed the back of my neck and rubbed. I
was so tense. I glanced down at my watch again, I seen that it was almost
Noon.  "Shit," I looked around and seen that several people looking at
me. I guess I said that out load. I smiled for the first time all day. I
had to run back to my Brothers.  I remembered they were going to drive up
toward Milwaukee. He is big into Salt-water fish. There is some store up
there he wanted to go to. I, well I just wanted to go to the Warner
Brothers store. I started my trek back to his house.

I can remember the last time I drove this far north. I went to a hockey
game that changed my life forever. I didn't know it at the time. Sometimes
you can't see the forest through all the tress. The song came back to my
mind again.

			WE LIVED HAPPILY FOREVER
			SO THE STORY GOES
			BUT SOMEHOW ME MISSED OUT
			ON THE POT OF GOLD
			BUT WE'LL TRY BEST THAT
			WE CAN TO CARRY ON


	 I walked and kept thinking. I opened my mouth and sang softly to
myself.  "We'll try, best that we can, to caarrryyyy on......."


Thanks for reading. The E-Mail has been overwhelming. I love you
all. Please keep writing. I sit here online writing and my E-Mail keeps
going off.  I need a break from thinking and typing.  "Right Trey"