The Good Doctor 43

David

This is that awkward moment in the lunchroom when you gotten your food and paid for it and are standing there with your tray wondering where to sit. I’ve scanned the room for Justin but don’t see him.

I feel the heat of his body before anything else. He says, “He’s not here. I saw him take off with that girl that I guess he’s dating.” His mouth is near my ear and the sound of his voice seems to go right to my balls. For a second Sam’s face looks serious but then he smiles like what he’s just told me is the greatest thing in the world and his face lights up. He nods his head off to the right, “Come on with me,” and starts walking in that direction but I’m pretty much frozen to the spot.

He turns back when he sees that I haven’t moved gives me an odd look and then walks back to me and holding his tray with one hand guides me forward. “Geez, I don’t bite ya know.”

That snaps me out of it and I follow him. Sam’s got really broad shoulders for a sixteen year old and they taper down to a narrow waist and at this particular moment a muscular butt that’s wrapped loosely in dark blue denim. He sits at the end of an empty table in a far corner of the cafeteria and gestures to the seat next to him and I sit there not realizing until I’ve already done it that it makes us look totally like boyfriends the two of us at this huge empty table sitting next to each other on one side.

He turns his head and grins at me. “Now isn’t that better?”

For some reason this whole situation while a little embarrassing also strikes me as funny and I laugh and then nod my head. “Yeah, I just thought that I’d see Justin here…..that’s all.”

Sam says like a half question and half statement. “He’s straight right?”

I roll my eyes. Now Jase has got me doing it! “More than any other human on earth.”

He grins at me in a kinda serious way. “Good………….cause I’m not.”

I look into his warm brown eyes. “I figured. Doesn’t the rest of the swim team mind?”

He almost chokes on his food and then holds up his fingers like he’s framing the words. “It should be called, “The Gay Swim Team.” And then he laughs and I realize that I’m laughing along with him. “Well, not totally gay but pretty much and if the truth were known you could say the same about the football team.” He grins. “Well maybe you’d have to call it the bi football team.”

Then he looks serious. “Nobody cares, well, nobody important. If anybody hassles you let me know.”

I grin at him. “What makes you think that I’m gay?”

He’s totally serious now and his voice has a gentle soft quality to it. “I just know. Maybe from when you were trying on those clothes.” He sighs softly. “Just a look that would flash across your face………….the way that you stood close to me.” He looks down and laughs like he’s embarrassed. “Something like that.”

I sigh and decide to get it over with. “You weren’t wrong but it is scary.”

His knee touches mine and it’s electric. He says firmly. “Don’t be afraid. We won’t let anything happen to ya.”

“We?”

He gestures across the room with a nod of his head. “Those guys.”

I look over and as I do across the room a table filled with swim team guys suddenly drop their heads and study their trays. I feel a bit exposed.

“Why would they…………..?”

But Sam interrupts me and asks gently, “Could we like go to a movie sometime or something?”

I smile nervously. “Would they be coming too?”

He shakes his head slowly and smiles. “It’d just be you and me.”

“How come they’re watching us?”

He sighed and studied the top of the table for a minute and then spoke slowly. “My last boyfriend and I………..well my only boyfriend, broke up about six months ago. He thought that he should be able to have sex with the whole world and I didn’t………so………it happened. The thing is that I’ve been pretty lonely since then…………………..and well they………the guys on the team, worry about me.”

“They think that I’ll do something bad?”

He sat up straighter. “No………no nothing like that. They don’t think you’re a bad guy or anything………I mean they don’t even know you.” He was beginning to blush. “I guess that they’d like to see things work out……….you know……..between us.”

Suddenly there’s no doubt in my mind what his feelings are for me and that thought……….the thought that he loves me gives me more confidence then I’ve ever known.

I feel his touch and look down, his little finger has touched mine and is slowly tracing it. It’s a tiny gesture, one that the world wouldn’t see and it fills me with emotion. I sigh and watch his finger as it moves and then move my glance up to his face.

He looks up at me laughs self-consciously rests his chin on his hand and says slowly, “Oh you are making a mess of me.”

Looking at my lunch tray he seems to shrug it off and grabs my hand and says, “Come on, you’re not eating anyway.” Sam is pulling me by the hand and I grab my backpack while he almost drags me out of the cafeteria.

We don’t have to go far. The cafeteria is right next door to the gym complex and in fact the huge pool stadium shares a wall with the cafeteria. Sam pulls open a door that I’d never noticed before and he pulls me up a long flight of stairs. Just when I think that I can’t climb one more stair he opens a door and we step onto the top tier of seats in the stadium overlooking the pool, which glimmers sapphire blue below us. It’s totally empty.

Sam hasn’t let go of my hand since we left the cafeteria and he pulls me down, a little breathless, onto a bench.

He stares down at the pool and then turns to look at me. “Isn’t it beautiful? This is one of my favorite spots.”

He lifts my hand and then kisses it. Then he seems to realize what he’s done and inhales deeply. He looks down swallows and then looks up into my eyes. “I don’t wanna rush you and I sure as fuck don’t wanna scare you but I soooo need to kiss you.”

Eric

As soon as I drag my tired butt into the kitchen door Jase comes charging into me. I scoop him up and throw him over my shoulder while he screams wildly.

My mother appears with a spoon in her hand and yells, “Eric, you’re hurting him! Put him down!” Naturally I ignore this and let Jase’s body slip even further down my back while his screams grow louder and his breath shorter.

“Eric, stop!!!” My mother. This is something that women don’t understand. They have no understanding of how to play with kids.

“Dad! Dad!! I’m gonna bite you in the butt!!!” Well that is just where his head has fallen to. I can feel his fingers latch onto my belt.

“Oh, Jase! If you did that I’d probably let loose of your ankles and you’d drop right on your head.”

His breathing is hard. “I’m gonna bite it!”

“ERIC!!! Put---him---down!!!”

Of course I ignore this too and walk into my bedroom with Jase’s head banging against my butt. I tilt backwards and lower him gently to our bed. He sighs and breathes heavily while I drop down next to him flat on my back. He quickly climbs onto me straddling my stomach.

“Do it again!”

“Again!!??” I laugh. “What world are you living in? I’m tired, you do it to me!”

“I’m too little.” I do a situp with Jase still on my stomach and pulling up his shirt blow a raspberry on his stomach. He squirms and screams.”

I stare up into his eyes. “I’d like to make an appointment to talk to ya.”

He looks wary. “What? Maybe I’m busy.”

I rub his back. “S’okay, whenever you have a free moment.”

He rolls his eyes. “Okay what?”

“It’s about David.”

He nods slowly. I think that he’s afraid that I might say something bad about David and he doesn’t want to hear it. I shove my hands up under the back of his shirt so that my hands are on his bare back and I pull him down to my chest.

“What would you think of us making it permanent with David? Adopting him. Cause I worry that he might think that he’s not really, REALLY, a part of the family and that would fix that.”

Jase is nodding his head yes before the words are out of my mouth. “You’re sure?”

He sits up and looks at me. “I want him to be my brother.” He looks me square in the eye. “So ya gonna do it?”

“We gotta talk to David first. Maybe he thinks that we’re all as crazy as you.”

Jase squirms on my stomach. “Ha! I’m the normal one!”

“Yeah……..like that’s an accomplishment here!” I start unbuttoning my shirt. “I gotta take a shower bring me some jeans will ya?”

He jumps down to the floor. “A shirt too?”

“Yeah something.” Letting Jase pick this stuff out is a little like clothing roulette but it’s always interesting.

Ten minutes later with jeans and a “Humpin to Please!” tee shirt on he and I walk into the kitchen where my mother has placed six thousand calories worth of “something to nibble on” in front of David. I bend down and kiss his temple.

“Hi, Kiddo, surviving school?” He blushes and nods yes.

He says, “I talked to Sam today at school, you know the guy at Abercrombie?”

I was wondering how long it’d take Sam to make his move. “How’s Sam doing?”

“He’s fine. Would it be okay if I asked him over to play video games or something?”

“Sure.”

By the time Pete gets home the boys are fed and in David’s room playing video games and most importantly mom had gone home.

He slides his briefcase into the closet and hangs what needs to be hung and then comes into the kitchen looks around and kisses me.

“Where is everyone?”

I lay my head on his chest and tighten my arms around him. “Mom has gone home and the boys are playing on David’s computer. Probably checking out porn sites if they’ve got any sense. I mean why waste your time on something other than sex?”

His hands hold my face while he buries his tongue in my mouth. I rub my denim covered hardon against his thigh.

“He whispers throatily in my ear. “There are things other than sex, ya know.” He slides his hands down the back of my jeans and croaks, “No underwear?”

I kiss the side of his neck. “Yep. Oh, by the way, I told David that he could have Sam over to play video games or…….whatever. You remember Sam?”

“The Abercrombie kid. Should we be worried?” His fingers are doing wonderful things.

“I don’t think so. Sam looks like a pretty solid guy. He’s on a couple of teams and still maintains good grades and works that job. That’s not easy, especially for a hormone crazed teenager.” I should have kept my mouth shut because now he’s stopped playing with my butt and has pushed me back a little so that he can see my face.

“How can you know that?”

“My friend Karen works in the school office.” I take him by the hand and pull him to the table. “Whadya say we eat?”

He grabs my neck pulls me back and we kiss. He rumbles softly, “Whadya say I eat your butt?”

I reach out and push the button on the microwave. “That’s a special that doesn’t go on the menu until later this evening.”

“Oh and I asked Jase about David! He wants it totally. Wants David to be his brother.”

Pete chews on his thumb. “Okay, that just leaves, David.”

“Pete, I think that you should talk to David, he gets all quiet around me. He’s still a little shy with me but he’s known you for a longer time.”

Pete looks at the floor smiles and shakes his head. “You think that’s the reason he gets quiet around you?”

“Well yeah but he’s getting better. He’ll be okay.”

He wraps his arms tightly around me buries his face in my neck and mumbles, “Sexy little fucker.” I love it when he gets all dominant and starts grabbing at my butt.

He looks up and says, “What smells so good?”

“Other than me it’d have to be the shrimp scampi and angel hair pasta. Want some wine?” I could live my life eating nothing but angel hair pasta.

“Did you eat with the boys?”

“Nope. You and I are dining together.” I untie his tie and pull it off his neck while his big hands hang onto my butt. “Wanna eat first or are you taking a shower.” I know he’s beat.

“I’m gonna say hi to the boys take a shower and then,” Kiss, “I’ll be right back.”

Ten minutes later a clean and shiny Pete returns wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. I’m making our salads and he comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist. He says, “It’s gonna be weird thinking about parenting a teenager who’s on the verge of dating. Course for all we know he gone past the verge.”

“I can’t see him doing anything with anyone other than Sam. I mean I don’t think he’s thinking about anybody else.”

We were leaning against the counter eating our salads standing up. Pete swallowed a forkful of salad and took a sip of wine. He looked around to see if the boys were around and then gestured at me with his fork. “What if they’re fucking?”

“They’re not.”

“Eric, how can you know that?”

“David would look a lot more relaxed.”

“So what do we do if he starts?”

“I dunno………..applaud? There’s not much we can do. Be there if he needs to talk, I suppose. For goddamn sure if two teenagers are determined to have sex your not gonna stop em.”

He smiled.

“What?” I handed him a plate of pasta and shrimp.

He shook his head slowly. “Geez I musta put my parents through hell.”

“Be happy you didn’t have my mom. She wanted to go on my dates with me. She told me that she knew I had needs. I thought my dick was gonna disappear forever.”

Pete gave me a buttery garlicky kiss on my neck pointed at his plate with his fork and with a full mouth said, “This is fucking unbelievable.”

“Mom does have a knack for cooking.” I speared a shrimp and then twirled pasta around it. “I don’t think that it’d have been as bad talking to my dad about sex, not that he ever did. But I guess that if I was a teenager it’d be easier to talk to us, you know, guys, about sex.”

“I never talked to my parents about sex.” He smiled. “My dad used to say that you were supposed to learn about sex in the gutter because there a lot more attention was paid to detail.”

I took a piece of Italian bread and mopped up some of the sauce. “We’ve got homemade lemon gelato for dessert.”

Pete groaned and then grinned with a mouthful of pasta. “Your parents ever retire to Florida we’re gonna starve to death.”

I kept thinking about what Pete had said about the reason David was quiet around me, or rather the question he asked. The next day was Saturday and about ten in the morning Pete got a call and had to run to the hospital for a patient and Jase was in his bedroom and had fallen under the evil spell of television cartoons.

David was sprawled in front of the tv in the family room. I plopped down next to him on the sofa and put my arm around his shoulders. I could feel him tense up.

“David, are you mad at me?”

He looked like he was gonna hurl but finally choked out, “No! Geez, no!”

“Will you tell me why you get all weird when I’m around? You don’t get like that with Pete or Jase.”

He got an agonized look on his face. “I’m sorry! Really! I’ll try to do better.”

“David, do I scare you? Cause that’s the last thing in the world that I want to do.”

“You don’t scare me.” He sighed. “Not in the usual sense anyway.” What the hell does that mean?

“So what’s with the freezing up?”

He groaned and grabbed a throw pillow and buried his face in it. From the depths of the pillow he mumbled, “I think you’re hot.” He started rocking forward and back with his face still buried in the pillow.

“Hot?” I couldn’t get my mind around this.

I gently pulled the pillow away from his face, there were tears in his eyes and his face was red. I pulled him to my chest and kissed the top of his head.

He blubbered, “I feel like the most pathetic piece of crap in the whole world!” He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and shuddered. “Are you gonna kick me out?” Oh shit!

“First of all, David, you aren’t ever gonna be kicked out for any reason, that’s just not ever gonna happen no matter what you do. This is your home forever!”

“Secondly why would I want to kick anyone out who thought that I was hot even if I think that you’re wrong? And where do you get that anyway? I mean if you wanna think someone is hot you should be thinking Pete is hot. Cause he is hot!”

He lifted his head and rolled his eyes. I really gotta talk to Jase about that. “It’s not like I’m fantasizing about you or nothin, okay well I did a little but it’s more like when you get near me it’s like I feel stunned and then I get all stupid. And the thing is that you don’t even see how you affect people and somehow that makes it even hotter.”

God I hate this! “I know how I look, David and I hate it.”

He wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands. “Whadya mean you know how you look? You don’t know. Sam says you look like some Reynaldo somebody, some Brazilian guy.”

“David…………….the thing is that……….I don’t wanna be that guy.”

He looked amazed. “Why? I’d kill to look like that!”

I laughed and tightened my arm around him. “Why? I bet Sam likes you just the way you are.”

He opened his mouth closed it and then spoke quietly. “You know about Sam and me?”

“More like I suspect about you and Sam. Did he kiss you yet?”

David blushed and nodded yes.

“Pretty cool right?”

He nodded again and said, “You still gonna let him come over?”

“Sure. I like Sam. I think he’s a pretty good guy. Am I wrong?”

“No! He’s great, wonderful actually.” He looked up at me. “Why don’t you wanna be that guy?”

“Well for one thing he makes a fourteen year old boy that I like a lot very uncomfortable.”