Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 02:17:42 -0400
From: Andrew Fowler <afowler6789@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: In And Out 4

Hey everyone!  Thank you for reading my story In and Out!  I have really
enjoyed your comments and I am more than happy to recieve more.  I promise
to reply to any email from anyone, my email address is
afowler6789@hotmail.com.  Thank you so much for reading, enjoy the story.
There will be many more submissions later on.

In and Out
Chapter Four

	I entered the house with dread.  I no longer worried that I would be
scolded for being drunk, or for not having done my chores, but having to
face my father.  My mother was at work, and both my sisters would be home.
I wondered if I had the maneuvering skills to slink in through the front
door, and tip-toe up to my room without him seeing me.  But of course my
house had a front door that screamed welcome, the noisy scratching sound
between brass and wood.  I tried to enter as subtly as possible, but I was
spotted immediately.
	"Gabe!" my sister Danielle cried in glee as she sat on the loveseat next to
my father, alone.  I could tell that she wasn't having the best time
entertaining my dad while he was visiting, but she seemed very happy to see
me.  But like they say, misery loves company.
	"Hey Danielle, hey dad." I tried to sound enthusiastic, but my bored to
tears voice kicked in.
	"Hey son." My dad said not getting up.  He had that look on him again, the
look of weariness.  My father was a very heavy drinker, and a very big
alcoholic in somewhat of a denial.  He had plum patches underneath his eyes,
and a rash looking nose.  The reason my mother had kicked him out of our
home months ago was because she discovered that he had been sniffing his
heart medicine.  They fought for months about his inapt drug habits, but the
arguments always seemed to get bigger.  He claimed even before he left us
that he wasn't going to do it anymore, but I could see the truth
surroundings his nostrils.
	My father was a fairly big man.  He had black hair that was turning gray,
he was a little chubby around the belly, and he had a circle shaped head.
My father was a little short from my point of view.  I have a theory that
because of my father's consistent coffee drinking a cigarette smoking, he
stunted his growth when he was young.  I was much taller than him, and I
smoked, so either my theory is incorrect, or I'm going to stop growing.
	"Hi dad, what's up?" I asked uninterested, not wanting to seem impolite.
	"Oh, I was just telling your sister about my new job at Red Cross." He said
with a huge smile.  My dad was a registered nurse, but had never had an
actual nursing job for five years.  Five years ago he was caught stealing
drugs from his patients, and was fired.
	"That's cool." I said, thinking in the back of my mind what his intentions
were with this job.  "Well I have to go take a shower." I said as I left
them there.  Danielle gave me a love of loathe, she must've been thinking,
`coward', but I was too drunk, and too happy about my luck today with Cody
that I wasn't going to let my father's presence drag me down.  As I made my
way up the stairs, I saw Karen's bedroom door.  Her music was blasting
through the hallway, trying to possibly drown out any shred of my father's
voice from downstairs.  Karen really hated him.
	I went into my room and plopped my book bag down on my bed.  My room wasn't
particularly big, and neither was my house.  I lived in the typical
Philadelphia suburbs with a typical twin house, living with a typical
family.  Of course, what you're thinking is that it's not very typical for a
teenage daughter to truly hate her father.  Well, it is typical for families
to have problems; our problem is possibly bigger than others.  I guess being
gay isn't very typical to most people either, but oh well.
	I undressed myself and hopped into the shower and started up the water.  I
made sure that the water was cold so that I could possibly lose my
drunkenness.  I know this mostly worked for hangovers, but hey, anything to
make myself sober for when Cody called.  I would try coffee next.
	I finished showering and got dressed, and went downstairs to make some
coffee.  I didn't really like coffee too much, but also again, I wanted to
sober up.  I made myself coffee and drank it while making peanut butter
toast, which is also supposed to work.  I was almost sober by the time I was
done, with still a little buzz.  But when the phone rang, I immediately felt
very lucid and clear-headed.  I answered the phone with anticipation.
	"Hello?" I asked in a very nice voice.  There was a pause on the other end
of the line until I heard his voice.
	"Gabe?" Cody's voice sounded like church bells in my ears.  I almost lost
my breath when I heard him.  So pleasant and free-spirited, and also a sexy
and rugged.
	"Yeah, it's me, hey Cody." I said very happily, he must think I am still
drunk.
	"Hey quiet down in there, your sister and I are trying to have a nice
conversation!" My father yelled into the kitchen when I stood with the
phone.  I rolled my eyes and drug the phone chord into the basement and shut
the door.  I sat at the top of the basement stairs with the phone.
	"Did I get you in trouble?" Cody asked with concern.
	"No, my dad's just an asshole." I said plainly.
	"Have you sobered up a bit?" Cody asked now as his gentle joyful sounding
voice came back to life.
	"Yeah, I'm fully sober now.  I guess I made a kind of bad impression." I
said as a joke.
	"No, you were actually quite cute.  There's nothing more entertaining then
a nice and hot boy out in public when he's drunk.  Especially if he's gay
and wants to talk to me." I knew I was blushing when he said that.
	"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself." I said in a flirtatious way, not
trying to sound too ecstatic.
	"Well now that I know that you're sober, maybe we can go out tonight?" he
asked in an optimistic tone that made it impossible to refuse, not that I
would've anyway.
	"Sounds great!  What did you have in mind?" I asked in delight.
	"I was thinking dinner, then a movie, then a long walk?" he said so subtly
that I picked up on subconscious hint.  A `walk' meaning a private area
alone with him, to `walk' and maybe even `talk'.  I was getting ahead of
myself thinking of what he meant.  Perhaps he just meant walk, as in take a
walk to work off some steam.  "My treat." He said trying to make me unable
to refuse.
	"No, that's okay, I can pay for myself." I said not wanting to sound too
needy.  The last thing I wanted was a guy who I liked thinking that I
couldn't manage myself.
	"No!  You're my date, and I always pay!" he said with force, but not in a
mean way, in a more sarcastic way.  I opened my mouth to argue, but he
interrupted my pregnant protest.  "No objections!" he said, and then started
laughing.
	"Okay, I surrender." I said with a smile so large on my face.  How could I
resist that humble voice that sends electricity down my spine?  Why was I so
lucky to have found a boy as interested in me as I was in him?
	I didn't torture myself with these questions, I stayed on the phone with
him for about half an hour, until we had to release each other's voices and
say goodbye.  That was the only thing horrible about Cody, having to say
goodbye.
	I started to get ready for the evening, I ended up showering again, don't
ask why, I don't even know.  I shaved, I brushed my teethe about four times,
I wore a little cologne, I knew he liked cologne, and that was a turn on.  I
wore my favorite outfit, black jeans with a red t-shirt that said Von Dutch.
  I was thinking about wearing my Corona shirt, but that would look bad
after meeting for the first time drunk off my ass.  I tied my shoes in
perfect bows, and stood in front of the mirror for about twenty minutes.
I'm not a vain person; I just wanted to look good.  I had a great feeling
that my second impression was going to be a lot better than my first.