Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 22:06:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Kirk Landers <ilj4ever44@yahoo.com>
Subject: Dating and the Single Life- part 22

Copyright and Disclaimer:
1. This is a fictional story with fictional
characters.
2. No one is to steal this story under any
circumstances.
3. This story deals with relationships and not sex, so
if you're looking for a story with a lot of sex in it,
this isn't the story for you.


   Thanks again to everyone for reading!  Hope you
enjoy!

Part 22 "Tell Me About Your Relationship"


Friday morning and Jake and Tyler are getting ready to
go for their first session with a relationship
counselor.  Jake is anxious to go and solve their
problems, but Tyler is very hesitant, at first he
thought it would be a good idea, but as the day
finally arrived he's nervous to spill his most private
and intimate feelings to a stranger.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tyler asked.

"Yes," Jake replied. "I think we need to do this,
otherwise we'll lose each other."

"But talking to someone we don't even know about our
love life is kind of creepy," Tyler said.

"Tyler, she's a professional," Jake countered. "She's
not going to judge us, she's just going to listen and
help us."

"Well, I'm still not sure," Tyler said.

Jake sighed, "Look, if you don't want to do this you
don't have to.  But I think that this is our last shot
at saving our relationship and I don't want to pass
this opportunity up."

Tyler seeing how passionate Jake is about this nods
his head. "Okay, we better get going then."

"Thank you," Jake replied.  The two of them then
grabbed their jackets and headed out.

The other guys meanwhile met up at the diner for
breakfast.  They all took their orders and were
hanging out and talking.

"Tyler and Jake are seeing a therapist today," Randal
brought up.

"Oh yea," Kyle remembered, "I hope it goes well."

"The whole incident with Miles showing up last week
really resurfaced a lot of issues between them,"
Marcus noted.

"Maybe it's a good thing Miles showed up though,"
David floated.

"Why do you say that?" Stanley asked.

"I mean, obviously Tyler was repressing a lot of
feelings towards that whole incident still," David
replied. "Maybe having those feelings come out will
help strengthen them."

"I never thought of it that way," Randal said.

"Sometimes though repressing feelings and emotions
like that save people from going through a lot more
pain," Kyle replied, having some repressed feelings of
his own.

"Yea, but that just builds up and eventually you have
a breaking point," David replied.

"Not always," Kyle retorted.  David and Kyle both
exchanged a look.

"Well, in any case, Tyler and Jake will hopefully work
things out," Marcus said.

"So how are things with you and Trevor?" Stanley
asked.

"Okay," Marcus replied.

"Just okay?" Randal asked. "What happened?  Last week
you two were crazy about each other."

"It's nothing big," Marcus replied. "Well, it kind of
is, he said 'I love you.'"

"Whoa," Kyle said.

"Yea, but then we both kind of agreed for him to take
it back," Marcus said.

"Is that a good thing?" Randal asked.

"I don't know, I mean, him and I haven't known each
other long so when he said it, I was really surprised
by how soon it was," Marcus said. "But at the same
time I kind of wish that he didn't want to take it
back."

"Do you love him?" Stanley asked.

"I don't know," Marcus replied.

"Then it's probably best he took it back," David said.
"I mean, it'll be better when he can say I love you
and you can say it back to him."

"That's true," Marcus agreed. "He just said it so out
of the blue that I wasn't able to process if I loved
him."

"If you have to think about it then you probably
don't," David said. "Not yet at least."

"Well, either way things have gotten a little weird
between us since and I don't know what to do," Marcus
said.

"Try talking to him and see if maybe you do love you,"
Randal suggested. "There will always be that little
bit of tension there until you can feel the same way
towards him."

"Just give it time," Kyle said. "When you love him,
you'll know."

There food then came and the guys began to eat.

"Hey Stan," Kyle said after swallowing a bite of his
pancakes.

"Yea?" Stanley asked.

"Are you doing all right?" Kyle asked.

"I'm okay," Stanley replied.

"It's only been a week so it's going to take some
time," Kyle said.

"I know," Stanley said.

"At least you got a chance to meet your son," David
said trying to look at the positive.

"You're right, and Randal took a picture of him and I
together so I'll always have that," Stanley said not
wanting to reveal the true pain he's in.

"Just know that we're always here for you," Kyle said.

"Thanks you guys," Stanley replied. "You've all been
really great friends through all of this.  I've never
had good friends like you guys before."

"You're family now," Marcus said. "We're always there
for each other."

Stanley gave a grateful smile.  Randal squeezed
Stanley hand to reassure him that he's always there
for him.  After the guys finished eating they paid and
went outside to head to work.

"We hanging out tonight?" Marcus asked.

"I'm working at the club tonight if you guys want to
hang there," Randal suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," David said.

"Come to our place at eight," Randal said.

"See you all then," Kyle said.  They said their
goodbyes and headed off to work.

Over at the therapist's office Tyler and Jake were
sitting in the waiting room looking through magazines
when the receptionist came up to them.

"Dr. Waissman will see you two now," she said.

Tyler and Jake got up and followed the receptionist to
Dr. Waissman's office.  When they got there they
opened the door and spotted Dr. Waissman sitting at
her desk.  She was very beautiful in a earthy sort of
way, her long dark hair was gathered up in a bun and
she was wearing glasses over her blue eyes.  She got
up and greeted Tyler and Jake very friendly.

'Hi, it's nice to meet you both, I'm Dr. Waissman,"
she said shaking their hands.

"Hi," Tyler and Jake both said.

"Please have a seat," Dr. Waissman said directing them
to the couch.

"Wow, I didn't think therapists actually had couches
for their patients to sit on," Tyler joked.

"Well, it's important that you are always
comfortable," Dr. Waissman said. "So how are you two?"

"I'm fine," Jake replied.

"I don't know, I'm still not sure if this is a good
idea," Tyler said.

"Why is that?" Dr. Waissman asked.

"Because, I've never been to a therapist before and it
just seems like we're jumping the gun by deciding to
see one over the type of problems we're having," Tyler
answered.

"What kind of problems are you two having?" Dr.
Waissman asked.

"It's complicated," Tyler said.

"How about you two tell me about your relationship,"
Dr. Waissman said trying a different approach.

"Well, when we started out it was great," Jake said.
"We first just were friends with benefits and then
moved on to dating."

"And what happened?" Dr. Waissman asked.

"There was this guy at my work who I was attracted to
and kissed," Jake admitted. "Tyler and I then broke up
and I moved to New York, but then Tyler came to New
York and we made up and I thought things would be
great again, but still there seemed to be this wall
between us."

"Do you think it's because the issue of you kissing
someone else hasn't been resolved yet?" Dr. Waissman
floated.

"I think so," Jake answered. "And then it just got
worse after that guy I kissed showed up in our lives
again."

"Tyler, how do you feel towards Jake?" Dr. Waissman
asked.

"I don't think I fully understand the question," Tyler
replied.

"How do you feel about Jake?" Dr. Waissman asked.

Tyler took a few moments to really think about what he
was truly feeling inside.

"Well, I love Jake," Tyler answered. "I do, and I want
to be with him, but I still don't trust him."

"Do you feel you can still be with him if you don't
trust him?" Dr. Waissman asked.

"I don't know," Tyler replied. "I'm hoping that one
day I can trust him again, but trust is such a fragile
thing and I wonder if I could ever truly be able to
again.  I look at Jake and I see someone I love more
than anything, but at the same time I also see someone
who betrayed me.  I don't know if I could ever open
back up to him again."

Over at the toy store Kyle was working the register
when David stopped by.

"Hi," David said coming up to him.

"Hey," Kyle replied. "What are you doing here?  I
thought you were at work."

"I was, but I wanted to come talk to you," David
answered. "Tony's there so he's taking care of the
store."

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Kyle asked.

David was about to say something, but then..."No, it's
not important."

"You sure?" Kyle asked.

"Yea, I'm positive," David replied. "I should be
getting back to work."

"All right," Kyle said.  The two were quiet for a
second.

"So are we okay?" David asked.

"Yea, we're great," Kyle replied.

"Okay," David said relieved. "Well, I better get back
to work.  I'll see you later."

"All right bye," Kyle said.

"Love you," David replied.

"Love you too," Kyle answered as David walked out the
door.

After David left Kyle started thinking over what it
was exactly he was upset about, he couldn't really
figure out why he was still holding a grudge towards
David when he's long gotten over it.  Why are those
feelings resurfacing?  When him and David first got
together he couldn't think of a flaw or find any fault
in David, but then suddenly he's noticing things that
have been bugging him that once didn't and finding old
issues that upset him when he knows they shouldn't.
That's when Kyle came to the realization, David and
him were no longer in the "bliss" period of their
relationship.  The beginning feelings and attitudes
people have when they first get together, the natural
high they get just from being with each other, all
those things that make up the "bliss" period of the
relationship are no longer there for David and him.
Never having been one for relationships Kyle now
wasn't sure where it was going to go from there.

While Stanley was at work he was filing some papers
for Marcus when he suddenly got very emotional.
Nothing really triggered it, but he suddenly started
thinking about his son and how he'll never see him
again.  Stanley walked quickly to the bathroom and
went into one of the stalls and broke down.  After a
minute there was a quiet knock on the stall door.

"Stan, you okay?" Marcus asked.

"I'm fine," Stanley said trying to sound calm and
collected.

"Sorry, I was just walking to my office and I saw the
look on your face and then you quickly came in here,"
Marcus said. "Want to talk about it?"

"Actually, it's better if I don't," Stanley replied.
"If I do then I'll just become more of a wreck."

"It's okay to be a wreck now," Marcus said. "You just
did a very difficult thing."

"I knew it would be hard giving up my son, but I
didn't expect to feel like this," Stanley said. "I
mean, I never saw him before last week, I never even
knew of him until last week, but since I signed those
papers and when he left that night I felt as if I lost
a huge piece of my life."

"I know," Marcus said. "But you just have to remember
that Doug is going to be fine, his mom loves him and
her finacee is a good dad to him I'm sure.  You at
least know he's in good hands."

"I guess," Stanley said. "Just the thought of not
seeing him ever, it's a lot."

"Yea, I know," Marcus sighed. "You want to come out of
the stall?  We can go get some coffee and talk some
more."

"Actually," Stanley said opening the stall door and
walking out, "I should get back to work and just try
and focus on other things."

"All right," Marcus said. "Well if you need me, you
know where my office is."

"Thanks Mar," Stanley said giving Marcus a hug.  The
two then headed out of the bathroom and went back to
work.

Over at Dr. Waissman's office, Jake and Tyler were
getting a little deeper into their session.


"Now Jake, how do you feel about all of this?" Dr.
Waissman asked.

"After Tyler and I had broken up I felt like my world
here was over," Jake began. "So, I packed my things
and I left and moved to New York.  I figured I'd start
a new life and make a fresh start, but then Tyler
flies over and tells me that he loves me.  He made
this big grand leap of faith for us and when he did I
felt that things would be perfect again.  For him to
travel all that way for me, he obviously loved me and
forgave me.  We went back to California and things
were okay, we were living together again."

"So you felt that things would go back to the way they
were," Dr. Waissman observed.

"Yes," Jake answered. "But then I realized that he
wanted me to work at the restaurant with him because
he didn't trust me which I completely understood.  I
realized I had to earn his trust back, but then the
night Miles showed back up again it seemed like
everything we had worked so hard to fix just fell
apart in a second.  And now I don't know where we
stand."

"Tyler, did you truly forgive Jake when you had flown
over to New York to get him back?" Dr. Waissman asked.

"Yes, I did," Tyler replied. "Well, at least I thought
I did."

"So why did you go to New York if you didn't truly
forgive him?" Dr. Waissman asked.

"I thought love was enough," Tyler answered simply. "I
thought that love was all I needed to keep this
relationship going."

"Are you saying there isn't enough to keep the
relationship going?" Jake asked turning to look at
Tyler.

"I don't know Jake," Tyler said quietly. "I honestly
don't know."

"I see," Jake replied nodding his head slowly. "I just
need to use the restroom real quick, I'll be right
back."

Jake then got up and went out the door, he walked
quickly down the hall to the bathroom.  Once he closed
the door he bursted into tears.  Jake came to the
sudden realization that not only was he slowly losing
his boyfriend, but his best friend as well.

Back in Dr. Waissman's office, Tyler was thinking
about everything him and Jake have gone through and
wondering where it's going to go.

"Tyler," Dr. Waissman said getting his attention.

"Yes?" Tyler asked.

"Maybe it'll be easier to answer this question with
Jake not here," Dr. Waissman began, "Do you really
want this relationship to last?"

Tyler took a deep breath, not sure how to answer that
question.

Over at Marcus' office he was sitting at his desk,
ignoring the files of paper work he has to get
through, instead he was just thinking over his
situation with Trevor.  As he was thinking it over his
cell phone rang.  Marcus looked at the caller ID and
say it was Kyle.

"Hey Kyle," Marcus said answering the phone.

"Hey," Kyle replied. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," Marcus answered.

"Are you busy?" Kyle asked.

"I should be, but I haven't really been paying
attention to my work today," Marcus answered.

"Can we talk?" Kyle asked.

"Of course," Marcus replied. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Kyle said.
"With the whole 'I love you' thing between you and
Trevor."

"I was actually just thinking about that," Marcus
replied.

"You wish you said it back to him huh?" Kyle asked.

"Yea," Marcus confessed. "He just said it out of the
blue and I was so overwhelmed by it that I didn't stop
to really think if I loved him too."

"Do you?" Kyle asked.

"Yea," Marcus replied. "I do."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Kyle asked. "Tell
him."

"But I just had him take it back," Marcus countered.

"So?" Kyle asked. "Doesn't mean you can't tell him you
love him."

"Don't you think it's bad timing now though?" Marcus
asked. "Things are so odd between him and me now."

"All that awkwardness and confusion will go away once
he knows you love him too," Kyle replied. "Just
because you had him take it back, doesn't mean he
doesn't love you.  He's just waiting for you to tell
him that you love him."

"You think?" Marcus asked.

"I know," Kyle replied.

"You know, I think you're right," Marcus said. "Thanks
Kyle."

"No problem," Kyle replied.

"So how are things with you?" Marcus asked.

Kyle debated telling Marcus about the resurfacing
resentment against David, but decided to just keep it
to himself. "Things are great." Kyle replied simply.

"Good," Marcus said. "Everything is all right with you
and David?"

"Yea, things are perfect," Kyle lied.

"That's good," Marcus said. "You know who's not good?
Stanley.  Poor guy, he had a break down today."

"Is he all right?" Kyle asked concerned.

"I went and talked to him," Marcus replied. "He
decided to just focus on work though and not try and
think about things."

"Well, at least he's keeping himself busy," Kyle said.

"Yea, but we should take him out this week," Marcus
suggested. "Cheer him up a bit."

"Sounds like a good idea," Kyle replied. "Well take
him out to dinner."

"Yea, oh and speaking of dinners, what should I do
tonight for Trevor?" Marcus asked. "I should try and
make it a special occasion."

"Make him a real extravagant meal," Kyle suggested.
"Set the mood so it's really romantic and then just
tell him you love him."

"I won't have time," Marcus said. "I don't get out of
court until five."

"Well, I get out of work in a few hours so I'll cook
the dinner," Kyle said. "Just come and pick it up
after work okay?"

"Would you really do that for me?" Marcus asked.

"Of course," Kyle replied. "This is a big event for
you two and I want this to be perfect for you guys."

"Thank you so much," Marcus said gratefully.

"No problem," Kyle said.

"What would I do with out you?" Marcus asked.

"Suffer endlessly no doubt," Kyle joked.

"Well I have to get back to work so I'll talk to you
later okay?" Marcus said.

"All right, see you later," Kyle replied as they hung
up the phone.

Over at Dr. Waissman's office Tyler was still
pondering her last question.

"Do I want our relationship to last?" Tyler asked.

"Yes, it really comes down to that," Dr. Waissman
said. "I can't help you two if the answer is no."

"Do you?" Jake asked, afraid of what the answer is
going to be.

Tyler thought over everything him and Jake had been
through, the good times, the bad, everything, but
through it all there was only one answer that he could
come up with.

"Yes," Tyler replied. "Yes, I want us to last.  I may
not know a lot of things regarding us and our future
but I do know that I want us to last."

"All right," Dr. Waissman said nodding.

"But as much as I want us to last, I don't know
exactly if we can," Tyler added. "We've been through
so much, how will we be able to move past it?"

"That's why I'm here," Dr. Waissman said. "To help you
both find a way to move past all of this."

"So what do we do first?" Jake asked.

"You let it all out," Dr. Waissman simply said. "Let
out all of your pent up angers and resentments."

Tyler and Jake both nodded slightly understanding.

"Jake, why don't you go first," Dr. Waissman said.

Jake was silent for a moment, he then took a deep
breath and let it all out.

"I've done everything I could possibly do to make our
relationship work," Jake began, "I've apologized
hundreds of times, I started working at the restaurant
so you can keep an eye on me.  I'm with you 24/7 just
so you know where I am all the time so you won't have
to worry that I'm with someone else.  I can only do so
much to re-assure you."

"Fine," Tyler replied.

"Obviously it's not fine if you're still mad at me,"
Jake said. "Maybe I'm just apologizing for the wrong
thing, what is it you're really mad at me about?!"

"You just left," Tyler finally said.

"What?" Jake asked confused.

"You just left," Tyler repeated. "After I broke up
with you, I don't know, I guess on some level I was
hoping you would fight for me.  But you didn't."

"I don't understand," Jake said. "You wanted me to
fight for us so you broke up with me?"

"I broke up with you because I was mad at you," Tyler
said. "But at the same time I wanted to see if you
really did care about us and fight for us, I figured
it's the least you could do after betraying me like
that."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Dr. Waissman said.

"How could I have fought for you?" Jake asked. "You
wanted nothing to do with me."

"We both used to say how you and I are going to last
forever," Tyler said. "If that was the case then I
thought maybe you would have fought to keep us
together.  I knew we were supposed to be together so I
was the one who had to go after you, why is that?"

"I don't know," Jake said.

"How is that fair that you can cheat on me and yet I
still have to be the one to bring you home," Tyler
asked.

"I didn't know how to deal with it," Jake replied. "I
didn't know how to deal with you and everything.  I
thought you hated me, I thought I was giving you what
you wanted.  I wanted you everyday we were apart, but
I didn't think you wanted me."

"I did want you," Tyler said. "I wanted you to fight
for me."

Both grew silent to absorb everything that had been
revealed.

"Well I think we definitely have some things to work
out," Dr. Waissman concluded. "The good news is that I
definitely see a solution to both of your problems.
So how about we meet once a week for now and see how
things go?"

Both just nodded quietly knowing that this is going to
be a tough battle.

That night Marcus had gotten off of work and picked up
the food that Kyle had made and went home.  He called
up Trevor to have him come over and began preparing
the table setting.  He lit some candles through out
the room and put on a romantic cd.  He then got
dressed and right when he finished the doorbell rang.

Marcus opened the door to Trevor who smiled a little
nervously, still not sure how things were after they
left the awkwardness a week ago.

"Come in," Marcus said taking Trevor's hand.  Trevor
walked in and was in shock at the romantic setting.

"What's all this?" Trevor asked.

"I thought it would be nice for us to have a candlelit
dinner tonight," Marcus replied.

"Sounds good to me," Trevor said.

"Wine?" Marcus asked.

"Please," Trevor replied as Marcus handed him a glass
of white wine.

"Here's to us," Marcus said.

"To us," Trevor agreed as they clinked glasses.

They both took a small sip.

"So how are you doing?" Trevor asked. "I haven't
talked to you for a couple days."

"I know, I'm sorry," Marcus replied. "I just had to
sort some things out."

"I see," Trevor replied. "So is everything all right?"

"Yea," Marcus answered. "In fact, everything is
perfect."

Good," Trevor said.

"Let's sit down and eat," Marcus said as they walked
over to the table to sit.

"Wow, the food looks great," Trevor said as he looked
at the salad, shrimp scampi pasta, bread sticks, and
steamed vegetables.

"Thank you," Marcus replied.  The two sat down and
Marcus raised his glass again. "I'd like to make one
more toast."

"Okay," Trevor said lifting up his glass.

"Trevor, what you said last week I will admit shocked
me," Marcus began. "And I know I didn't handle it as
well as I should have.  I guess it was because I was
so caught up in the excitement of just seeing you and
being with you that I didn't really take the time to
figure out what all that excitement was coming from."

"Where was it coming from?" Trevor asked.

"I realized that I don't want you to take back what
you said last week," Marcus continued. "In fact I want
to take this time to say that I love you too. I love
you so much."

"Yeah?" Trevor asked with a growing smile.

"Yeah," Marcus replied. "I love you."

"I love you," Trevor answered.

"Cheers," Marcus said with a smile still holding up
his glass.

"Cheers," Trevor answered setting his glass down,
leaning over the table and kissing Marcus.

Later that night Stanley was lying in bed looking at
the picture of him and his son.  Randal got in to bed
and put his arms around Stanley.

"You okay?" Randal asked.

"I don't know," Stanley replied. "I think I am one
minute, then the next I feel like I'm falling apart."

"It's going to take time," Randal said. "But you will
get past this, just remember that he is going to be
safe and loved."

"I know," Stanley replied. "I just wish I was the one
loving him and keeping him safe."

Stanley then began to cry again.

"Babe, it's okay," Randal said holding Stanley
tighter. "You're going to be okay.  Is there anything
I can do?"

"Just hold me," Stanley said quietly.

"Always," Randal answered as Stanley leaned against
his chest in tears.

Over at David and Kyle's apartment the two were in
bed.  David was reading a book while Kyle was watching
tv, both of them were a good distance apart from each
other in the bed.  After a few more minutes Kyle
turned off the tv as David set down his book.

"Well goodnight," Kyle said.

"Goodnight," David replied as him and Kyle gave a
quick kiss and then turned off the lights.  They both
rolled on their sides facing away from each other and
fell asleep, still keeping the distance between them.

****************************************************************************
To Be Continued...

Thank you all again for reading, sorry this one took a
while to come up.  Any questions comments or feedback
please e-mail me at ilj4ever44@yahoo.com.  Thank you!