Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2012 21:47:19 -0800
From: Douglas DD DD <thehakaanen@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Big Time  Chapter 50

Welcome back to another chapter of The Big Time. The high school
story line features a special invitation for Eric and a rare spat between
Eric and Noah. The seventh grade section is a peek at some of the
goings on in some select bedrooms.

Be safe, be 18, contribute to Nifty, and remember this story is mine.

Douglas  thehakaanen@hotmail.com



CHAPTER 50
LEARNING EXPERIENCE

<Senior year, Wednesday, July 5 >

Wednesday had us playing the Harborview Tugs at home in a league
game. We had lost the game at their place 6-5 with Scott starting.
The day was gray and breezy, with the temperature around 65. The
breeze made it feel cooler. This time I started and went all seven
innings and pitched a 3-hit shutout. I didn't give up the first hit until
there were two outs in the fifth inning. Kevin was excited after the
fourth inning.

"Damn, I want to catch a no-hitter so bad," he said in the dugout. Of
course I gave up the first hit, a solid double, in the next inning. He
came out to the mound and said, "Well, I guess the no-hitter waits for
another game", making it sound as if I didn't really want to throw a no-
hitter.

"Ya think?' I retorted. "Maybe if you didn't jinx me in the dugout last
inning by talking about it, it might have happened."

"I just wanted to make sure you knew what was going on."
Sometimes he thinks everything is all about the catcher.

"Maybe you just needed to put down the right fingers and call better
pitches," I told him.

"Better yet, put the pitches I call in the right place. You owe me a
blow job for giving up that hit."

"Your place or mine?"

The umpire told us to play ball and the question was left unanswered.

Carl and Danny each knocked in a pair of runs as we won 6-0, giving
us a 4-5 record in league and a 10-13 record overall. It seemed as if
things were starting to come together for us.

I spent the night at Noah's house. Our sex was a little different than
usual. I let Noah fuck me, which was not our normal routine, but
sometimes Noah liked being the top. To make it even more different,
Nicky sat in the recliner and watched us, the sexy thirteen year old
jerking himself to two cums by the time Noah and I finished our sex.
Nicky said Jeff was saving himself for his date with Marty. He had
asked if he could do a three way with us, which was fine with me. But
for whatever reason, he ended up just wanting to watch. When we
finished he did ask who was going to lick the cum off of him. That
person ended up being me.

We told Nicky he could stay and sleep with us, but he said he got
what he wanted for the night and we could be alone together. He let
us know we now owed him, however. I was really beginning to owe a
lot of sex to a lot of people.

After Nicky left we ended up having a little bit of serious pillow talk.
The first topic was shrouded in a little bit of mystery, but that was fine.
Noah was the master of shrouding his talk in intrigue.

"What are you doing in August?" Noah asked.

"Lots of stuff. It's a long month, and I don't have it planned out day by
day."

"Maybe I should phrase that differently. Does your family have any
vacation trip plans in August? Are you going to be gone for awhile?"

"No. Dad says he is working on a trip over Christmas break, but he is
being very close-mouthed about what it's all about. He just told me to
plan on us being gone for a few days. If you ask me, dad has
everything planned out, but is being just like you and keeping his
plans unknown. Dad is not the type of person who thinks about
things—he's the type who plans things and then does them."

"Good. Then you can plan to be in Montana the second week in
August. Baseball should be over by then."

"Montana?" I asked. "Why do I want to go to Montana?"

Noah flashed me a coy look. "Because I want you to go there with
me, maybe?"

"I would like to hear more reason than that."

"Trust me. I'll tell you in good time if you agree to go."

"You and my dad must have read the same book on how to be
ambiguous."

Noah chuckled and said, "Just say yes and the rest will be revealed
soon."

I was not ready to say yes, yet. I had too many questions that needed
answering, the foremost question being how we would get there. "I
mean we can't drive there, I don't know about Idaho and Montana,
but Washington has its dumb restricted license law."

"That's easy, we take the train."

"And I can afford the train because..."

"Because you and I have a thriving lawn mowing business and that
makes you Mr. Moneybags. If we go by coach, it's not that expensive.
Especially since dad said he would pay half the rail fare."

"But then we need to pay for a hotel."

"I have a place for us to stay for free."

I stared up at the ceiling, realizing that Noah was shooting down my
arguments one by one. When he did that his record of winning an
argument was exactly one hundred percent.

"Eric, this is something really important to me and I want you with me.
Please say yes."

When Noah got that suppliant tone in his voice and that pleading look
in his eyes, I have found it impossible to say no to him. As I thought
about saying yes, he added the kicker. "It has to do with fighting what
you call my demon," he said in a soft whisper.

That was the clincher. "Tell your dad to buy the tickets." I still had no
real idea what this was about, but I trusted Noah and I knew if it was
important to him it was important to me.

He turned toward me and kissed me, his eyes lit up with happiness.
"It's going to be good, you'll see."

"I know it is, my love. You wouldn't want me to do it if it wasn't good."

The next topic was about the pairings, specifically Noah having been
paired with Scott. It led to one of our few disagreements.

Noah told me that Scott had asked him before the game when they
were going to get together for their pairing. He said they hadn't set a
date, but they agreed it would be soon.

"I can't believe Chandler and Korey made that pairing," I said. "I
mean, they know the history of you and me and of me and Scott."

Noah was his usual matter-of-fact self about it. "We agreed
unanimously to all participate in the pairings and we agreed to accept
the pairings that those two put together. It is what it is."

"That doesn't make it right."

"What do you want me to do about it, not pair up with him?"

"The thought had occurred to me."

Noah gave me a look of dismay. "This whole pairing thing was your
idea. Let's do it for team bonding, you said. Blaine and Gavin are
doing it even though they really don't want any part of it. I think the
same goes for Justin, who's already done both of his pairs. And now
you're telling me you want to pick and choose."

"I just don't think you should pair up with him, that's all."

"What do you suggest I do? Because if I don't do it, the whole thing
comes to an end and you are the one with egg on your face."

"Just tell Scott you'll wait on doing anything. Give me a chance to
think about it."

Noah's eyes flashed with a rare touch of anger. "What makes you the
boss who makes these decisions for me? This wasn't my idea, it was
yours."

"I didn't think you'd be teamed up with Scott."

"Are you jealous? Jealous that I get to do something sexual with Scott
when you can't or won't? And besides, I think Chandler and Korey
knew exactly what they were doing. This is kind of a closure thing,
something to bring down any walls separating the three of us. And
obviously at least one wall exists."

Noah has this way of seeing right through people, me included, and
hitting close to home with his insights. He certainly did in this case. I
wasn't sure how to respond, so I said nothing.

Noah continued with his diatribe. "Okay, so let's bring this pairing
thing to a grinding halt. I don't want you messing around with Blaine if
you don't want me messing around with Scott."

"And why not? Blaine and I have never had any kind of relationship."

"My reason is because I just don't want you to, which makes as much
sense as your reason for my not messing with Scott. So live with it."

"Damn, you can be stubborn."

"I'm stubborn? I've got elastic flexibility compared to you. You are the
most stubborn person I know when you set your mind to something."

"I gotta think this over."

"There's nothing to thing about, but I'll let you have your fun. I don't
touch Scott and you don't touch Blaine until you're done thinking. I
already know what you're going to decide, I just have to wait for it to
happen."

"If you know, just tell me."

Noah shook his head. "It's always better when you discover it for
yourself."

I knew I wasn't really all that stubborn, or at least that's what I thought
back then. But I wasn't going to convince Noah of that, since he was
the stubborn one.

Noah wrapped his arm around me. "I still love you, though."

"I love you, too, kid. I love you so very much."

"I love you more."

They always say that sex after an argument was better than any
other time. Since Noah and I so rarely argue we hardly ever seem to
be able to test that theory. While this wasn't truly an argument, it was
more of a disagreement, we did put the theory to the test. "They"
seem to be right. The love making was fantastic.

++++++++++

<Seventh grade, Saturday, March 15>

It was the Saturday before baseball turnouts started. Monday was the
big day and the Mayfield boys were excited. While the work they had
put into the Go to State team dealt with the summer program not the
school program, the fact that baseball was starting was all the boys
needed to know. They didn't care that it was mid-March and the
weather would be cold, gray, wet, and windy. All they cared about
was it was time for baseball and they were ready for it—maybe more
ready than they had ever been in their young lives. That weekend
before baseball started was approached by the different boys in
different ways.

<Eric>

Eric spent the afternoon at Pooh Bear Pizza, where Lars had his
thirteenth birthday party. He'd turned thirteen on the thirteenth, but
today was party day.

Eric, Scott, the twins, Hunter, Danny, Carl, Noah, Bobby, Jeremy, and
Skip were there. Of course Lars got a great deal of grief about having
his thirteenth birthday on the thirteenth. Noah even brought a birthday
card with a picture of a black cat on the front. After the pizza was
eaten and all the birthday fun was over, Kevin and the two boys from
Evans Middle School, Jeremy and Skip, headed to Lars's house to
spend the night.

Eric spent the evening at home, not at all tempted to attend the big
bash that night that a lot of his friends were going to, either openly or
on the sly depending on the attitudes of their parents. His mother was
at some bridge tournament, so he and his dad sat in the family room
watching "Little Big League" and "Sandlot". Eric liked all the cute boys
in both movies and had to make sure his boner was hidden a couple
of times.

Eric and his dad talked about Eric's first year in Mayfield and about
the upcoming baseball season.

"You should be really proud or what you've accomplished in the year
you've lived here."

"I guess. I haven't done that much," Eric said with false modesty.

"I'd say that getting an entire non-profit organization started would
have to be classified as doing quite a bit."

Eric was rather proud of the Mayfield Mustang Travel Team, or the
Go to State Team as they unofficially called it. Since it had gotten off
the ground in June they'd acquired a coach, a business manager,
their own board of directors, an advisory board of adults, a primary
sponsor, and numerous smaller sponsors. They'd sold ads for their
team program and for the fences at the high school field. They found
somebody to take charge of their fundraising and had two fundraisers
upcoming. Plus, they had become an official non-profit organization.
And through all of that, even though they needed to have adults do
the heavy work, their own board of directors was officially in charge of
the organization, with Eric as the chairman.

Mr. McCall would be working on a non-league schedule once the
local league published the league schedule. He was also working on
an out-of-state tournament for July, probably in the Portland, Oregon
area.

"We have to stay close to home in this first year," he told he full
membership at their last meeting, "since we're still in the process of
accumulating funds." He had already told the board that he felt that
next summer they should shoot for a tournament in California. "The
level of competition will be a total learning experience, not to mention
what you'd all learn about each other travelling together."

They also had uniforms. Although they were a year old they were like
new, with their Champion Sporting Good sponsor replacing most of
the pants. Each set had a pair of pants, socks, two jerseys, a mock
turtleneck, and a jacket. Hats would be purchased once the team was
picked and the hats could be sized. Eric would have preferred the
team name being the Mustangs instead of the Falcons, but he
understood that Mr. Hawkins was able to save a lot of money by
using the Falcon uniform shirts.

"I know one thing that's better," Eric said to his father.

"What's that, son?"

"I know I'll make the team, even if it's just the JV team."

"Eric, you know you're going to make the varsity. I think that's a
given."

"Dad, once you think something like that is a given then you don't
work as hard for it, and then you might not get what you think you
had...if that makes sense."

"It makes perfect sense. You're a pretty bright and thoughtful
individual, which is why you'll do just fine next week."

"I think being a good baseball player helps, too."

Letting out a hearty laugh Eric's father put an arm around his son's
shoulder and held him tightly. Eric let himself be pulled in and
snuggled next to his dad. While he was getting to the age where he
was starting to flaunt his sense of independence, he was also still a
twelve year old boy who still needed the loving masculine touch of his
father on occasion.

<Marty>

Marty's Saturday was spent at the home of one of the Go to State
Team's adult advisors, George Bednarzyck. He knew about the big
bash and knew he would be in trouble if he went there. He wasn't
thinking of being in trouble with his father, or with Mr. B. He was
thinking of himself. He could still remember all too clearly waking up
in the hospital after the last time he drank—and he knew for a fact
that he couldn't drink. One was indeed too many, and two was not
enough.

Instead of partying, Marty ended up in bed with a seven year old,
giving him his first blow job.

<Noah and Bobby>

Noah and Bobby never even considered going to the big bash. Unlike
many of their friends and teammates, they weren't the least bit
curious about what drinking alcohol or being drunk was all about. But
they did end up spending the night in a bed they hadn't planned on.

"This bed is so cool," Bobby said as he and Noah snuggled in the big
four poster which was upstairs in the McGowan farmhouse. The two
boys had spent the day helping John McGowan with his chores and
with some basic upkeep. Noah received lessons on proper tool use
and could now drive a nail accurately with minimal strokes.

They were going to go horseback riding, but the continuing rain
showers put a damper on that. The forecast was for dryer weather
the next day, Sunday, so the boys ended up getting permission to
spend the night on the farm so they could ride horses the next
morning.

"This whole house is cool," Noah said. "It's so big and with all kinds of
hidden places. Plus it's old, but still has some modern stuff. And the
McGowans are really nice people."

"I love them," Bobby said. "They're like my grandparents. And Mrs.
McGowan helped mom to stop drinking. And Mr. McGowan has
helped fix some things at the trailer. We might even move out to an
apartment before I start eighth grade, mom told me."

"Even Ikey likes it here," Noah said. Ikey, Noah's family dog, had
ridden with them in John's pickup and had had fun all afternoon
chasing cats, squirrels, and chickens. He was now curled up at the
foot of the bed, dreaming about becoming a full-time farm dog.

Noah kissed Bobby on the lips, a chaste kiss that soon became much
more and led to Noah pulling the covers back and putting his lips
around Bobby's throbbing four inch boy cock. Bobby moaned lightly
from the pleasure as Noah used his expert mouth and tongue on the
freckled redhead. Noah could tell that Bobby's cock, though still
mostly hairless, was growing, and that his smooth balls were growing
and dropping as well.

As Noah pleasured Bobby with a blow job, John and Maggie
McGowan were talking in the parlor, enjoying the heat emanating
from the fireplace.

"Those boys are in love, you know," Maggie said.

"Friends always love one another," John told her.

"John McGowan, sometimes you can be the densest man on Earth. I
said they were IN love."

"You mean, as in they are gay? They are twelve years old, what are
you talking about?"

"Noah is eleven, but that's beside the point. I don't mean they are
gay, I mean they are in love."

"Maggie, you are the romantic in the family, but there really is no way
you can tell these things."

"Of course you can." Maggie said. "You can see it in their eyes."

John grunted and Maggie continued, "Boys being in love has nothing
to do with being homosexual. It has everything to do with being in
love."

"Ah, you mean they are in love without sex being involved."

"I didn't say that either."

"Maggie McGowan, sometimes you can be the most confusing
woman on Earth."

"You remember back when John Junior was that age, Mike Priddy
was his best friend."

"How can I forget? They're still friends after all these years."

"Back then they were in love."

"Come again."

"They were in love. They were lovers, I imagine from when they were
around eleven or twelve into high school, even after they started
dating girls."

"You can't know that."

"Moms know these things. Boys leave evidence behind even when
they think they aren't. And we can read it in their eyes."

"You're saying Junior was gay?"

"I'm saying he was in love, just like those two boys are. I'm saying he
and Mike enjoyed sex with each other, just like those two might be
doing right now, right up above us."

"But they're adults with jobs and families and..."

"I swear you were never a boy. Growing up on a farm must have
stunted your growth. I saw this happening all the time when I was
teaching."

"How come you never told me about Junior and Mike back then?"

"I did. You're reaction was to say, `That's nice dear.'"

"I guess you might be right, I am dense."

"Today those two bond as men. Back then they bonded in their own
way as boys. Noah and Bobby are doing that now, bonding as boys,
and I think it is very sweet."

"Like I said, you're quite the romantic."

Meanwhile, upstairs in the bedroom, Bobby had his legs in the air as
Noah did his best to fuck his best friend, his boyfriend, his lover.
Noah knew that Bobby had taken the cock of his fifteen year old
brother Tyler earlier in the week and that his own cock fell far short in
length. But as Bobby told him, "You make up for that by being my
boyfriend and by kissing me better and making me cum better."

"I love you, Bobby," Noah said as quietly as he could as he humped
the twelve year old beneath him. The springs were squeaking and
both boys were worried about the McGowans coming upstairs and
hearing the noise, but their bedroom was downstairs and it was
unlikely they'd be coming up.

Noah pulled out of Bobby's ass and started dry humping him, his
hairless 3.5 inch cocklet rubbing on and alongside Bobby's. He
kissed Bobby deeply and then decided to end their sex they way he
had begun it, with Bobby's cock in his mouth.

Noah shifted around and the two preteens were soon in a sixty-nine
position. Even though Noah's cock had just been in his ass, Bobby
took it into his mouth and the two boys sucked each other eagerly.
Noah was soon experiencing an intense dry cum and within seconds
he tasted the sweet clear juice produced by Bobby.

The two boys snuggled and kissed after their cum. "Did you taste
anything?" Noah asked. On some occasions he'd been able to
produce a clear drop when he climaxed.

"Not this time."

"Dang."

The topic moved from sex to baseball as the two talked about the
upcoming turnouts. Neither boy felt confident about making the
varsity, but they each knew that as long as they worked hard they'd
have a spot on the JV team.

"You'll make varsity," Bobby said.

"Not if I'm not going to play much. I know how those coaches think.
They're not going to have a seventh grader riding the pine. They'll
want us both on the JV playing a lot."

"You're good enough to play a lot."

"I'm a year younger than everybody, remember? That's not an
advantage when you're playing sports, unless you're a stud. I know I
am no stud. And besides, I think you're good enough to play varsity,
too."

"We'll see," Bobby said. "I just want to play baseball...I don't care
where."

"Me too. I'm so excited to start."

More kisses ended the conversation and the two naked boys, after a
long day of doing farm chores, found themselves drifting off to sleep.

<Kevin and Lars>

Lars had the pillows piled on his bed, his head resting on the stack as
he eased his legs back over his shoulders. His hard, hairless cock,
which had grown to almost five inches, was pointing at his face. While
Lars was not happy about still not having any pubes at thirteen, he
was proud of the length of his boy tool and of the size of his dropping
balls. He was also very proud that he could do what he was about to
demonstrate to his old friends from Evans as well as his little brother
Alex who had somehow snuck into the festivities.

It wasn't like Alex hadn't seen Lars do this stunt before. Alex had
often seen Lars and Kevin naked and had been naked with the two of
them. At six, Alex wasn't completely cognizant of the sexual
implications of some of the things that went on between Lars and
Kevin, or of what his brother's stunt was really about.  He was happy
that he could be naked with the big boys—it made him feel grown up.
Kevin and Kraig had long ago kept their promise about letting him see
them naked, so he was pretty happy all the way around.

"He's going to lick his wiener," Alex said proudly. He knew his brother
could do it, but that Kevin and Kraig couldn't, because he'd watched
them try. He wondered if he'd be able to do it when he got bigger. He
wasn't sure why it was such a big deal, but as long as everybody else
thought it was he'd play along and think it was as well. Lars and
Kevin had been pretty open sexually around Alex since Lars had
moved to Mayfield, but they hadn't done anything sexual to him. All
Alex knew was that he liked being naked with the older boys. What
he didn't know was that Lars and Kevin had discussed giving him a
blow job some day and really introducing him into the world of sex.
But it never got beyond idle chatter.

Skip and Jeremy had not yet seen Lars lick his own dick, but they had
heard he was capable of doing it. Lars stuck his tongue out and
pushed his hips back. The tip of his tongue reached the head of his
cock. He pushed his hips back a little more and he was able to touch
his member with his lips. He jiggled his hips slightly and his cock slid
along his bottom lip. He was totally turned on and knew he wasn't
going to last. Lars placed his right hand on his cock, groaned, opened
his mouth, and shot his load into his mouth and onto his tongue. He
curled his tongue, tasted his cum, and then swallowed, dropping his
butt flat on the bed.

"Holy shit!" Skip said as the twelve year old's hand flew along his
cock. "That was fucking creepy and awesome," not doubting that
something could be both at the same time.

"Lars peed in his mouth," Alex said, awestruck by what he'd just
seen. It was the first time Alex and seen cum as Kevin and Lars had
always chased him out of the room before the sex got serious. But
Lars had already been so close to cumming he hadn't had the time or
inclination to chase his little brother out of the room.  After his night
with Lars and his friends, Alex's life would never be the same again.
The sex genie had been let out of the bottle.

Before anybody could say anything to Alex, Skip had a cum of his
own, shooting his boy cum onto Lars, who was still lying on his back.
Alex started jumping up and down pointing. "He peed on Lars."

Lars was beginning to doubt the wisdom of letting Alex stay and
watch them all get naked and mess around, but he really hadn't had
any choice. His parents and sister had gone to a movie and he was
asked to baby sit Alex. Of course he pleaded that this was his
birthday overnight party, but as happened so often with his parents,
he lost the argument. The only good thing about it was that Alex was
used to being naked around boys with boners and knew to keep his
mouth shut. And Lars knew the only way he could insure that Alex
would keep his mouth shut was to let him watch.

The older boys patiently explained to Alex what cumming was about,
and Kevin, who was close to orgasm, gave a firsthand demonstration
by cumming over the six year old's chest and belly. Alex thought it
was really cool, having seen his brother swallow his own cum, he
scooped some up and tasted it. "Yummy," he said, not really meaning
it. He rubbed his tummy like he was satisfied, but also rubbing
Kevin's cum around his skin at the same time.

Lars and Kevin were two boys who wished they could have found a
way to make it to the big bash. They were both curious about what
getting drunk was all about. But they were happy to be messing
around with Skip and Jeremy, and even pleased to have finally taken
Alex to a new sexual level after being coy with him for all these
months.

Jeremy was the last of the four boys to shoot his sperm. It was good
he came when he did, because they could hear a car pull into the
driveway. It was time do get their sweats on as the remainder of
Lars's family was coming home. Kevin quickly grabbed a tissue and
cleaned up Alex before the six year old pulled his pajamas on.

That night Alex slept in his own room, Skip and Jeremy slept in
sleeping bags on the floor, and Kevin slept with Lars, as he always
did. All five boys had pleasant dreams that night, but Alex's may have
been the best. He had just learned that there was much more to
getting naked with Lars and Kevin than just getting naked and playing
with their wieners for awhile.

<Hunter and Kraig>

Both boys had wanted badly to be able to go to the bash. They, too,
wanted to know what getting drunk was like, and doing it for the first
time at a beer party with their friends appealed to their prurient
interests. At the same time they had a healthy respect for their
parents that had an underlying current of fear. So, instead of getting
drunk at a beer bash they were sitting in the twin's room, each
wearing a t-shirt and briefs, killing off masses of soldiers as they
played a bloody computer game.

Kraig had been invited to Lars's overnight party, but since Hunter
hadn't been, Kraig declined. The reason Hunter wasn't invited was
simply that Lars was allowed to invite only so many friends, and while
he and Hunter were friends, they weren't close friends, at least not
close enough to merit an invitation to spend the night. Kevin and
Kraig both found the situation to be somewhat ironic, since Lars and
Hunter could be considered their boyfriends. Besides, for Kraig and
Hunter there was still that underlying thought that they could
somehow escape the house and sneak off to the party.

They reached the end of their game and put it on pause. It was time
to lick their wounds.

"I still can't believe you and Kev came out to your dad," Hunter said.

"That was a month ago, and you've spent almost every day since not
believing it."

"And you're both still alive." Hunter paused and said, "And so am I."

"I told you my parents wouldn't tell anybody. Dad says anybody who
comes out has to do it on their own, like me and Kraig did. Besides,
he still doesn't believe we're really gay. Him and mom think it's just a
phase or something like that."

"Well, still, they could've told."

"Dude, you gotta know your parents. We had them figured out pretty
close."

They were interrupted by a knock at the bedroom door. Since Korey
was spending the night at Chandler's and Keith was at a youth group
camp for the weekend, the knock could only be coming from Kraig's
mom or dad.

"Come in," Kraig said. His father entered the room and took a seat on
Kraig's bed. Seeing the boys in just their underwear didn't surprise
him; in fact he was surprised they were wearing that much.

"I just had a nice chat with Hunter's father."

Hunter's face turned white. "Oh, shit, you didn't tell him I was gay did
you?" Hunter blurted out. He then became a deep red when he
realized what he had said.

"Now why would I do that?" Kraig's dad asked.

"Um...well, I dunno. I guess, you know, because me and Kraig are
best friends and he's gay and you told my dad..."

"Slow down, son. Do not worry, we are not going to out you."

"Well, I'm not gay or anything, but I was just saying...you know,
people might think I was gay, like my dad..."

"Nobody thinks your gay, Hunter, so relax."

"So what did you two talk about?" Kraig asked as Hunter tried to
regain his composure.

"I guess there's a party for the baseball team at one of the eighth
grader's houses tonight. It is supervised by a parent, but supposedly
it is a party where alcohol is being served."

"I heard the same thing," Kraig said.

"I can imagine you did. I am willing to bet that you two were invited."

"Yeah, I guess we were," Hunter volunteered.

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm proud that you guys didn't go
sneaking around trying to go to it. That shows a lot of maturity." More
maturity than Keith, Kraig's dad thought, who did sneak off even
though he was older and in high school.

"Um, well, we didn't want to get in trouble or nothing," Kraig said. "But
I guess we did want to know what drinking beer was all about. But
most of us seventh graders didn't go from what everybody's been
saying."

"I'm proud that you are among the ones who didn't go. Now, how
about the two of you coming down to the kitchen for a moment."

The two twelve year olds followed Kraig's dad to the kitchen, having
no idea what he had in mind. Kraig's dad opened the refrigerator and
pulled out a six-pack of beer. The two boys stared at it wide-eyed.

"Hunter, your dad and I both agreed you've earned yourself a taste of
what you missed. It's probably something I should have done for
Keith—he might have not felt he needed so sneak around. It was the
sneaking and lying, not the drinking, that got your brother into
trouble."

"But my dad doesn't drink," Hunter said. "Why would he say it's
okay?"

"I'll make this brief. Not drinking is the choice of lifestyle your mom
and dad have made. But we both grew up here in Mayfield, and there
were parties back then just like there are now. My first drunk was at
your age, his was at thirteen. There is a four year difference between
us, so we never really knew each other, but we were both jocks
growing up in the same community. We weren't teetotalers, I'll tell
you that."

"So we get the whole six-pack?" Kraig asked.

"Not quite. You get four bottles to take up to your room. If the two of
you can make it back here without falling down or slurring your words,
you get the last two. I doubt that will be the case." Kraig's father then
went on to give them tips on drinking their beer, like not guzzling it
and drinking it too fast. He swatted both boys on their underwear clad
bottoms and sent them on their way.

When they got to Kraig's room they quickly popped the tops on two
beers. They were both giggly and excited at being treated like grown-
up boys and getting to drink beer. Kraig had tasted his dad's beer
before and didn't care for it, but he knew this time, since it was his
beer and was right out of the refrigerator, that he was going to really
like it.

Hunter took the first swallow and almost spit it out. "Fuck, man, this
tastes like horse piss."

"You would know what horse piss tastes like," Kraig said.

"Speak for yourself. You're the one who had me piss in your mouth."

Kraig took his own swallow and found that the beer tasted as bad as
he remembered it. "You're right, it tastes worse than piss. I liked
drinking your piss better."

The boys each took a couple more swallows, hoping they could find
the magic formula to make the beer taste good. They did like the
warm feeling they were getting from it, and so they took a couple
more swallows before deciding they were feeling good enough.

"If I gotta keep drinking more of this shit to get drunk, who wants to be
drunk?" Kraig said. "I feel pretty good right now."

"Me too."

"Let's take the other beers back to dad." The two boys took the
unopened beers downstairs.

"Back already?" Kraig's dad asked.

"This stuff tastes like piss," Kraig said. "You can have it back." His
dad refrained from being a smartass and asking his son how he knew
what piss tasted like.

"Did you finish the first ones?"

"We had a little bit. It makes my head feel a little weird. It feels nice.
But it's not worth drinking that stuff for."

"Well, it is an acquired taste."

"I ain't acquiring it," Kraig said. As with so many young boys who first
try alcohol those would be famous last words, but for now Kraig and
Hunter felt like they had better things they could do than drink beer—
after they finished what they had left in their room, of course. Kraig's
dad figured it would be awhile before Kraig would be interested in
going to a beer party. In the near future he would have to see how
Kevin reacted.

Hunter and Kraig decide to ignore the advice they'd received and
guzzled down the remaining half-bottles of beer. That led to a long
exchange of loud and obnoxious belches, which they found to be
hilarious. They ended up feeling a pretty good buzz and decided to
rub off on each other.

They pulled off their underpants and got naked, with Kraig getting on
top of Hunter on the bed, one of the rare times Kraig had been on top
of his friend. He started to dry hump Hunter, asking if he could fuck
him now. Hunter grunted something unintelligible before the two
inexperienced drinkers fell asleep, never completing their sex. Falling
asleep during sex ended up being one of many reasons they decided
that drinking alcohol wasn't as exciting as they thought—at least at
age twelve.

Kraig's dad checked in on the boys an hour later. The bedroom was
very quiet, so he knocked lightly. Getting no response he opened the
door to check on the two boys. He found them lying naked on top of
Kraig's bed. He wondered if he should cover them, then decided
against it. The house was warm enough and he knew the boys would
be embarrassed to near death if they knew he'd seen them sleeping
naked together. As he left the room he couldn't help but wonder
about Kevin and Kraig's confessing to being gay.

<The Bash>

The big beer bash was at Vince's house. The eighth grader's father
let Vince and his friend have the basement. He promised not to
disturb them, but he did make Vince's eighteen year old brother,
Brad, be their guardian. Brad was a high school varsity baseball
player. He was sticking to soda for this party. His job was to make
sure none of the rookie drinkers got into trouble. Vince's dad also
kept Vince's nine year old brother Blake out of their way.

The party was attended by Connor, Jerome, and Rodney from the
eighth grade. Rodney rarely attended beer parties, but this was an
exception. Scott, Danny, Carl, Gavin, Nathan, and Todd were the
seventh graders there, while Justin and his friend Ross were the sixth
graders. Scott, Danny, Carl, Gavin, Justin, and Ross had never
attended a beer party before.

The party ended up being a stag affair, with the preteens and young
teens getting themselves horny. There wasn't much sexual activity,
however; just some jerking off (Scott, Danny, Vince, Connor,) and
three blow jobs on a couple of dares (Scott doing Carl and Danny
doing Brad and Justin) and a gaggle of drunk boys. Because of their
youth and inexperience it didn't take much to get most of them drunk
on their ass, and to get both sixth graders puking in the toilet.

As with so many of these affairs, the next morning some of the boys
said they'd never get drunk again as they suffered through their first
hangovers.  What was true is none of them would for a long time,
because baseball started Monday and all of them would take the no
alcohol rule seriously, especially after the coaches laid down the law
at the first turnout.

For all of the boys, partiers and non-partiers, the Mayfield Middle
School Titan baseball program would become the focal point of their
lives for two months.

Next: Play Ball