Parker and I looked at each other. Then I asked Patrick, “Why do you even ask that?”
“Well, like I said, you huddled over there for a whole week and you always seem to be together. But really, I said it just to get a rise out of you, and I succeeded,” he said with a grin on his face.
I was both scared and angry. “Look, smart ass,” I said, “we’re just good friends, and talking like that can cause a lot of trouble, so stop it!”
“O…kay,” he said. “I was just having fun.”
“Well, it’s not funny,” I answered.
“It’s not true, is it?” asked Phillip, one of the boys at the table.
“Of” course not, Patrick answered hastily. “Like I said, I was just trying to get a rise out of them.”
Lunch ended. We got rid of our trash and went to our lockers to get our books for the afternoon.
As usual, Parker and I sat together on the bus. “He’s not gonna let go of it,” Parker said. “That’s the way he is. He loves to get a rise out of people.”
“Right,” I said. “We need to do something. Do you think we should confront him alone?”
Parker nodded.
As Patrick got off the bus behind us, I turned, took hold of his arm, and said, “Wait here.” He looked quizzically at me, but he stayed where he was. When the other kids who got off the bus at our stop had headed towards their homes, I let go of Patrick’s arm.
“Patrick,” I said, “we need to talk. Can you meet us at the ball field in half an hour?”
Patrick looked at me and then at Parker and then back at me. He could see that we were serious, so he said, “Okay,” and with that we parted.
At home, Mom had set out a snack for us as she always did. She knew that two growing boys needed a lot of fuel. When we finished, I said to her, “We’re going to meet Patrick for a few minutes.” She just nodded and Parker and I headed to the field.
As we walked, Parker asked, “So what are we gonna do?”
“I think we need to let him in on our secret and impress on him how important it is that he shut up about it.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. Do you have any other way?”
“Not really.”
“So I guess that’s what we’ll do.”
When we got to the field, Patrick was already there. I motioned to the bench near the pond, and without saying anything, we sat, Patrick between me and Parker.
“You aren’t gonna beat me up, are you?” he asked, half in jest.
“No,” I said, “we just wanna talk.”
“About what I said at the lunch table, right?”
“Yes,” Parker said, “about that.”
“Look guys, I told you I was just kidding around. I didn’t mean it.”
“Maybe,” I said, “but the problem is… you were right.”
Patrick looked surprised and then stricken. “Oh, shit, I’m sorry.”
“Okay. We accept your apology.” I looked at Parker and he nodded. “But even though you said you were just kidding, Phillip picked up on it. You see how quickly something can get started?”
“Yeah,” he said sheepishly.
“The question now is, what do we do about it?”
“I promise I won’t say any more about it. You have my word.”
“Good,” I answered. “I don’t know if you follow the news at all, but have you heard about the Lavender Scare?”
“No, I’ve heard about the Red Scare that McCarthy has stirred up, but I never heard of the Lavender Scare.”
Parker put in, “In some ways it’s like the Red Scare, only it targets homosexuals. It began in the State Department but has spread through congressional hearings to other departments as well. Hundreds of gay guys are losing their jobs. Some have even killed themselves.”
“What are ‘gay guys’?”
“’Gay’ is the new term that homosexual men are using to describe themselves. We prefer it to ‘queer’ or any other term you know.” I went on, “The problem for us is that this is a very bad time to be gay in this country. And without really meaning to, you raised suspicions about us. Oh, I know we won’t lose our jobs because we don’t have any,” I smiled, “but gays are getting attacked and beaten, not just in Washington but all over the country. It’s like Congress gave its permission to hurt us, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there are kids in school who hate gays and who would love to do a bit of beating.”
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry. What do you want me to do?” Patrick asked. “I mean, I can’t go around school shouting ‘Parker and Brian are not gay’, can I?”
“No,” said Parker, but you can shut up about it… completely.”
“And the other thing you can do,” I added, “is to tell us anything you’ve observed about us that might make others think we are gay.”
Patrick thought a minute before he said, “Well, nobody’s gonna believe that Parker’s gay because he’s such a jock, and jocks aren’t gay, are they?” He looked at Parker and then said, “Okay, I guess I’m wrong. I guess they can be gay. But you, Brian, do give off some vibes that have made me wonder. I can’t tell you anything more specific than that, but I’ll try to figure it out and let you know. The other thing is that, like I said at the lunch table, you two are always together. You sit together in the lunchroom, you sit next to each other on the bus, and it seems like, whenever you can manage it during the day, you meet in the halls or at one of your lockers. You do everything but hold hands or kiss.”
“Okay,” Parker said, “so we need to separate more. I guess we can manage that.” He looked at me and I nodded.
Patrick continued, “I’ll keep my eyes open and if I think of anything to help you, I’ll certainly let you know. By the way, I have no problems with you guys being gay or queer or whatever you want to call it. Just don’t try to include me.”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “that will never happen.” And with that we left, Patrick going to his house and Parker and me going to mine, to work on our homework.
As we walked, Parker asked, “Do you think he’ll keep his word?”
“Yeah, I do. I know he likes to stir things up a bit, but he’s a good-hearted kid and I don’t foresee any problems. I’m more concerned about whatever we’re doing that tipped him off.”
We did our homework together as usual. After dinner we read the newspapers as Dad finished them. Eventually we went up to our rooms.
We got ready for bed as usual and Parker came into my room. We lay, side by side, just thinking for a long time. Finally, I asked, “Parker, just tell me truthfully, did you pick up that I was gay before you came to stay here overnight?”
He was silent for a bit before he said, “Truthfully, I thought you might be, and I don’t know why. I’m sure it wasn’t anything you said. I think it had more to do with the way you moved. I don’t mean you’re limp-wristed the way some gays are rumored to be. I guess it was just little things, so I can’t help you change them. I’m sorry.” He turned to me and kissed me gently on the lips.
That night we had calm, loving sex. When we finished, Parker fell asleep in my bed. I lay awake for a long time trying to figure out what “vibes” I gave off.
In the morning, Parker and I did not sit together on the bus. In fact, Patrick sat with me. At school we went our separate ways. In the lunchroom, although we both sat at our usual table with the other boys, we didn’t sit next to each other. And on the bus in the afternoon we again sat separately. The first opportunity we really had to talk was as we scuffled through the leaves on the way to my house.
“I missed you,” I said to Parker, smiling.
“Me too, but I guess that’s what we have to do for a while to stay safe.” And so that’s what we did.
It seemed that separating during the day made our nightly sessions even more intense. One night, as we lay facing each other and kissing, I felt Parker’s hand on my butt. It just rested there for a time and then it moved towards my crack and slid down into it. Again, it stayed until finally his middle finger found its way into my butt hole. I moaned as my excitement grew. He was kissing and nibbling all over my body. He hadn’t done that since the night we both did it. As his finger explored my butt hole, it suddenly touched a deliciously sensitive spot and I nearly cried out. Instead, I moaned repeatedly as he continued to play with that spot, touching it, pulling back from it, and then touching it again.
Keeping his finger where it was, he pushed me gently onto my side. My heart was pounding, and I think I was harder than I had ever been before. As he took my cock into his mouth, I arched my back and came, pumping semen time after time into his mouth. When I finished and Parker had kissed me, sharing some of my cum in my mouth, I lay back, exhausted.
I rested for a few minutes before saying, “Oh my God. That was so good! What is that spot you were touching?”
He grinned. “I have no idea, but you certainly seemed to like it.”
“Well, I can tell you that when you massaged there it was an incredible feeling. Would you like me to try to find yours?” He nodded.
I did all the usual things we had always done, the touching, the kissing, the tonguing, and then I let my hand roam towards his butt, into the crack, and finally with my middle finger, into his hole. I didn’t find the spot at first, but that just encouraged me to search for it, and when I did find it, Parker’s response was immediate.
“Oh God!” he moaned. As he had done for me, I kept working the spot for a while, massaging and then moving away and then massaging again until he said, “I’m gonna cum!” and he arched his back and began to shoot. As he did, his hole contracted, forcing my finger out. He spurted all the way up to his chin, and subsequent spurts hit his chest and then his stomach until he finally stopped. I licked up his cum and kissed him as he had kissed me, giving him some of his own cum back. Finally, we faced each other and embraced, falling asleep that way.
I awoke in the middle of the night. Our hard cocks were pressed against each other. Slowly, I began moving up and down, our boners rubbing each other. As I moved, Parker awoke and began moving with me. I could feel the tension rising in me and I knew that Parker could feel it too. We clung tightly and came together, not as powerfully as we had earlier, but with a wonderful, peaceful, throbbing as we kissed each other. Finally, we lay back and slept until the alarm clock went off in the morning.
We groaned, rolled out of bed, and went into the bathroom to relieve our morning boners. Then we dressed and went downstairs to breakfast.
The days were growing cooler, and it seemed no time before Thanksgiving was in the air. In those days, we only had from Wednesday through the weekend off.
My parents had invited the Johnstons and Parker for Thanksgiving dinner. At first they were a little reluctant to come, but when Grandma Thelma said they’d come if she could bake the rolls and pies, it was agreed.
Parker had spent Tuesday night and Wednesday with his grandparents. When the doorbell rang on Thursday, I went to the door and greeted them, first the adults with hugs and then Parker with a firm hug and a kiss.
Shortly afterward, William and Wayne arrived, and I greeted them with hugs also. When I had William alone for a moment, I asked him about Todd and was delighted to hear that Todd and his partner were now living together.
At dinner we talked about the past year, about the fire, about Parker and me coming out to the adults, and about how good it was to be together. During the dinner I told the story of my taking Todd over to meet Parker and what he had said when we left. Everyone laughed, including Parker, even though he had heard the story before.
A week before Christmas vacation, we had our first snowfall. It wasn’t deep enough to close the school, so we trudged to the bus in the morning and home in the afternoon.
On the second afternoon after the snow, there was a car waiting at our bus stop with three older and bigger boys standing beside it, one of them with a baseball bat. As Parker and I got off the bus, the boy with the bat shouted, “Get the faggots!” They grabbed me and Parker and threw us to the ground, where they started to kick us. I felt the baseball bat hit the back of my head and remembered nothing after that.