Chapter 8
Little Bunnies and Hotrods

The swim team has a special surprise for Ethan. An unexpected guest has a special surprise for the swim team and for Alex. Will Alex be able to keep things together?

Characters:
Alex, 17 yo – Lifeguard
Ethan, 10 yo – Swim Team Member
Mason, 10 yo – Swim Team Member
Jax, 8 yo, Alex' Neighbor
Shane, 9 yo, Jax' Cousin
Linda, Swim Team Coach
Roland, 13yo, Linda's Brother (New Character)

(Tuesday Afternoon, Rural Back Roads)

"All right, lover boy. You ready for this?"

"I'm ready, Moby Dick. Let's do this," Ethan said excitedly.

"All right. You got your helmet on?"

"Check."

"You holding on tight?"

"Check!"

I could feel Ethan's arms squeezing me tight around my stomach. I throttled my motorcycle a couple of times as I studied the heat waves in the distance slithering across the long straight road following a steep incline. I finally kicked it into gear and started accelerating faster and faster. It felt like we were going down a rollercoaster. Ethan had his legs spread out as he wrapped his arms tighter around my stomach. "WOHOOO!" he yelled excitedly as we both raced downward. It was a deserted road just outside city limits.

I still hadn't been given instructions as to when Ethan was supposed go back to school, so I took him with me to work at the Y. He had been so bored watching a bunch of old ladies doing they're therapy sessions in the pool that I decided to treat him to some fresh country air on my bike after work. We had stopped by a sports store to get him a helmet his size.

Today was a special day and I had a special surprise for Ethan. This little excursion made it a lot easier to set my plans in motion. I couldn't wait to see the look on his face. But for right now, I was enjoying the feel of his arms wrapped around me and trying to imagine his excitement through his eyes. The view was panoramic with rolling hills and plenty of crop fields extending to the horizon.

"ALEX, TURN AROUND!"

"What?"

"Turn around. Hurry."

I carefully slowed down and made a U-turn. I immediately saw what had caught his attention. In the distance, we saw a momma rabbit crossing the road with her cute little bunnies into a corn field. I pulled over on the side of the road and felt Ethan jump off the bike. He took his helmet off and slowly followed the rabbits in, trying not to scare them.

"Ethan, wait up," I said as I hung my own helmet on the bike and moved it out of sight. I carefully followed him in and stopped at some distance away when I saw Ethan kneeling down holding one of the small bunnies in his hand, affectionately rubbing its fur against his cheek. The other rabbits just meandered around him, wiggling their pink noses at him. I came up slowly and knelt down beside him.

"Isn't he the cutest thing, Alex? Here, hold him." He handed me the little bunny and grabbed another one, softly stroking its smooth fur. It was so touching just watching him gently cuddling with the little white ball of cottony fur.

"Why don't you take one with you?" I offered. "We can stop by the pet store and get him a nice little cage and some food."

"What? And take him away from his family? Naw, I couldn't do that to the little fellah." He held the bunny in front of his face. "I couldn't do that to you, right wittle wabbit? You are so cute. Yes you are." The bunny started kicking so he put the bunny down and patted its cotton tail. "There you go. Go back to your brothers and sisters." Ethan grabbed the other bunny from my hand and put it down as well.

We got ourselves up and started doing a little exploring inside the corn field. We found a spot where there was a bit of a clearing and sat down for a while. As I was leaning against one of the corn stalks, Ethan sat down between my legs and leaned himself back, allowing me to gently wrap my arms around him.

"Hey, I'm sorry I fell asleep last night. I was just so tired from all the commotion from yesterday."

"That's okay, Ethan. To tell you the truth, I was pretty exhausted myself."

"Did you enjoy yourself stripping me naked while I was asleep?"

"Oooh, yeah. You were so hot that even Orion still had his bonerection up."

"Yeah? Well I remember waking up in the middle of the night a couple of times and I could feel your own bonerection against my butt as you kept spooning me. I'm gonna have to return the favor tonight."

"Mmmm. Can't wait."

We sat there in silence for a while, enjoying another peaceful moment together. It was a little after five o'clock in the afternoon and I was really starting to admire our surroundings. For some reason, everything looked more beautiful, more vibrant, and more colorful. I looked around and started to really notice and appreciate the way the rays of the setting sun were piercing through the bright green corn stalk. I looked up and saw a couple of butterflies as they flew from one stalk to another. As I admired their beautiful wings, I took a deep replenishing breath that made me start feeling even more relaxed.

As I leaned my chin on top of Ethan's head, I relished the feel of holding him in my arms. I had never felt so happy and so content in my life. I couldn't believe I had fallen madly in love with this ten year-old boy. It felt too good to be true. And somehow, it also felt undeserving. Could it be that the gods of fate are frowning on what they perceive as a forbidden relationship? Are they sadistically allowing this relationship to bloom and to flourish, only to bring it crashing down as a cruel example that man and boy were not meant to indulge in such carnal behavior?

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that this relationship between Ethan and I was going to be a challenge. How long can we make this last? Part of me chastised myself for allowing myself to so easily fall for such a young boy. I sniffed the scent of his hair and decided to purge my mind of such unpleasant thoughts and just live in the moment. Whatever will be will be. Right now, he was too important to me to even contemplate anything other than doing whatever I could to making this relationship last as long as possible.

It started feeling a little creepy, so we got back on the bike and took off. As the sun started to touch the horizon, I took us off road and went up a hill behind a large oak tree. We looked admiringly at one of the most magnificent sunsets I could remember. As we got off the bike, Ethan grabbed my hand and pushed me against the tree.

As we saw the last embers of the sun dipping below the horizon, Ethan put his hands on my cheeks and gave me a passionate and penetrating stare. He pulled my face towards him and gave me a long gentle kiss. Then he lay his head against my chest as we both held on to each other against the crimson hues of the setting sun. It's as if Ethan himself was considering the precariousness of our relationship and wanted to savor these moments.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked softly.

Ethan looked at me and nodded his head with a smile as he gave me a tight hug. "You still think I'm hot?"

"Sizzling hot."

He looked up at the sky and started looking for something. "I bet you Orion still thinks I'm pretty hot. He can't get rid of his boner cause he just can't get enough of me."

"Yeah, well he's gonna have to start looking somewhere else cause you're MY lover boy and I aint sharing you, except for Mason. Come on. Let's get home cause I'm starving."

Ethan leaned his head between my shoulder blades as he held on tight. As we approached the house, I flashed my headlight a couple of times hoping that Ethan hadn't noticed. I pulled into the driveway and went to close the gate. Ethan and I walked around the house towards the back and he suddenly stopped. "Alex, why are all the lights off," he asked nervously in a soft tone.

"I have no idea."

"Even the outside lamp is off," he whispered. "Alex, maybe we should ..."

Suddenly, all the lights came back on at the same time with blinding intensity. SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ETHAN!" All the boys from the swim team were there along with Jax and Shane. Ethan's face lighted up as they all started cheering, clapping and whistling as they came up to him and started patting him on the back and messing with his hair.

Ethan's mom had called me last night and told me about Ethan's birthday. She said he had never been one to brag or make a big deal about his special day. She didn't exactly spell it out for me, but I suspected he didn't get that many birthday parties at home because of his dad's drinking problem.

I had spoken to Linda at work and had confided with her about the situation with Ethan. She's the one who had given me the idea of springing this surprise birthday party for him. We decided to limit the number of guests to just the boys from the swim team who probably wouldn't be asking too many personal questions. They didn't have to know that he was staying with me and that this was actually his foster home.

As I was walking towards Linda, I noticed a young girl heading towards the grill and started flipping some burgers. I wonder who she is. Maybe she came with Linda. "Linda, I can't thank you enough," I said as I gave her a hug. "How did you get all this done in such a short time? You got the tables and chairs set up, you got the barbeque going, you got the birthday cake. You did all this all by yourself?"

"Are you kidding? My brother helped me out. ROLAND! Get over here." To my surprise, the person whom I thought was a girl turned out to be a boy with very long hair. He stepped up with a wide smile and I realized he looked kind of familiar. "Alex, this is my brother Roland. You might've seen him in the other swim team with the older kids."

"Hey Roland. Nice to meet you." He was wearing a small red cap with dark-brown long silky hair that went down past his shoulder blades. He had a dark orange button up short-sleeve shirt with a stylish crisscross design. He looked to be around twelve or thirteen.

"Nice to see you again, dude." He said it in a kind of playful sing-song tone. See ME again? I don't think we've ever met. As we were shaking hands, he secretly wiggled his middle finger against my palm. Then he put his other hand over mine in a rather affectionate way and gave me a crooked smile. I could've sworn I saw a twinkle glinting off his eye. Is this kid getting fresh with me?

"Well, thank you both so much. You all did a wonderful job. How can I ever repay you?"

"I'll think of something," Roland mumbled under his breath where only I could hear. I looked at him curiously. I didn't mean to be judgmental, but he looked kind of effeminate or girlish in his mannerisms and the way he talked.

Linda looked over at the way all the boys were surrounding Ethan with such excitement. "Seeing that smile and that excitement on his face, that's payment enough, you know? This is probably gonna be his best birthday party ever. Before I forget, here's your spare key."

"Thank you, Linda. I owe you big time. Did you have enough with what I gave you?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll bring you the change tomorrow."

"That's okay. Keep it."

"Are you sure you can handle this crazy bunch? I could stay and help you out if you want."

"Oh, nah. I'll be fine. I know you have plans with your boyfriend and I don't want to keep you. Go on, I'm good."

"Yes, you are," Roland said softly looking at me through the corner of his eye. "Hey sis, is it all right if I stay? I mean, if it's okay with Alex. I could help him keep an eye on the little leeches."

"They're tadpoles, not leeches," Linda said laughing.

"Whatever. Can I stay?" Linda looked at me expectantly.

"After all your help? Of course he can stay."

"All right, Roland. I guess that'll be okay. I'll pick you up on my way home. I might be a little late, so no complaining."

"Take as long as you want," he said as he looked at me with a crooked smile. He's definitely coming on to me.

By this time, the boys had picked up Ethan and were throwing him in the air. "Hey Ethan," yelled Mason. "You wanna get high?"

"Wheeee! Higher! Wohooo!" they all yelled.

I was about to caution the boys when Linda beat me to it. "Now now, boys. Don't get too rough. You all better listen to Alex here or you'll ALL feel the wrath – of Linda," she said ominously with a smile. She walked over to Ethan and gave him a hug. "Happy birthday, sweetie. You all enjoy yourselves, okay? Bye, Tadpoles."

"Bye Coach!" Everyone waved as Linda started leaving. After a few minutes, all the boys looked at Ethan with impish smiles. "Hey, the birthday boy should be the first one to get in the water. Let's get him! AAAAAH!" They all started yelling and chasing Ethan around the pool. I was about to intervene but noticed that Ethan was laughing his head off and didn't seem to mind.

When they had him pinned down, Roland raised his hand. "WAIT, WAIT! It's his birthday! We should throw him in the water – in his birthday suit!"

"LET'S STRIP HIM!" yelled all the boys.

Are they going a little too far? I looked over at Ethan and he was still smiling and laughing, so I allowed it to continue. Besides, they all see each other naked in the showers after practice anyways, so he probably won't feel too bashful about it. It looked kind of erotic the way all the boys were forcefully pulling off his T-shirt and pulling off his jeans and speedos at the same time. Roland looked particularly focused on Ethan's boy parts.

"ETHAN! ETHAN! ETHAN!" They had him completely naked and held him by the arms and legs as they started swinging him, getting ready to throw him into the pool. "One, two, THREE!" Kerplunk.

"YEY, WOHOO!" They all started stripping their own clothes off, which got me a little excited and a little nervous. But then I noticed they were all wearing their speedos under their jeans. For a second, I thought about telling everyone they could all go skinny dipping, but instantly changed my mind. Besides, if we were to have any unexpected guests, it would've been kind of hard to explain why there were a bunch of naked little boys swimming in my back yard pool.

The boys had finally given Ethan a chance to put his speedos back on. Roland had gone back to the grill to flip some more burgers. I started walking around the pool for a while where I could keep an eye on the boys. They were a cute bunch. I couldn't wait for the end of their next practice so I could give myself a chance to walk into the shower room and see all of them naked together soaping themselves off. What a sight that's going to be.

As I was walking by, Ethan and Mason swam over to the edge and called me over. I knelt down and Mason started whispering in my ear. "Hey Alex, I can't believe Roland decided to stay. He's fucking hot, don't you think?"

"Yeah, he sure is, but um ..." I looked over at Ethan and wondered how he would react if I agreed. I didn't want to say anything that would make him feel jealous.

Ethan was staring at Roland at the grill. "Yeah, he's VERY fucking hot. Just look at him."

Okay, so I started feeling a little less guilty about leering at that gorgeous boy because he was giving me the hots, big time.

"And get this – Roland's gay," Mason whispered loudly.

"How do you know?"

"Cause he already came out. Everyone knows about it and no one gives a shit. See if you can get him to come swim with us."

Ethan looked at Mason. "Maybe he'll want to go skinny dipping. We've never seen his cock before. He's known as the school slut, but you know, for guys like us. I bet you he wouldn't mind."

"Well, let's get him into the water first and then we'll try to convince him to give you an extra bonus present for your birthday," Mason said winking his eye. "Alex, go tell Roland to come swim with us."

"I'll try." Ethan and Mason dipped themselves under the water and pushed off towards the other boys. Hmm. Things started making sense. Maybe Roland was trying to get fresh with me after all. I could feel myself blushing at the thought. But why would he assume that I was gay too?

I went over and sat down on one of the patio recliners to keep watching the boys. Roland came up and lied down on the recliner next to mine. He took off his cap, unbuttoned his shirt and started wiping the sweat off his forehead with his arm. "Man, what a workout. Hey Alex. What's up?" I was about to say You are after noticing the bulge under his jeans. His nipples looked pretty hard too. Apparently, he had gotten a little excited from watching Ethan getting stripped naked. I have to admit his unbuttoned shirt gave me a generous view of his smooth well-tanned chest. It was cute and sexy the way he kept pushing his hair away from his eyes with his fingers. Not bad at all.

"Hey, Roland. How's it going with your swim team? You guys are called the Barracudas, right?"

"Yeah. It's going all right. Dude, did you see how Ethan popped that little bonerection after we stripped him?"

"What?" Where the hell did he get that term from. Bonerection was something only me, Ethan, and Mason knew about. For some reason, I started feeling a little uneasy.

"Did you see Ethan's stiffy after we stripped him?"

"No, I hadn't noticed. Hey, aren't you getting in the pool with the boys?"

"Naw. I wasn't planning on staying, so I didn't bring my trunks with me."

I looked at his lean body admiringly. "Hm, that's too bad."

"Hey ROLAND! Aren't you getting in?" shouted Mason from the pool.

"I didn't bring my suit."

"So? Just come in naked," Mason said smiling. "We won't mind."

"Yeah, Roland. Just come in naked," repeated some of the boys with big smiles.

Damn. Roland was a very sexy boy. I started getting hard. I was afraid this was gonna happen. Good thing I still had my jeans on so it shouldn't be that noticeable.

"What? I can't go in naked," answered Roland laughingly.

"Fine. Just come in the pool in your underwear," shouted Ethan. "Alex won't mind, will you Alex?"

Roland looked at me with a questioning look. "Go for it, dude." Please say yes. Oh God, please say yes.

He thought about it for a moment and smiled. "Oh, what the hell." He kicked off his tennie shoes and pulled off his socks. He walked over onto the diving board and gave a sexy pose. He pulled one side of his shirt exposing his right shoulder and slowly started stripping it the rest of the way. He started unbuttoning his jeans in a teasingly provocative fashion to the cheering delight of the other boys. He started swiveling his hips like a belly dancer as he slowly and sexily lowered the back of his jeans, exposing the back of his white underwear.

"WOOO, Roland! Take it off!" yelled some of the boys. "Yeah, take it ALLLL off." "So sexy."

"I can't take it ALL off. You boys won't be able to handle it."

"Hey, take it all off and you'll feel just how much we can handle."

I looked at the excitement on their faces and wondered if they were actually feeling aroused by Roland's sexual performance. I certainly was. Ethan and Mason were definitely aroused. They can't all be gay. I wonder if this kind of sexual playfulness is normal for these boys. If what Mason told me was true, they all knew Roland was gay. And if Roland had already came out, he knew that they knew he was gay. But there was no meanness or ridicule in the boy's teasing. Back in my days of being in the swim team, this kind of behavior would've been ridiculed as 'gay' and anyone coming out would've been relentlessly targeted by some of the school bullies. It was refreshing to see that these boys fully accepted Roland's sexuality and felt comfortable enough to tease him in such a playful manner.

By now, Roland had his jeans halfway down. Good lord, that was a very skimpy underwear he was wearing. It was very nicely tented by his most prominent erection. His underwear was so low that I could see a light shadow of tiny pubic hairs that were barely starting to grow out. I slowly pulled my knees up and took a hard swallow. I could tell Mason and Ethan were certainly enjoying the show. After taking a closer look, it looked like all the boys were enjoying this little strip tease.

"Hey Roland, you must be VERY happy to see us." "Yeah, it looks like you really like to HANG out with us?" "Hey Roland, are we giving you a HARD time?" "Hey, where'd you get that hotrod?"

Roland didn't seem to mind the joking puns from all the boys and actually looked like he was getting really turned on. He stood unashamedly at the edge of the diving board with his hands on his hips looking down at the boys. "Watch yourselves, boys." He cupped his balls with his hand over his undies and started rubbing himself. "One of you just might end up with this hotrod in your garage." He jumped once on the board and dived in gracefully into the water. It looked like a perfect dive. Roland came up and whipped his wet hair away from his eyes.

One of the boys started whispering something to a second boy. The second boy pulled himself out of the water and nodded to the other boy. I could tell right away these two were up to no good. The boy in the pool dipped himself underwater and disappeared. Suddenly, Roland had a look of surprise. "What the fuck!" The boy came up holding Roland's white underwear in his hand and tossed it to the other boy waiting on the edge.

"Oh, Roland! Are you looking for this? Come and get it," he said teasingly as he held it up in the air. By now, the other boys had noticed what was going on. Mason, Ethan, and some of the other boys quickly put their goggles on and dived under water to take a close inspection of this unexpected surprise.

"Hey! You little shit. Give me that." Roland swam towards the edge of the pool and reached out with his hand.

"Uh uh uh. You're gonna have to come out and get it."

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" The boy's eyes went wide as Roland actually pulled himself out of the pool and started chasing him. I was about to say something, but again, Roland was grinning and laughing and didn't seem to mind. It looked like he was feeling excited about showing off his nude body to the other boys.

My jaw just dropped at the sight of Roland running around naked chasing after his underwear. I couldn't keep my eyes off his fully erected circumcised penis as it kept bouncing all over the place while he ran. His penis wasn't huge, but it was perfectly shaped and perfectly circumcised. The light shadow of his tiny pubes gave me an even more unexpected and powerful arousal. Waves of boy lust passed through my whole body at the way his butt jiggled like jelly as he ran by. Mmm, those cheeks were perfectly well rounded and exquisitely shaped. And if that wasn't enough, his effeminate mannerisms were in full display. The way he laughed and the way he ran just added to the intensity of my arousal.

The boys in the pool were having a blast. Some kept cheering for the boy being chased and some were rooting for Roland. I could tell that Ethan and Mason were barely containing themselves by the lustful expressions on their faces. There were some other boys who also looked very appreciatively towards Roland. Maybe it was the fact that Roland not only acted like a girl, he also looked like a girl, a fully naked girl from certain angles.

Roland was finally able to catch up to the little trouble maker and knocked him to the grass. He turned the boy over and straddled him over his stomach. Roland started inching his boner closer and closer to the boy's face with a big smile.

"Hey, stop being a dick, Roland," said the boy as he started squirming.

"What? You wanna see my dick? Here, take a closer look." Roland inched his boner a little closer. Then he leaned down and licked the boy's cheek seductively. "You've been a very naughty boy, haven't you?" Everyone burst out laughing at seeing the disgusted look on the boy's face as he wiped his cheek with his hand. Then Roland pulled himself back and forcefully yanked the boy's speedos off. Then he picked up the screaming boy from behind, walked over to the edge of the pool, and dumped him into the water.

"Yey! All right Roland. Sweet revenge!" All the boys started cheering as Roland grabbed his underwear, rinsed it off in the pool, and slipped it back on. Then he dove back into the pool and looked on with satisfaction as the boy ran out naked covering himself to go get his speedos on the grass.

For the next half hour, I busied myself with the grill making sure there were enough hamburgers and hot dogs for what was soon to be a crowd of hungry mouths to feed. Roland had become a real crowd pleaser as each of the boys took turns getting a shoulder ride from him. There were a lot of woops and cheering every time Roland stepped out of the pool and onto the diving board. Not only was he still fully bonered up, but his wet underwear didn't hide much of what was underneath that flimsy cloth. He casually adjusted his dick to the side to keep it from popping out from the top. And the way his wet underwear perfectly clinged itself to his perfect butt made me want to pull out my cell phone and take a snapshot.

"Hey Roland, your undies are sagging. Pull them up!" Roland stretched up his underwear really high, causing his testies to spill out from the sides. Then he turned around and gave himself a tight wedgie as he bent down on all fours and started swiveling his exposed butt cheeks to the cheering boys. He tossed himself to the side and held on to the diving board for a few seconds before letting himself drop into the water.

"Hey Alex! When are you getting in the pool?" shouted Roland as he came up.

"Yeah, Alex. Come on. Get in!" shouted the rest of the boys. "ALEX! ALEX! ALEX!"

"I'm not sure about that. Should I? What do you boys thinks?" I asked teasingly.

"Yeah. Get in. Don't be shy."

I pulled off my shirt and kicked off my shoes. As I was unbuttoning my jeans, Ethan started whispering something to the other boys. I pulled off my jeans and set them on the chair. In only my boxer briefs, I walked over to my duffel bag and pulled out my blue speedos and goggles. I started to pull down my undies when I noticed through the corner of my eye that all the boys had lined themselves up next to each other at the edge of the pool with their arms over the edge and stared at me with big smiles.

Damn you, Ethan. I'm gonna get you back for this. Roland was giving me a look of strong sexual anticipation with a smile that let me know exactly what was going through that little perv's mind. Sure enough, my turtle head started coming out of its shell again. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. With my speedos in hand, I walked over behind the grill and used it to cover myself from their inquisitive eyes as I changed.

"Booo! BOOO!" All the boys started with the cat calls. ? "Al-ex is bash-full. Alex has a puss-y. Alex is a gi-rl." ?

Jax started laughing. "Alex definitely does NOT have a pussy," he snickered to Shane who nodded in agreement.

A pussy? Me, a pussy? I walked over to the edge of the pool and impulsively pulled down my speedos, causing my boner to bob up and down. "Does THIS look like a pussy to you? Huh?"

"Whoa," everyone said collectively. "Yey! All right, Alex. He's not bashful after all." "Yeah, he has his very own hotrod." ? "Alex has a bon-er. Alex has a bon-er." ?

Shit. Now I've done it. I can't believe I just did that. I immediately pulled my speedos up again. Ever since Linda left, these boys have been acting very sexual with each other, including me. Is it just this group, or is this the norm for a group of boys this age? It's as if they've automatically accepted me as the cool guy who won't hold them back and will even play along with their sexual joking and nasty behavior with each other. I was pleasantly surprised and totally turned on by the level of sexual dirtiness from this hypersexual group of cute boys. I started noticing a pattern where a few of the same boys prompted the sexual teasing and behaviors and the rest of the boys were more than willing to follow along. I better dive in before this boner gets even worse.

All the boys immediately started gravitating towards me, wrapping their arms around my neck, trying to climb on me and trying to pull me down. My body unavoidably started reacting to all this contact with all these nearly naked boys rubbing their legs and feet on my crotch. There were even a few times when I felt someone's hand feeling me up between my legs. From the look on Roland's face, I was pretty sure he was the prime suspect. I was awash with sensual desires from all these stimulations. I had never experienced so many beautiful boys paying so much attention to me and having this much contact. It was gonna be a long while before I got rid of this rock hard boner.

Roland decided it was time for another one of his diving board displays. As he was climbing out of the pool, one of the boys snagged the side of his underwear down so tight that it snapped apart. Roland gave a loud gasp of surprise as his undies dropped down to the water. "Hey," he said laughing. "You fuckers. You're gonna be sorry," he exclaimed girlishly. All the boys started laughing with deviant smiles as Roland turned around and dived into the water naked. And sure enough, Roland wasn't about to complain. He was really enjoying all this. Being a gay tweeen being sexually teased and chased around by a bunch of younger boys doing whatever they could to get him naked? This was probably a rare opportunity for him to have some real sexual fun. I don't think all this would've happened if he had been with his own swim team.

After watching a few of the boys put their goggles on to dive underwater, I decided to do a little exploring myself. I pulled down my own goggles and submerged, heading straight for Roland. I immediately patted myself on the back for making sure to keep this water as crystal clear as possible. Hooo, man. This kid was hot the way he was swimming around and treading water. The underwater lights made it a little hard to see sometimes. I positioned myself with my back towards the light to get a clearer view. I don't know what it was about watching this kid naked underwater that added much more to my horniness.

Roland swam over to the shallow end and stood with his legs open invitingly. Some of the boys started swimming between his legs. Some were even bold enough to get a little touchy-feely with that fine ass and that sexy cock of his as they swam facing upwards underneath him. And this didn't even include Ethan or Mason. Interesting. Of course, Ethan and Mason quickly caught on and joined in. It became very hard to keep my impulses under control. I found myself swimming closer and closer to that fine ass of his. Without even realizing it, I reached out and cupped my hand around one of his butt cheeks. Damn, I wish I had a snorkel with me. I felt so excited that I kept having to come up for air way too many times. I swam to the edge and put my head against my arm. I need to get out of this pool.

I decided that this was way too much of a temptation for me. This was Linda's little brother. As much as I wanted to keep touching, I couldn't risk it. Not with so many boys watching me. I quickly got out of the pool and jogged over to my duffel bag to grab my towel. After drying myself off, I went to sit down on the recliner chair, placing my towel over my still very hard boner. Roland was leaning his arms on the edge of the pool and looking in my direction.

By now, it seemed all of the boys kept diving under and doing who knows what to Roland's naked body parts as he held on to the edge. By the erotic expressions on his face, he looked to be in an extreme state of sexual arousal. Some of the boys, including Ethan and Mason, kept taking turns pressing their bodies against Roland as if they were butt fucking him. I started wondering if they were doing this with their speedos pulled up, or better yet, pulled down. My imagination started going wild.

Good lord, all this pervertiveness was rapidly heading to a dangerous new level. This group of horny little boys were no longer holding themselves back as they blatantly started turning this innocent birthday party into some kind of sex orgy, turning a willing Roland into their de facto sex toy. One boy started pulling his speedos off and tossed it to the side. This got some of the other boys to do the same. Ethan, Mason, and Jax had also pulled theirs off. Shane was still a little too shy to follow along. By now, about half of the boys were completely naked as they continued taking turns pressing themselves against Roland butt. Is that ... is that moaning I'm hearing?

I wanted so much to put a stop to this, but my level of arousal was just too great. I felt like this was turning out to be a great opportunity for ... for something. The big question was – would any of these boys start blabbering to anyone about all this cavorting in the back yard of the lifeguard who works at the Y. It took tremendous effort to keep myself from jumping back into the pool and pressing my own body against the ass of this wonderfully hypersexualized tween boy.

After a few minutes, the boys started dispersing and putting their speedos back on, putting an end to their sexual frenzy. It's as if they themselves decided that they were taking this a bit too far. They all decided to get out and headed straight for the food table. With a plate full of food in hand, a few of the boys came and knelt down beside my chair. I noticed these boys were part of the group that had great influence over the other boys with their dirty thoughts and behaviors.

The boys kept looking at each other and snickered. "Just ask him," whispered one of them.

"You ask him."

"Ask me what?" I asked curiously.

"Well, THESE guys want to know if you have any ... any pornos?" he said shyly looking down. The other boys started snickering and looking at me expectantly with a look of embarrassment.

"US guys? You're the one that brought it up."

"Yeah, but you're the one who actually wanted me to ask him."

"Well, that means that you also ..."

"Boys. Boys! Forget it. I don't have any pornos."

"Oh, come on Alex. All guys your age have pornos. Just let us see one. We won't tell, right guys?"

Man, these boys were tempting. I looked at their faces and started imagining their expressions while gawking at naked ladies. "Sorry boys. Maybe next time."

"Next time? So you do have pornos. Why not ..."

All the boys got quiet as they noticed Roland walking up the steps of the pool still naked and headed towards me. He had been trying to tie the two ends of his snapped underwear and finally just gave up. He stood right in front of me dripping wet leaning against one leg with his stiff boner pointing straight at my face. "Hey Alex. You have a towel I could borrow?"

The boys just looked at each other and started laughing among themselves. I swallowed hard, making a futile attempt to keep my eyes from staring at his delicious cock. His testies were well developed and firm. The sight of his tiny pubes made me want to drool. "I um ... there's some (gulp) ... we have um..." I forced myself to pull my eyes away from his gorgeous dick and stared up at him dumbfounded. "I'm sorry. What did you ask me?"

He gave me a short laugh that sounded so sexy. He probably knew the kind of effect he was having as he stood naked in front of me and the boys. "Silly. I said do you have a towel I can borrow."

"Oh! Yes. Yes, of course. Follow me. Go grab your underwear and I'll see if I can sew it back together."

Two of the boys stood up. "Hey, can we use your bathroom. We need to pee."

"Yeah, sure. Come on in."

I opened my door and allowed Roland to walk in ahead of me with the two other boys right behind him. My breathing had become somewhat ragged from staring at his ass as he walked ahead. It looked like the other boys were as fixated on Roland's ass as much as I was. "The restroom's right there, boys. Roland, you can go through that next door," I said pointing to my room as I quickly grabbed a towel from the cabinet at the end of the hallway. I leaned against the edge of the doorway and openly stared as Roland started drying himself off. I couldn't believe I was actually standing in my room alone with this naked little boy with the long hair that made him look so much like a girl.

After a couple of hard swallows, I went to grab a small sewing kit from my drawer and sat down on the swivel chair. Roland went and actually closed the door and locked it. I started feeling nervous. When I saw that Roland had sat down on the edge of my bed with the towel around his neck, I got up and rolled my chair right in front of him and sat down again. It was extremely hard to concentrate with him sitting in front of me all naked like that. My hands kept trembling as I tried to thread the needle. As I began sewing his underwear, my eyes kept glancing at his hard-on and his very desirable naked body. In the back of my mind, I kept registering some strange noises coming from the other room, but Roland's hard dick kept the rest of my mind happily occupied. I kept poking my finger with the needle which caused Roland to delight me with more of his sweet laugh as he kept pushing his hair away from his eyes.

"You're so funny," he said sweetly.

"All right." I held up his underwear and inspected my handy work. "This should hold together for a while, at least until you get home. Here, try it on."

Roland leaned himself back on his arms with his hair covering half of his face. "What's the hurry?" He lied down on his back, opened his legs wide open and put up his feet on the edge of the bed. He started caressing his naked body with his hands and started making moaning sounds. Then he raked his long hair with his fingers seductively, spreading it out over the bed cover. "You like? You can touch me all you want. I know you want to."

(GULP) My body went numb. Oh, Roland, of course I liked. I wanted to touch him so bad. All I had to do was reach out and grab ahold of that hot cock of his. But – not without Ethan. If he was part of this, I would dive right in. But he wasn't and that means I couldn't. I took a deep breath and tossed the underwear over his hard boner. "Sorry Roland. But I don't roll that way."

"Liar. I know you do. I bet you're gonna be giving Ethan a special present tonight for this birthday?"

"Tonight? What do you mean?"

"Is Ethan gonna make another knot on his speedos for you to untie?" he asked teasingly as he started pulling his underwear on.

Alarm bells started going off. "What ... what are you talking about?"

"I know a secret. I know a secret." Roland got on his feet and walked behind me. He started caressing my nipples with one hand and reached down with the other and slipped it under my speedos. I gasped a little as he grabbed and squeezed my boner as he cupped his chin on my shoulder. "I know a secret," he whispered in my ear. "I saw what you were doing with Ethan and Mason in the showers last Thursday. So, you do roll that way, don't you?"

I immediately froze at this unexpected revelation. I closed my eyes in despair as I wondered if I was gonna be spending the rest of my life in prison. I grabbed Roland's wrist and pulled his hand away. FUCK! Why is he telling me this? Is there something he wants? What the hell do I do now?

Suddenly I heard some commotion from the pool and quickly ran outside. All the boys were cheering and wooping as one of the boys who was in the bathroom was proudly holding up and displaying the unfolded centerfold of one of my porno magazines. So that's what that noise was. While I was in here drooling over Roland's naked body, these little devils were going through my stuff. Ethan and Mason were looking at me in shock. I put my hand over my forehead and wondered how the hell things had gotten this out of control. I'm definitely going to jail now.

Chapter 9
Teen Crush and Broken Hearts

After Roland's secret bombshell of witnessing Alex' sexual dalliance with Ethan and Mason, Alex struggles to remain loyal to Ethan as he tries to endure Roland's constant acts of flirtations. Later, Alex gives Ethan the surprise of his life.

Characters:
Alex, 17yo – Lifeguard
Ethan, 11yo – Swim Team Member
Mason, 10yo – Swim Team Member
Roland, 13yo – Linda's Brother
Eleanor Greyson, 39yo – Alex' Mom

(Tuesday evening, Alex' back yard)

Ralphie and Jimmy quickly ran over to the rectangular patio table with the umbrella and slapped the porn magazine down. All the boys were crowding around while Ralphie leafed through the pages of the Playboy magazine, ogling at all the naked bodies with sex-crazed expressions. He went back to the centerfold and unfolded it all the way. Wait a minute. That wasn't a Playboy. It was one of the other magazines with guys and girls together. The centerfold showed a young stud with his arm around a teen girl cupping his hand over one of her breasts while squeezing her hard nipple with his fingers. Both were facing forward, Frenching each other while the girl had her fingers wrapped around his giant penis. Right away I started noticing the boy's growing bulges on their speedos. Some of the younger boys were in awe as if this was the first time they had seen something so graphic and so arousing.

"Oooh mamacita, I wanna wrap my fingers around that snatch so bad," moaned one of the boys, making everyone laugh.

Roland, who had run outside right behind me, bowled himself through the crowd and snatched the magazine away angrily resulting in loud protests from the rest of the boys. "Hey, what the hell's the matter with you guys?" he yelled at Ralphie and Jimmy. "Alex invites you guys over to his party and you diss him by going through his stuff in his own pad? He already told you he's not showing you any pornos. So what, you decide to just waltz right into one of his rooms and grab whatever the hell you want?" The two boys looked stricken as Roland loomed over them with his hands on his hips like some drill sergeant at boot camp.

"But ... but we never went into any of his rooms. Honest," said Ralphie looking convincingly innocent. "As soon as we came out of the restroom, we were headed straight outside. But then I noticed something sticking out from under the sofa in the living room and when we went to see what it was, it was that magazine. When we started looking through the pages, well, we started getting really excited. Without even thinking, we just ran outside and showed it to everyone."

"Oh, yeah right. You expect us to believe that crap?" countered Roland.

Through the corner of my eye, I noticed Jax at the back with his hand over his forehead with a suspiciously guilty expression. When he saw me staring at him, he gave me a pained smile and pointed his finger at himself. He must've had something to do with why the magazine was there in the first place. At least he had the sense not to blurt anything out loud in front of the other boys. I gently put my hand on Roland's shoulder to get him to back off.

"Roland, it's okay. They're telling you the truth. It was actually my fault. I'm the one who accidently left that magazine under the sofa the other day," I said giving Jax an stern glare.

The two boys came up to me looking very apologetic. "We're really sorry Alex. We really messed things up, didn't we? We should've just left it where it was," said Jimmy.

"Yeah, we're really really sorry," added Ralphie. "We'll never do it again and um, we wouldn't blame you if you never invite us over to your house again," he said looking down.

The two boys appeared to be sincere. They also looked very cute and quite sexy. So, I decided to give them a break. I don't think there's a boy in the world who could resist grabbing an unattended magazine full of naked girls. "Alright guys, I accept your apology. The next time I invite the team over, you boys can still come along, okay?" I was pleasantly surprised when the two boys came up to me and gave me a tight hug. Feeling their cheeks and their smooth bodies against my bare chest started giving me an unavoidable rise.

"Hey guys," said Roland in a conciliatory tone. "I'm sorry I came down on you like that. I just didn't want Alex to get in trouble, you know? If anyone finds out about that porno and all the crazy-ass things that we've been doing with each other in the pool, he can get into a lot of trouble. He could like, get fired and even get arrested and shit."

Mason and Ethan came up. "Alright guys, listen up!" Mason yelled out. "You want Alex to keep inviting our team to his house, right?"

"YESSS!" Everyone shouted.

"Alright then. Let's make a pact. Nobody says anything about nothin' to anyone about all the things we've been doing here." Everyone started nodding their heads with murmurs of agreement. "If any of you spills any of this, I'm pretty sure we can find some dirt on each and every one of you that we can post on social media."

Ethan came up. "Look guys, Alex's been pretty good to us. You have to admit he's let us get away with a lot of shit that the coach would never dream of doing. Um, no offense Roland. We like your sister as a coach, but we'd prefer to have Alex be watching over us."

"Hey, I'm totally with you, man," Roland said smiling.

All the boys made a circle stretching their hands out on top of each other's. "TADPOLES ROCK, HOO HA!" they all yelled out raising their hands in the air, including Roland.

"Look boys, I want to make something clear," I said. "I don't want to give you guys the impression that I'm in the habit of allowing all this hanky panky to go on all the time. The only reason I allowed it is because I didn't see any of you getting hurt or offended by everything that was going on. It's just us guys here and I kind of got the impression that this is not the first time you boys fool around like that. If there had been anyone else outside of your team, other than Roland, things would've been a lot cleaner. But I really appreciate you boys keeping all this a secret. Thank you so much. Oh, and by the way, my own birthday's coming up next month, so I'll plan another private party just with you guys. And if I see that I can trust you boys not to say anything, maybe, just maybe I'll let you boys take a peek at some other stuff I have."

"WOOHOO!" "All right Alex." "That is so awesome." "You are sooo cool."

Wow. That felt pretty satisfying. I've never had a bunch of cute boys telling me that I was cool. Especially a bunch of boys in tight speedos.

"Hey, you know what that means?" asked Roland with a smirk. "You boys will get to enjoy seeing some more of that giant dick you saw on the porno earlier," he said teasingly. Everyone started booing and jeering him playfully.

"Not as much as we were enjoying your giant dick, Roland," said Ralphie a little too loud with a short laugh. He immediately got quiet when he noticed some of the other boys staring at him. "Hey, heh heh. I'm just kidding, alright," he said awkwardly.

"Hey, we wanna see some pussy," yelled some of the boys. "Yeah, some pussy and some titties." My God, why did that sound like music to my ears.

I started suspecting that maybe Ralphie wasn't kidding after all. Ralphie and Jimmy had been consistent and relentless in their homo-erotic behavior towards Roland this whole time. I started wondering what else they were doing when they were in the restroom together.

Then I remembered the bombshell Roland had dropped on me when he told me about catching me doing stuff with Mason and Ethan. This had me really worried. Does that mean he wants to blackmail me or try to extort something? Maybe he wants money. Maybe he wants me to buy him expensive stuff. And what if I refuse? Will he tell Linda? Will he call the cops? What if he just wants to have sex? Maybe he wouldn't mind if Ethan joined in. Hell, why not Mason too? I wouldn't mind having group sex with all these boys. Whatever he wants, I need to be realy careful and find a way to get a handle on this. Roland started walking towards me, taking a peek at that centerfold from the porno he had snatched away from the table.

"Hey look guys! Roland's popping another boner," said one of the boys making everyone laugh.

"Not bad," said Roland looking at the young stud's dick on the photo. "Not bad at all." I stuck out my hand and signaled for him to hand it over. "You have excellent taste, Alex."

BOING! The threads that I had sewn on his underwear suddenly popped apart, causing them to fall to the ground once again. All the boys started laughing hilariously. "Now you just need to work on your sewing skills," he said smiling, enjoying my expressions of arousal.

"Oh, that has nothing to do with my sewing. This is totally that giant rocket of yours wanting to go ballistic."

"Hmm, you wanna light the fuse?"

(Later that evening)

All the boys had already been picked up by their parents. Every single one of them had begged and pleaded with their moms and dads to let them stay a little longer. Being a school night, they flatly and sternly refused to hear any of their pleas. Roland was the only one who had not yet been picked up. Linda had called and said she would stop by to pick him up in less than an hour. Ethan had curled himself up into a ball on the sofa under a throw blanket and dozed off. I was outside trying to clean up all the mess from the birthday party. Roland decided to step outside to help me out.

I walked over to the food table and stood in front of the cardboard where the cake had been. That was some good cake. It was a chocolate cake with a cherry filling. Linda had done an excellent job. She picked out a great design for the frosting showing a swimming pool with a swimmer doing the butterfly stroke with a 'Happy Birthday Ethan' on top. I casually scooped up some leftover frosting with my finger. As I was about to stick it in my mouth, Roland walked up, grabbed my hand and put my finger in his mouth, licking the frosting off and caressing it with his tongue while giving me a penetrating stare.

"Mmmm, that was delicious." He scooped up some frosting with his own finger and put it in front of my mouth waiting for me to open up.

I was a bit put off by this. I don't have that much experience with people trying to flirt with me like this. I just pulled my head back a little and smiled nervously, not knowing how else I was supposed to react. I've had girls try to flirt with me in the past, but never so directly. And there was still that matter of that secret Roland had dropped on me. "Um, I can finish cleaning up tomorrow. Let's go have a seat. I need to talk to you about something."

Roland looked pretty disappointed and kind of embarrassed that I didn't take the bait as we walked over to the patio chairs in front of the pool. Now that we were alone, I finally decided it was time to start asking Roland some pointed questions.

"Roland, about that secret you were telling me about earlier in my room."

"Yeah?"

I looked at him expectantly, hoping he would start talking on his own. I need to be really delicate about this. "Um, what do you plan on doing with that information?"

"What do you mean?"

Oh, boy. "I mean, it kind of sounded like you were planning on using this to, oh I don't know, blackmail me, get me to do things for you. Kind of like, if I don't do what you say, you'll turn me in kind of thing? I mean, why else would you tell me this secret in the first place?"

Roland looked aghast. "What? You thought that I wanted to ... Alex, why would you think I'd do something like that to you? I'm ain't no snitch. I would never stoop that low. I wouldn't do that to nobody. I ... I'm sorry I made you think like that. I didn't mean nothin' by it."

"So why'd you tell me then? Why would you just blurt out something like that?"

Roland suddenly put his head down looking embarrassed and even started blushing a bit. "Um, I'd rather not talk about it, okay?" Roland stood up and started pacing around. After a couple of minutes, he came back and sat down, turning his chair so he could face me directly.

"Alex, it's just that ... I wanted us to ..." He swallowed, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I thought that since ..." He closed his eyes for a moment and then got up to do some more pacing. Then he started getting an erection while walking around and quickly came to sit down again, putting his arm over his lap. He started getting exasperated as if he was about to have some kind of anxiety attack.

"Hey. Hey, it's okay. You don't have to say anything. I'm just glad and very relieved that I'm not going to prison after all. And I wanna thank you for not ratting on me about what you saw."

"You're welcome," he mumbled softly looking down. "Look, I'm sorry I've been coming on to you. You probably have a boyfriend or something and the last thing you want is some stupid snotty kid trying to mess things up for you. I feel so stupid."

I looked at the way he was slouched and wondered if he was going through some difficult times. Could it be that he was just going through the usual sexual angst of a normal teenager? His shirt was still unbuttoned which suddenly started giving me some strong impulses.

"Hey, you are not a stupid snotty kid, okay? Look, Roland, if you wanna talk, I'm a good listener. If you can keep my secrets, I can certainly keep yours. Whatever you tell me, I promise you I'm not gonna judge you, I'm not gonna make fun of you, and I'm not gonna say anything to anyone." Roland kept his head down looking more and more depressed and dejected. Whoa, did I just see a tear dripping down from his eyes.

"It's just that, for a while, I've been feeling like an outsider. Like I don't belong. Ever since I blurted out to everyone that I was gay, things haven't been the same. Sometimes I just wish I hadn't come out and I wish I could just take it back. Even in my own swim team I feel left out. I mean, the guys aren't mean to me in my face, but I can tell I make them feel uncomfortable when I'm in the showers with them. And sometimes I just start getting a boner and I can't make it go away. I try to act like I don't notice, but I can see how they turn themselves away from me so I won't look at their dicks. And then they start snickering and whispering behind my back. So now I just don't even shower after practice anymore. I just put on my shirt and pull my shorts over my wet trunks and just wait outside for Linda to finish getting dressed. I don't even care if I start itching from the chlorine. Sometimes I just feel like quitting the team."

More tears started coming down as he was trying not to choke up. "I've never really had a close friend before. I mean, I have friends, but not someone close or someone like me. And even those friends have started to not hang around with me as much. Now that they know I'm gay, it's like they're thinking 'If I keep hanging around with that faggot, then everyone will think that I'm a faggot too'."

"Hey. HEY! I don't EVER wanna hear you referring to yourself using that word, you hear me?" I said angrily.

Roland started sobbing softly. "I just wish I had a close friend who feels the same way I do. Someone that I can go up to and say 'Hey, doesn't that guy's body over there look pretty hot?' or just to be able to talk to someone about how I really feel about things without anyone making fun of me or getting all freaked out."

"Roland, I ... I'm sorry." I went to sit down next to him and gave him a hug, rubbing his back comfortingly. "Hey, you're talking to me, right? Do you see me making fun of you or getting all freaked out?"

Roland shook his head. "That's why when I saw you all sexualizing with Mason and Ethan the other day, I thought, 'Hey, that new guy looks pretty cool. He has long hair, just like me. He's into guys, just like me. His dick looks a little different, but it's still pretty damn hot'. I thought that maybe if I stuck around for this party, that I could get you interested in me. How stupid was that, huh? At least I got some of the other guys to notice me."

"Just out of curiosity, were you feeling at all uncomfortable when the other boys were, you know, pawing all over your body like that?" Just thinking about how it felt to grab his butt started making me hard. Roland looked like he was starting to slowly come out of his misery.

"Are you kidding me?" he said wiping his tears. "That was the horniest time I've had since like ever. At first I was kind of holding back, but when I saw how the guys kept acting all sexual with me, oh man, I just let myself go. I'm not sure, but the way Ralphie and Jimmy kept grabbing me, I bet you they were having a gay old time, if you know what I mean. I know I was. And the way Mason and Ethan were looking at me? It felt good, you know? Man, I wish I could be part of this swim team. They're like all joking around with me sexually without being jerks about it. But what made me feel just as horny was running around naked in front of you. I mean, just by looking at your expression, I thought for sure you were starting to like me. And then when I felt you grabbing my butt under water with the rest of the guys, ooh man, I almost exploded."

"How did you ... I mean, what are you talking about? I never grabbed your butt."

"Come on, Alex. Your hands are a little bigger, aren't they? Anyways, so when you were sewing my underwear in your room, I just started feeling like really sexual. I've never been in a situation like this. I've never had the thrill of just standing there naked in front of a sexy guy like you and just let my boner hang out all free like that. I mean, here I was standing all naked in front of you alone in your room with the door locked with the hardest boner I can remember. I couldn't believe this was happening. I thought for sure that when I laid down all sexy-like and I told you that you could touch me, that you wouldn't be able to resist. And then I thought that once you started touching me, that you'd want to us to ... to do more things. So when you told me that you didn't roll that way, I thought 'No way'. My body was feeling so sexual that I just blurted out my secret to you, hoping that if you found out that I knew you were into guys, that you'd change your mind."

I finally gave up all hope of even trying to get rid of my very erect erection. My sexual attraction towards Roland started getting stronger and stronger. I couldn't get his naked body and his bouncy boner out of my mind. I started thinking about Ethan to make it easier for what I was about to say.

"Roland, I have to admit you're very cute and very very sexy. But you were right about what you said earlier. I actually do have a boyfriend. We're still keeping secrets, right?" He nodded. "It's just that I've just started this special relationship with Ethan. We've started to form a strong bond with each other. He's going through some tough times and things are a little delicate right now."

Roland blinked in surprise. "Ethan? Really? Oh man, um, I didn't know that. Gosh, I ... I thought it would've been ... I mean ... I'm sorry Alex. That's cool. I can respect that."

I could tell he was trying to hide his disappointment. The poor kid wasn't doing a very good job at it. "Hey, now that we know a lot of things about each other, whenever you feel like talking, I'll always make time to listen to you, okay?" Hmm, maybe I can find a way to help this poor kid. Hmm, what if I ... "Hey Roland. I have an idea. On the nights when you finish swim practice, instead of following the guys into the showers, why don't you just stay behind to help me close up the pool? I'll even give you twenty bucks each time. That way I get to leave a little early and you get to have the showers all to yourself and wash all that chlorine off. And you get to earn some money too."

Roland looked at me admiringly. "Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah. I'll ask your sister about it, but I'm sure she'll be okay with it."

"I don't know what to say. Thank you. Does that mean we get to shower together?" he asked coyly.

"No promises. And if you think of other ways I can help you, just let me know."

Roland gave me a sexy smile. "I think you know how else you can help me?" he said sexily, looking a bit more chipper. He put his hands up apologetically. "Sorry. I'll behave."

Yup, he was definitely feeling a lot better. He turned to me and gave me a tender hug. "Thanks for listening, Alex. You're the only person that I've ever trusted to tell how I really feel. It felt really comfortable talking to you. It's like a big weight off my shoulders. Ethan is a very lucky guy to have someone like you."

We saw some headlights shining through the gate. "Thank you for saying that, Roland. It means a lot to me. And I meant what I said. Anytime you wanna talk, just call me. I'll send you my number. I think your ride is here."

(Thursday afternoon of the following week)

Ever since my mom came back from her real estate seminar, there had been a few changes in the sleeping arrangement with Ethan. He was now sleeping in his own room inside the main house. Mom never suspected that he and I had been sleeping and fooling around in the same bed and assumed that he had been falling asleep on my sofa. Ethan and I had to be really careful how we interacted with each other while mom was at home. We took extreme measures to make sure we wouldn't arouse any suspicions about our relationship.

Child Protective Services had also given him permission to go back to school. Things were starting to fall into a normal routine. I could tell he was happy about going back to school since he had started to get really bored. He also missed hanging around with his friends at school, especially Mason.

As soon as I got back from work, I went straight to mom. "Mom, it's getting pretty close. Have you heard anything?" I asked hopefully.

"Alex, they just called and they said ..." She gave me a disappointed face. Oh no. Why would they say no?

"They said YES!" she squealed excitedly replacing her deceptive expression with one of delight.

"Mom, are you serious? Oh my God. He's gonna be sooo excited," I said giving her a tight hug. "Thanks, mom. You always come through for me."

"Well, honey, after what you told me about all the broken promises from his father, he deserves it. You both deserve this. I am so proud with the way you've been helping me out with Ethan. You've been a very responsible young man. Ethan is very lucky to have such a role model like yourself."

Hmm. If she only knew.

"Honey, why don't you go up there and give him the good news while I make you boys a snack. He's in his room doing his homework.

I ran upstairs excitedly and gave his open door a quick knock as I walked in. "Hey Ethan. What's up?"

"Alex! You're back. Hey, can you help me with this math homework? I've missed so much school that I started falling behind."

"Okay, sure. But I've got something really exciting to tell you. Remember last week when I gave you that lousy video game for your birthday? Well, I was actually saving your real gift for today. Actually, since you're asking for help with math, I'll give you a hint. What do you get if you have twelve flags, you take away eight flags, and you add two flags?"

Ethan squinted his eyes at me curiously. "If I have twelve flags, minus eight flags, plus two flags. That's six flags. That was too easy. What's so hard about that?"

I kept smiling as I pulled out an envelope from my back pocket and handed it to him. Seeing the envelope and slowly starting to realize what he had just said when he answered the question, he suddenly started beaming with delight. "Alex, no way!"

"Open it."

Ethan held up the envelope to his face and rapidly started ripping off the edge. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God." After ripping the envelope open, he pulled out two tickets to Six Flags and two airline tickets. His eyes went wide. "Alex! Six Flags?" He slammed himself into me giving me a tight hug, almost knocking us over. "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! Oh my God, when are we going?"

"Tomorrow when you get out of school. Mom already got permission from your caseworker. You and I will fly over and stay at a hotel right in front of the park. I bought us a two-day pass, so we'll get to go in all day Saturday and all day Sunday. We'll get a chance to ride all the rides."

"Can we go on the Goliath?"

"We can go on all the rides you want."

"That's awesome. Wait'll I tell Mason. He's gonna just die with envy."

I had actually thought of also inviting Mason, but his parents really didn't know me and I didn't want to make things awkward for them. It would've been pretty erotic sharing the bed with both Ethan and Mason overnight.

I heard some footsteps at the door and mom was walking in with a tray of snacks and two glasses of iced tea. "I can see you've heard the good news, Ethan," she said putting the tray down on his desk.

Ethan walked over more slowly this time to give her a hug. "Thank you, Mrs. Greyson."

"Hey, I already told you to call me Ellie, okay?"

"Thank you, Ellie," Ethan said smiling up at her as he continued hugging her."

"You're welcome, honey. You boys better start packing tonight cause you're not gonna have too much time tomorrow."

"Good thinking, mom. We'll start packing right away. And thanks for the snacks."

"All right then. I'll let you boys be," she said walking out.

"Hey, you want me to pack that bikini you bought me?" he whispered with a crooked smile nudging me with his elbow.

"Mmm, take all three of them."

"Okay, but you'll have to wear one of them. On second thought, you better not. Your Moby Dick will just rip right through it."

"I'll try it on anyways, see what happens," I said giving him a wink wink.

"Hey Alex, if you want you can, um, take some Vaseline also?"

"Oh, aaah, do you want me too?"

Ethan shyly shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I mean if ... if you want to. Do you?"

"Ethan, are we talking about ...?"

Ethan pulled me down to whisper in my ear. "Yes Alex. I want you to fuck me. Do it for real this time. But just take it slow, okay? Consider it your early birthday present."

"You got it, dream boy." My heart started pounding thinking about what he had just told me. I had never stuck my dick inside anyone's butt before. I've never stuck my dick inside anyone's whatever before. Does that mean I'm still a virgin? Oh my God. I just realized that out of the three of us, I was the only virgin in the group. Ethan and Mason were humping each other like rabbits just last week. How embarrassing. Oh, this is gonna be the best weekend ever. I couldn't wait to cream that delicious hole of his.

After packing our suitcases, I went back up to Ethan's room to help him with his math homework. "Okay, let's see. Question number seven. If Steve has 6 bags of 9 marbles and he loses 2 of his marbles, how many marbles does he have left?"

Ethan's shoulders started shaking with laughter. "If Steve lost his marbles, I don't think he'll even cares how many he has left, right?" We both started laughing at the funny sounding question. "Some of these questions really crack me up."

"Yeah, well you can't snicker yourself out of this one. Come on. Think the problem through."

We heard some light knocking on Ethan's door. That's strange. If the door's open, why would my mom be knocking instead of just walking in?

"MOM!" Ethan jumped out of his chair and ran straight into his mother's arms. "Mom, I've missed you so much. What ... what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"Oh Ethan, I've missed you so much too," she cried with tears in her eyes. "Oh sweetheart, everything's more than okay. I've come to take you home."

"We're going back to our house?" he asked excitedly.

"No honey. We're ah ... we're going to live with your gramma for a while."

Ethan turned to me with a stricken expression. "But mom, gramma lives in ... in Arizona."

No. No, this can't be happening. I closed my eyes as I felt my world unraveling right in front of me. This must be some kind of mistake. She just can't come in here and take Ethan without authorization. What about the investigation? She has to go through the proper channels first.

And then my heart sank when I saw my mom walking into the room followed by Ethan's caseworker. Then it broke into little pieces when I noticed Ethan's suitcase sitting neatly in the corner - the suitcase he had just packed to go to Six Flags with me.

Chapter 10
Departures and The Sins of Passion

Ethan's departure has left Alex struggling to cope with the pain resulting in potentially disastrous situations. In an effort to ease the pain, Alex begins engaging in unexpected behaviors that leave his family and friends concerned.

Characters:
Alex 17yo – Lifeguard
Ethan, 11yo – Swim Team Member
Mason, 10yo – Swim Team Member
Roland, 13yo – Linda's Brother

(Alex' back yard, Thursday evening)

I stood in front of the sliding door, looking at Ethan through the window as he sat on one of the swings of my old swing set, swaying gently from side to side. He was slouched with his head down and his hair covering his face. I tried wiping the tears out of my eyes, but they just kept coming down. My body and my mind felt numb and dull. I was in a dark pit of despair and I didn't know how to climb out of it. I stepped over to the kitchen sink and poured water on my face, drying myself off with a paper towel.

I slowly opened the sliding door and stepped out. I walked over to the swing set and sat down on the swing next to Ethan. We just sat there, swaying gently without saying anything. There were so many things I wanted to say, but so little time. Ethan's mom had already bought their tickets to the Greyhound that would take them to Arizona overnight and she was waiting for him in the front. I still didn't understand why it had to be so sudden. Why couldn't they at least wait until tomorrow.

"Ethan, I … I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say. I wish …"

Ethan started crying softly. He abruptly got up and started running away. He can't leave without saying goodbye. "Ethan, WAIT!" I pleaded desperately. He stopped, fell on his knees and bent all the way down to the ground as he kept crying louder. I ran over and knelt down next to him, putting my arm around his shoulder.

Suddenly Ethan wrapped his arms around my neck tightly as he kept crying. "Alex, please. Don't say anything okay? Just don't say anything." He put his hands on my wet cheeks as we stared at each other for a few seconds. "Let's just say without saying, okay?" he said softly as he grabbed my hand, placed something on my palm and closed my fingers over it. He stood up wiping his tears. "Bye Alex," he whispered sadly with such anguish. He turned around and walked away back into the house without looking back.

I opened my palm and found Ethan's puzzle pendant, the one I had given him last week on top of the mountain. I had a flashback of when I had first given it to him. After clipping it around his neck, I had gotten my puzzle piece and his and fitted them together. I remembered what I had told him. "…but they cannot be complete unless you and I are together."

I couldn't hold my grief any longer as I started choking up with soft wails. "Ethan … don't go," I wailed softly as I rubbed my own puzzle pendant with my fingers. I remained kneeling down on the grass for I don't know how long. Everything just stopped. I could feel the mosquitos biting me, but I didn't care.

I finally got myself up and walked into the house. I knew that Ethan and his mom had already left. Mom was outside talking with the caseworker. I looked around despondently, wondering what I should do or where I should go. I opened up one of the drawers and grabbed the kitchen lighter. I slowly walked up the stairs and walked into my old room - into Ethan's old room. I sat down on the chair, grabbed the pillow on the bed and took a long and deep smell. I closed my eyes as I started picking up the light scent of Ethan.

I grabbed the kitchen lighter and started flicking it on and off, on and off. I just stared at the flame as I kept thinking about Ethan and how excited he had been when I told him we were going to Six Flags. It's all her fault. It's all Ethan's mom's fault. That bitch. Why did she have to come and take Ethan away from me? Why couldn't she at least wait until we had gone to Six Flags? I hate her. I hate that fucking bitch. I wish she was dead so mom could adopt Ethan permanently. I kicked the trash can against the wall violently, causing a dent on the wall and spilling everything on the floor.

I closed my eyes, took a deep calming breath, and told myself that I was being unfair to Ethan's mom. It wasn't her fault after all and she's been doing everything she can to protect Ethan. She's a nice lady and I was just venting and taking out my anger on her. I looked over at the desk and picked up the envelope with the tickets to Six Flags and the Airline tickets inside. I grabbed the dented mesh trash can and set it down in front of me. I didn't even bother picking up the trash from the floor.

I grabbed the lighter again, flicked it on and started burning the corner of the envelope with everything inside. As I stared at the flames, I wished I could climb into the envelope and just let myself burn with everything else, just to end this pain. Almost completely engulfed in flames, I let it drop into the trash can. That's when the fire alarm started blaring with ear-splitting intensity. I could hear my mom running up the stairs calling out my name. Well, so what? Too bad - I don't care.

(Friday afternoon at the Y)

I was sitting on the bleachers on duty looking at the pool and everyone in it without even paying attention. It seemed like everything I saw was in the peripheral. I hadn't slept much and I kept wanting to doze off. I had a distant awareness of all the kids in the pool yelling and screaming and splashing. I could see Kevin, the other lifeguard, sitting on the lifeguard stand looking attentively. A lot more attentively than I was, that's for sure. The loss of Ethan was slowly eating me up inside. It was like that flesh-eating bacteria that just keeps eating you alive.

I turned my head to the right and noticed a small boy lying down on his back on the bleacher on top of his towel. He looked around eight or nine years old. His legs were towards me with his knees up and I noticed that there was a gap on his swimming trunks. I realized that I could clearly see his little testicles and part of his penis. My tensions started relaxing a bit as I started comparing them to Ethan's. I looked at his face and compared him to Ethan. I looked around at all the boys I could see and started compared them to Ethan as well. Everywhere I looked reminded me of him.

I flashed back to the last time Ethan and I had intimate sex. It was the night before mom came home from her conference. We knew he was gonna have to move into the main house and into his own room, so I wanted to make that night really special. I remembered the scent of his body, the taste of his skin, the way it felt to have his boner inside my mouth. I could feel his hair spilling over my cheeks as he blew into my ear and whispered what he was gonna do to me next.

"ALEX!! …"

I could see the arousal on his face and his naked body clearly and vividly in my mind.

"ALEX!! …"

The taste of his wet lips against mine and his succulent tongue rolling inside my mouth. The way we cuddled afterwards as he stroked my arms affectionately.

"ALEX, FOR GOD'S SAKES!"

I could hear the sound of a whistle and my name echoing from a distance. Someone was yelling in my ear and shaking my shoulder. What the hell? My mind suddenly came crashing back to the present.

"SHE'S DROWNING!!" An older lady was yelling in my ear. "MY BABY'S DROWNING! DO SOMETHING!"

I looked in horror at the sight of a small child at the bottom of the deep end of the pool. Kevin had already dived in. He grabbed the child under the armpits and pushed off the bottom up to the surface. He wrapped his arm over the girl's shoulder and under her armpit and side-kicked to the edge of the pool. She was a younger girl around five or six.

My training immediately kicked in. I blew my whistle as loud as I could. "EVERYONE OUT OF THE POOL." I pointed to the nearest adult. "YOU! Run to the front desk and call 911." I ran to the edge of the pool, grabbed both of the girl's arms and pulled her out. I turned her over and put my ear against her chest while putting my finger on her carotid artery. Good, she has a heartbeat, but it didn't look like she was breathing. I put her head back, pinched her nose and started blowing air into her lungs. After a few breaths, the girl started coughing out water.

I and everyone else gave out a sigh of relief. The girl's mom shoved me to the side and wrapped her beefy arms around the coughing girl with tears in her eyes. I looked around and people stared at me disapprovingly. Kevin walked up to me with his face red with anger. "I wanna talk to you in the office," he demanded as he stormed off.

As soon as I walked in, he went off on me. "Alex, what the hell happened out there, huh? That little girl was panicking and calling out for help right in front of you. Don't tell me you didn't you see her. I kept calling out to you from across the pool. Didn't you hear me? The girl's mom was screaming at you right in your ear. Were you like spaced out or something?" Kevin kept looking out through the window to make sure no one had gone back into the water again. "Did you freeze? Were you daydreaming? Were you passing out? Alex, talk to me. Help me understand why a kid almost drowned right under your fucking nose."

"I don't know, alright?" I snapped. "I DON'T KNOW!!" I shouted raising my arms.

Kevin shook his head. "Alex, you had some of the best scores during your interview and during your training. They were above average. When I certified you, I had absolutely no doubt that you were ready to take responsibility for the safety of the people under your watch. You just proved me wrong. I don't know what happened out there, and it seems neither do you. I'm sorry, but until you do know, I'm gonna make sure you're taken off the schedule until further notice." Kevin walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Go home, Alex. Whatever you're going through, I hope you're able to work it out."

"What about the rest of the watch?"

"I'm closing down the pool for the moment. The ambulance is still on its way and I'm gonna have to write a lengthy incident report. I'm pretty sure the Director is gonna want to talk to you. Maybe you can explain it to her."

I grabbed my duffel bag and quickly headed into the dressing room. I just wanted to get out of here before the Director came and chewed my ass off. So I'm suspended for a few days. Big deal - I don't care. I don't care about anything anymore.

(The following Wednesday evening at the Y)

The Barracudas were finishing off their final sprints as their practice time was coming to an end. As each swimmer finished their final lap, they pulled off their swim caps and goggles as they tried to catch their breaths. They pulled themselves out of the pool and headed straight to the showers.

This was my first day back at the pool after my suspension. I had given the Director some fake sob story about a close relative or ours who had passed away and about how much that had distracted me. I can't believe she bought it. Wasn't that like the most overused excuse in the book? She was sympathetic and decided to just suspend me instead of right out firing my ass.

I had spent most of my suspension time in bed sleeping. Mom was beginning to get concerned in her typical mom way. It was a struggle for me to get out of bed even to eat. Nothing tasted good anymore. Nothing seemed important anymore. I wasn't eating, I wasn't showering, I wasn't exercising. Jax and Shane had stopped by a couple of times waking me up from my sleep. I had quickly and rudely sent them back home both times.

Mason had called a couple of times too and had sent me some text messages asking how I was doing and if I had heard anything from Ethan. I didn't feel like talking to anyone, so I had decided to just shut out the world. At least while I was asleep, I couldn't feel the pain of Ethan being gone. I tried calling him on is cell phone once, feeling my heart pounding with excitement as I heard the ringing tone. When I got a message that the number I dialed was no longer in service, my heart just sank. It was like pouring salt on my widening wound.

"Alex, you all right dude?" I felt myself coming out of my trance. I had just noticed Roland drying himself off in the corner and squeezing the water out of his long hair. Why wasn't he … oh, that's right. I had forgotten about our little deal of him helping me close up the pool after practice.

"Um, yeah. I'm sorry. I was just … never mind."

"You miss him, don't you?"

"Miss who?"

"Come on, Alex. Ethan, who else? You miss him."

"Don't worry about it." I hope he doesn't decide to start flirting or coming on to me again. I'm not in the mood to put up with any of that shit right now.

Roland shrugged his shoulders. "So, what do you want me to do?"

I looked around the pool distractedly. I was still finding it hard for me to concentrate. "Um, why don't you start squeegeeing the water on the floor into the drains."

"Okay," he said smiling. "Sounds easy enough."

As Roland left to do his task, I picked up the testing kit to sample the pool water. As I stood at the edge of the pool, I looked at the water, then at the testing kit, then back at the water. Fuck it. It looks clear enough to me. I distractedly went around the pool picking up any left-over goggles, candy wraps, empty soda cans and any other type of trash.

"Hey Alex. How's that? Did I do it right?" he asked walking up to me.

"Looks good," I said without even looking. "I think we're done here."

There were more things that had to be done, but I really wasn't in the mood. I just wanted to get out of there.

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna hit the showers. You coming?"

I looked at Roland and I could feel myself slowly getting angry. "Why did you ask me that?" I demanded.

"Ask you what?"

"If I was coming to the showers with you. You think now that Ethan's gone, you can just step right in and take his place just like that? It must be such a relief for you now that he's gone, isn't it? Ethan's no longer standing in your way so good riddance, right? Now you can have me all to yourself."

"WHAT? Alex, I just asked if you were coming. It was just a fucking question."

Yeah, well it was the wrong question, alright?" I snapped. "Why don't you just admit it? Look, let's get something straight, Roland. If you think …"

"YOU KNOW WHAT? FUCK YOU ALEX! You are so full of yourself. The only thing I was doing was trying to be your friend. If you wanna drown yourself in your own sorrows, knock yourself out, but don't drag the rest of us down with you. I know you miss Ethan, but that doesn't mean you have to slap away a comforting hand or shut out the rest of the world.

"You think you're the only one who's gone through this shit? My dad died a couple of years ago. I loved him very much because he understood me. He didn't judge me. He loved me and accepted me for who I was, more than my mom did. And now he's gone. He's dead and he's gone forever." He grabbed his towel and his duffel bag angrily. "At least Ethan's still alive."

"NO, HE'S NOT!" I cried in despair. "At least not to me." I sat down against the wall and started crying softly. "It feels like he's dead, Roland. I … I can't even get ahold of him on the phone," I cried with broken sobs. "I didn't even get a chance to … to take a picture of us together. You should've seen the look on his face when he said goodbye to me. I can't take that image out of my mind." I started wailing softly. "I can't make it go away. I miss him so much, Roland. And I can't … I don't know how to deal with the pain."

Roland knelt down in front of me. "You deal with it by doing exactly what you're doing right now, Alex. I didn't know just how much you cared about him. You two were really close, weren't you?" He put his arms around me and let me cry on his shoulder as he gently stroked my hair. "This is how you start dealing with the pain. You talk to someone and you let it out like you're doing right now. Just let it out."

I slowly pulled away and tried to compose myself. "Roland, I'm so sorry I was being such an asshole with you. I didn't mean to lash out at you like that. That wasn't like me. Will you forgive me?"

"Of course," he said with a gentle smile. "And I'm gonna tell you what you told me a couple of weeks ago. Whenever you wanna talk, I'll always find the time to listen."

"Thank you. I'd like that. And I'm sorry about your father. He must've been someone really special."

"One of a kind," he said softly.

I got myself back on my feet. I guiltily allowed myself to appreciate Roland's tight speedos and his golden skin and the way part of his long wavy hair cascaded down the front of his chest. My little outburst must've been just what I needed to relieve some of the stress I was feeling. I took a deep, replenishing breath and let it out slowly.

"Well, I guess we're done here. I'm gonna hit the showers. You coming?" I asked with a joking smile.

"If you want me to," Roland responded guardedly.

"Don't worry. I've decided not to bite your head off after all. Come on," I said as I grabbed my duffel bag and walked towards the dressing room.

"You better not. Hey, I've been taking karate you know. One wrong move and you can kiss your nuts goodbye," he said lightly following behind me. "And you still owe me twenty bucks. You better not stiff me either."

I started laughing. I realized it had been the first time I had laughed since Ethan left. I needed that. It felt good to laugh again. I walked over and dropped my bag on the corner bench. Roland had gone straight to the shower. I was at a spot where I could see Roland under the water spray.

I watched through the corner of my eye as he untied the strings of his speedos and started pulling them off. His penis wasn't hard, but mine was starting to. It had been over a week since I had gotten an erection. He looked so incredibly sensual with his long hair and the light patch of pubes around his cock. I welcomed these feelings of arousal. They were starting to have an immediate calming effect on me.

I could feel some of the pain slipping away. Maybe this is just what I need to start dealing with the pain. Instead of drowning myself in sorrows, I need to start drowning myself in sex. And not just with anyone. Young boys were still my first choice. But I wouldn't mind a young naked girl once in a while. I wonder if Stephanie would be interested in … I noticed that Roland had turned around and was lathering himself with soap. I could easily see his resemblance as a girl from behind.

I pulled the strings of my own speedos and slipped them off. I headed over to the showers, stroking my boner as I walked. I stood behind Roland and gently placed my hard penis right under his butt cheeks. Roland turned around to look at me.

"Alex, it's okay. You don't have to if …"

I put my finger on his lips for him to be quiet. "Shhh. Sorry Roland, but it looks like I am gonna be 'stiffing' you after all - um, that's if you don't mind." I wrapped my arms around his waist and started fondling him, feeling with growing excitement as his penis started getting harder and harder right under my fingers. I started massaging his well-developed testicles. It looked like he didn't mind. I remembered when he and I were alone in my room with him lying naked on my bed with his legs wide open. I remembered exactly what he said to me clear as day. "You like? You can touch me all you want. I know you want to."

Ooh, man - I definitely liked and I definitely wanted to so bad. I came so close to just reaching out and wrapping my fingers around that irresistible hard cock. I had trouble falling asleep that night just thinking about it. I had been wanting to do that ever since I saw his boner bouncing all over the place during Ethan's … during the pool party. I didn't want the thought of Ethan bringing back my pain again and ruining this moment, so I tried to keep him out of my mind.

Roland took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, enjoying the feel of my touching and stimulations. I continued my stimulations by rubbing my thumbs on his hardening nipples while pressing my body harder against him. I pulled Roland's long hair to the side and started kissing his neck under his ear. Roland turned around, grabbed my head and pulled my lips to his. He stuck his tongue in my mouth forcefully and started kissing me hungrily as he wrapped his own fingers around my raging boner. He started stroking my dick with a skillful and practiced hand.

"Ohh, dude … I can't believe we're actually doing this. You are so incredibly hot. I've been dreaming about this since …"

I pushed him against the wall as I continued sucking his face, his tongue and those rosy cherub lips of his. I started pressing my boner against his in a slow rhythmic motion. This boy was just so erotic and so exotic. I hadn't felt this aroused since Ethan… no - I need to get him out of my mind. If I just concentrate on these arousals, I won't have to go through any more pain. Just concentrate on this gorgeous looking naked teen.

"Hhh … hhh … Alex." (Gulp) "Let me suck you, man. Can I? Can I suck you?"

After I nodded, Roland got down on his knees and started stroking me again with my dick right in front of his face. He licked my balls and let his tongue roam all around from the base of my penis to right under the tip of my glans. Without a second thought, he started giving me the most arousing and stimulating blow job I had ever experienced. Not even Mason nor Ethan even came close to giving me these wild sensations. He started by slightly opening his lips so he could squeeze the tip of my dick between them, sucking on it gently while pressing his lips together. While holding my penis steady in one hand, he started twisting his lips over the tip, making slow circular motions around it with his tongue.

Then he deep-throated my dick into his mouth. I loved the way he let the tip of my penis rub against the inside of his cheek and the roof of his mouth. He started sucking on it gently, which made me realize that there actually could be some sucking involved. I don't know where he learned how to do all these incredible moves, but his techniques were just so amazingly breath-taking. He started blowing me up and down harder and faster. My mind was going insane with such intense pleasures.

"Oh God," I moaned. "Oh my God, oh that feels so … oooh … oooh ETHAN!" I cried out. Roland stopped and slowly pulled himself away looking disappointed.

"Hey, why'd you stop?" I gasped trying to catch my breath. It finally hit me what I had just done. In the throes of a most pleasurable sexual experience, I had committed the most unforgivable sin of calling him Ethan. "Roland, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to …"

"Alex, it's okay," he said awkwardly with a tone of annoyance as he got back on his feet. "Look, if you're gonna want me and you to hook up, I'm gonna want all of you - the whole package, not just part of you. But I don't think you're ready for that yet, and it wouldn't be fair to you for me to expect that so soon."

I started feeling angry and embarrassed at myself. How could I be so stupid. I could feel the pain and the hurt of losing Ethan creeping up on me again. I felt like I was sealed in a water tank with the water slowly rising up over my head. I started feeling the anxiety of not being able to fully satisfy my sexual urges. Now that was going to be impossible with Ethan and all these negative thoughts going through my head.

"Hey, I'm not mad, okay?" Roland said gently, putting his hand on my cheek. "We can still call each other when we feel like talking. Whenever you feel like you're ready … if you're ever ready, you let me know. I can wait a little longer."

Maybe he wasn't mad, but he sure looked sad. So I blurted out the wrong name. Big deal. I don't care. All I know is that I don't want to feel this pain anymore. I need to find other ways to make this pain go away?

Chapter 11
Jack Daniels and The Perpetual Boner

Unable to cope with the pain of losing Ethan, Alex finds himself in a destructive spiral of risky behaviors. Will his friends be able to pick up the pieces and keep him from crashing down to the ground?

Characters:
Alex, 17yo – Lifeguard
Mason, 10yo – Swim Team Member
Roland, 13yo – Linda's Brother
Stephanie, 11yo – Friend of Mason's Sister

(Sunday morning at the Y)

After vacuuming half of the pool, I finally decided I had had enough. I was feeling a little light-headed and this was rapidly becoming more boring and tedious by the minute. It was clear which parts of the pool floor still needed vacuuming, but that's alright. No one will notice anyways. And if they do, big deal.

I walked over to the bleachers and sat down next to my duffel bag. I reached in and pulled out my little flask, unscrewed the cap and took a long swig. Hooo, I don't know what this stuff is, but I like the way it's making me feel. While mom was at work, I had gone through her liquor cabinet and tasted some of the stuff she had in there. I decided to fill one of the flasks from a bottle of Jack something or other. Aptly named since I was feeling myself getting jacked up. I started giggling at the thought.

I had mostly stayed away from any kind of alcohol through my youth, except for New Years when I was allowed to take a sip of the sparkly champagne. So, this is what it feels like to have a buzz. Cool. I was also starting to feel pretty damn horny right now. I thought about last Wednesday when me and Roland were getting it on in the showers. Damn, he is so fucking hot. I should've invited him to join me today. We could've continued where we left off.

I took another swig from the flask. Hoo, that burned, but it felt good. I just sat there mindlessly staring at the pool while I stroked my boner under my speedos. I started giggling to myself at the way the whole building was starting to spin a little. "Woo hoo. Round and round we go," I said twirling my finger.

I heard someone knocking at the door. Maybe it's Roland. Oh, please let it be Roland. I quickly stood up and instantly got a dizzy spell. Wooo, man. I gotta slow down. I walked to the entrance and saw Mason on his bike through the window. Mmm, Mason. I haven't seen him since… since the pool party? Has it been that long? Man, he looks so hot. Looks like I get to have a little fun before I leave. I quickly went and unlocked the door.

"Mason! How've you been dude?" I asked excitedly while giving him a tight hug. "Come in. Come right in. What are you doing here?"

"Hey Alex," he said smiling. "We were just riding our bikes and I noticed your truck parked outside. It's good to see you. How come your breath smells funny?"

"Oh, it's just ah … it's nothing. I ate one of those green cough drops a moment ago."

"Uh huh," he said smiling with a look of concern. "Hey, have you heard anything from Ethan?"

I shook my head. "Naw, you?"

"Naw, man. Why wouldn't he call us? It just doesn't make any sense."

I decided to quickly change the subject. I wanted to take my mind off of Ethan. That's why I was drinking that stuff in the first place - to take away the pain. And it was working too.

"Maybe he's just going through some kind of adjustment. Hey, you wanna stay for a while? We can go skinny dipping. Maybe we could fool around in the shower. You want to?" I could feel my boner getting harder.

"Nah, maybe next time."

I lifted my shirt so he could see my tenting speedos. "Oh, come on Mason. It'll be like old times." I walked over to him and slid my hand under his jeans. I could feel the knob of his cut penis which gave me a surge of excitement.

"Alex, I said no," he said pushing my hand away. "It'll just feel weird without Ethan."

"But, I thought that's why you came over."

"You think I came over here just to get a quick fuck? Alex, I came to see how you were doing. I've been worried about you, and for good reason. You almost get yourself fired and now you're drinking booze on the job? Really? After what Ethan's going through because of his dad's drinking problem? And how come you haven't been returning my calls?" He gave me a guilty look as he noticed he had hit a nerve.

I walked away and sat down on the bleachers again feeling a little angry. Mason came over and sat down next to me. "Hey, I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean to piss you off." We sat there in silence for a moment. "I don't understand. Why did he have to leave so soon like that? We didn't even get a chance to say goodbye. His phone's not working anymore, he doesn't call. Maybe it has something to do with that incident he had at school."

I turned around to look at Mason. "What incident?"

"You know, with his dad. Didn't he tell you?"

"No, he didn't. What happened?"

"His dad came looking for him at school and tried to take Ethan with him. But the school knew Ethan was staying at your house and they tried to kick him out. Then he stormed over to Ethan's classroom and made a big old fucking scene in front of everybody. The security guards had to tackle him down to the ground and everything. They called the cops, but by the time they got there, his dad managed to get away and took off. I can't believe he didn't tell you this."

"That fucking bastard." I started feeling my anger at Ethan's father boiling up to the surface again. "Fuck this," I said as I got up and tried climbing down clumsily from the bleachers. I lost my balance from my dizziness and fell to the ground. "FUCK!!" I cried out in pain.

"Alex …" Mason stood up quickly with a look of concern.

I stumbled over and grabbed the broom from the corner and started slamming it against the grab rails at the edge of the pool. "That fucking bastard!" I cried angrily as I kept hammering away until the broom broke in two. "That fucking bastard," I squealed as I fell on my knees, feeling my tears coming down again.

Mason came running and knelt down next to me. "Mason, what's happening to me?" I pleaded as I started choking up. "Why did I have to fall in love with him? He's just a kid. We've only known each other for a few weeks. Even though he told me he loves me too, is that really true? Maybe he just thought he did and he's confusing love with lust. Maybe it was all about the sex. It doesn't make any sense. Maybe he doesn't love me after all and he's already forgotten all about me," I said bitterly.

"Alex, of course he loves you. His eyelashes are like flying butterflies every time he talks about you with that goofy smile. Look, you're an only child without a dad, right? And Ethan's an only child with a dad who's an asshole. You were a confused horny virgin who likes boys and Ethan had the hots for you. You guys just clicked. He filled your gap by opening up to you, in more ways than one…" he said under his breath, "… and you filled his gap by doing fatherly things with him. You guys started filling each other's gaps 'till it started oozing out," he exclaimed raising his palms up.

"You're so stupid," I said chuckling. "Maybe you're right," I said feeling a little better. "But that still doesn't explain why he hasn't called us, at least to let us know he's okay."

"Yeah, I don't know. Well, I better get going before my sister comes looking for me. Hey, are you gonna be alright?"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll even pour the rest of that booze down the drain, okay?"

"I knew it! You better. And don't be a stranger. The next time I call you, better pick up," he demanded pointing his finger at my face.

"Yes, sir. I promise." We gave each other a tight hug. "Thanks Mason. You always know what to say to make me feel better."

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Shit. Speak of the devil. It's my nosy sister. Alright Alex. Well, I'll catch you later," he said walking away.

"Hey Mason," I waited for him to turn around. "Give me a blowjob."

Mason smiled, sucked in some air and blew it out forcefully towards me.

"Now give me a real one," I said hopefully.

Mason walked over to me and started fondling my balls over my speedos. "If you're a good boy, I'll give you a special present for your birthday." Mmmm, I closed my eyes from the most welcome sensations. "Hey, you wanna unlock the door for me?"

As I was unlocking the door, I noticed both Sophie and Steph waiting outside on their pink bicycles with rainbow streamers hanging from the handlebars. "Hey girls, what's up?" I asked stepping out a bit.

"Hey Alex," they both answered at the same time in a sing-song voice with extra wide smiles. "You're looking hot … I mean, good as usual," Stephanie said flirtingly.

"Thank you," I said cheerfully. "Yeah well, what can I say?" I sensuously pushed my hair back, making the girls swoon with laughter.

"Oh God. Not this again," said Mason rolling his eyes. "I'm outa here before I barf. See ya Alex." He got on his bike and speeded off. "Girls," he said mockingly.

Sophie started whispering something in Stephanie's ear while keeping her eyes on me.

"Hey Alex, Sophie said she's wondering if you're wearing anything under that shirt. She says you look like you're naked," she said giggling.

"STEPHANIE!" Sophie whispered harshly open-mouthed with a murderous glare. "How could you?" She turned her bike around angrily with a red face. "Some friend you are," she said as she also took off.

Steph turned around with her hand over her mouth giving me a cute, sexy laugh. "Well, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Naked. Are you naked down there?"

Oooh man, I can't believe she just asked me that. She is one hot little girl with those dark blue jeans. I could barely make out her nipples pointing out of her thin blouse. "Would you like me to?"

"Sure."

"Why don't you come in for a while and I'll see what I can do about that?"

"Well, maybe I will."

"Come on, then," I said as I held the door open as she pulled her bike inside. I liked where this was going. My boner could not get any more harder than this. Maybe this day will not be a total loss after all. I quickly locked the door as I felt my heart pumping a little faster. After parking her bike against the side wall, I held the side door open for her leading into the pool. As she passed by, she casually brushed her arm against the large bulge under my speedos. I noticed how tight her little jeans hugged her ass. Without her noticing, I quickly stripped my speedos off and just left my long shirt on.

While she was waiting for me in the corner, I went over to the tall windows to close all the blinds. I knew she was watching my every move. At each of the windows, I reached my arms up to pull on the strings attached to the blinds, causing my shirt to lift up enough to show the bottom of my butt and part of my hard-on. Steph just stood there transfixed biting her lower lip.

I leaned myself against the wall as Steph walked up to me. Without hesitation, she boldly lifted the front of my shirt to make a closer inspection, leering at my seven-incher appreciatively. "Looks like Sophie was right," she said with one raised eyebrow. "Too bad for her I'm the one who gets to play with the prize," she said as she lifted my shirt some more and pulled it off, leaving me completely naked in front of this short haired preteen blonde with Elven-like features.

I reached down and lifted her own blouse and pulled it off. She wasn't wearing any training braw this time around. I stared at her budding nipples and marveled at how hot she looked shirtless with those dark blue jeans.

She stood even closer to me focusing her eyes on my erection. "Is there really a bone in there?"

I grabbed her hand and placed her palm against my vertical boner. "What do you think?"

She wrapped her delicate fingers around my sizzling sausage, causing my breathing to get harder and my heart to beat faster. She started feeling and probing every part of my boner with her fingers, lightly squeezing the tip, pulling back the foreskin, stroking it up and down experimentally while she probed my testicles with her other fingers.

"You like my cock, don't you," I gasped lightly taking a hard swallow.

"I looove your cock," she said not taking her eyes away.

"You like wrapping your fingers around it?"

"Like you wouldn't believe."

"You like playing with it?"

"Ohhh yeah!" she said shakily as she kept probing it with her fingers. "I wanna play with it for a looong time."

I reached down and unbuttoned her jeans. I lowered her zipper and pulled them down from the sides, causing her panties to slide down just enough to show the tip of her pussy lips. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down to kiss me. Her lips tasted like strawberries and her tongue felt so delicate.

I wrapped my arms around her and started massaging her butt over her panties, reaching down as far as I could. Her breathing started getting faster as well. I could feel my tensions just evaporating as I focused on the intense arousals of this moment. I could feel my love torch pressing against her smooth stomach.

I knelt down to where her panties with the little red hearts were at eye level with stark anticipation. As I slowly started rolling down her panties with my palm, she started swiveling her hips. As soon as I would expose her pussy, she would pull them up again. I would roll them down and she would pull them up. Finally, she allowed me to pull them all the way down to the floor while she raked her fingers through my hair. As I gazed at the naked body of this sexual nymph, the force of my arousals was almost overwhelming. Her pussy was so smooth, so delicate, and so desirable.

I got myself on my feet again and reached down to squeeze and massage that little tight sweet naked ass of hers. It felt so delicate and so cushiony and sooo … the feeling was just so arousingly indescribable as she kept stroking my dick harder and faster. I started massaging her pussy and doing my own kind of probing with my fingers causing her to moan softly.

The feel of her skin, the sound of her moans, the shape of her butt cheeks, the taste of her tongue - it all felt like … it felt too much like … like Ethan. I closed my eyes tightly and tried to force him out of my mind. Memories just started pouring in. Memories of when Ethan and I were going up the mountain in the tramway.

"…how 'bout a little tongue twister to pass the time?" I had asked.

"Alex, I want you to fuck me." said Steph as we continued kissing.

"… you like licking my lollipop, don't you?" asked Ethan in the back of my mind.

"Alex, I wanna feel your big cock between my legs." pleaded Steph as she pressed her body harder against mine.

Ethan wasn't done with me yet. I could hear his voice clearly in my mind. "Oooh Al… keep doing that… just like that… fuck yeah. I love the way… you do that."

"Alex, come on. Let me at least give you a blow job." Steph got on her knees and paused as she noticed my erection slowly going away. "Alex? Why is your … did I do something wrong? I don't have to give you a blow job if you don't want. We can do something else," she said looking confused.

"I'm sorry Steph. It's not your fault. You were great. It's just that …" I tried to think of a good excuse cause I didn't want to hurt her feelings. "… it's just that this is about the time when that cop stops by to check on me. I can get in a lot of trouble if he stops by and finds you here. Remember what happened last time?" I slipped on my shirt and went to pick up my speedos from the floor.

"Okay, um … yeah sure. No problem." She picked up her clothes awkwardly and started getting dressed.

I went to unlock the door and held it open while she walked out with her bike. "Steph, I really had a good time. Honest. You have like the hottest body and … and your ass is sooo …"

"Yes, I know. What can I say?" she said pushing her hair back dramatically with a cute smile. "Alex, I get it. You miss Ethan. Mason told me what happened. But don't worry, I'll never say anything to anyone. And by the way, you were pretty awesome yourself." She gave me a light peck on the cheek. "Whenever you're ready, you let me know and we can try this again, okay?" she whispered in my ear.

I felt my shoulders slump as I slowly walked back to the bleachers. Am I being that transparent with everybody? I was having such a good time. I started resenting the fact the Ethan kept intruding inside my mind at the worst moments. Then I started feeling guilty for feeling resentful.

I carefully climbed up to the top of the bleachers. I reached my hand into my duffel bag and pulled out my flask. I unscrewed the cap and tipped it over to pour out the liquid and stopped before any of it spilled out. Ah, the hell with it. I aint wasting this. I took a swig and kept drinking the stuff until it was all gone. I need to get myself some more of this stuff. A lot more.

(A month later, Friday evening, Alex' back yard)

The pool party was in full swing. I had invited only the Tadpoles swim team to my birthday party just like I promised. The boys weren't as rowdy or as raunchy as last time, which made me feel a little disappointed. I was really looking forward to some more debauchery from these sexy boys. Linda was attending another birthday party with her boyfriend and had dropped off Roland earlier. All the boys that were here last time were here tonight, including Jax and Shane.

Mom had left town again to attend one of her monthly Realtor's seminars. She had promised she would make it up to me for missing my birthday. I was watching the boys through the window from inside my guest house. I kept rubbing my boner with my hand as I poured some more Jack Daniels down my throat straight from the bottle. I was starting to feel gooood - and horny.

I gawked at all the boys with their smooth wet golden skin and those tight little speedos. I stroked my boner harder as I stared at the slightly visible butt crack of one of the boys getting ready to jump into the water. Mmm, I gotta get myself some of that. I closed my eyes and imagined all these boys stripping themselves and swimming naked. Hey, why not? Nobody else is here. It's just us boys. I made sure to lock the front gate this time. And if anyone comes, they'll have to ring the door-bell. I stripped my speedos off and grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels. I stepped outside and walked confidently towards the pool completely naked and fully erected.

"Hey guys, check it out," said Ralphie with a smile. "Alex is naked and he has a giant boner."

Oh yeah, boys. You can check me out all you want. "Hey guys, I forgot to tell you," I said a little slurred. "This is sposed to be a skinny-dipping party."

"SKINNY DIPPING!" yelled Ralphie and Jimmy. "Let's get naaay-keeed! WOOO!"

All the boys started stripping off their speedos and throwing them to the side. Oh, fuck yeah. Oh, what a turn-on. Mason and Roland pulled themselves out of the pool and came up to me.

"Umm, Alex? What are you doing?" asked Mason.

"What does it look like? I'm having a little fun," I said giggling as I took another swallow from the bottle. (Hic) "Why aren't you boys stripping? You need a little help?" I said reaching for their speedos.

"Alex, this is a really bad idea," said Roland with concern. "Someone's gonna squeal and you're gonna get busted dude."

"Here, hold this bottle for me." I walked over to the edge of the pool. "GERONIMO!" I yelled as I jumped into the pool. All the boys started gathering around me excitedly. Ralphie and Jimmy pulled their goggles over their eyes and quickly submerged. I could feel some hands grabbing my boner and touching my balls. Oh my God. That's exactly what I was hoping would happen.

I reached down under water and randomly started grabbing and squeezing some of the boy's butts and their little cocks. Oooh gaawd, I'm surrounded by naked boys. So many hairless cocks. This is so fucking horny. I noticed some of the boys had gone to the other side of the pool as if they were trying to avoid me. Hmm, I wonder why.

I shook my head trying to make the dizziness go away. Roland and Mason were still out of the pool conversing with each other nervously. "Come on, guys. Lemme see those bouncy boners. Get naked and join the PARTAAY!"

Mason ran to the edge of the pool. "Alex, can we talk to you inside like, right now?"

"Why? Are you ready to give me that special present you told me about?" I started giggling and I couldn't make myself stop. Mason shook his head and went back to talk to Roland.

"Who wants a shoulder ride?" I yelled.

Several boys started raising their hands. "Me … me!"

Ralphie was one of the cuter ones so I picked him first. While he was on my shoulder, I kept reaching my hands back to massage his upper thighs right up to his cute stiffy that I could feel pressing against my neck. Ralphie didn't seem to mind. I bet he likes that.

"Who's next?" I asked as I let Ralphie fall back into the water and started looking around at the raised hands. "Jimmy, you're next. Come on."

I immediately started fondling his little nut sack with my fingers. "Hooo, that feels good," whispered Timmy. This is turning out to be a lot better than I expected. What could be better than having a pool party full of hot preteen naked boys?

After Jimmy fell back into the water, Ralphie came up in front of me and wrapped his arms around my neck. He pressed his body against mine and wrapped his legs around my waist, letting his naked butt rest right on top of my penis.

Jimmy was sitting on the lower steps of the pool behind me and I could feel his foot digging between my butt cheeks as he wiggled his toes. These little sex toys were definitely into me and I wanted desperately to be into them. Maybe somehow I can get these two to spend the night with me.

Shit! I should've made this a slumber party. Damn, why didn't I think about his before. Maybe I still can. I can just imagine it - an orgy of naked boys sucking and fucking and fondling each other and feeling their little hands all over my body. I'd suck every single one of their cocks until they cummed. I'd squirt my load all over their little starfish between their open legs. I'd… I'd… Shit, I gotta take a piss.

"Gotta take a leak boys. I'll be right back," I said as I pulled myself out of the pool and started heading inside. As I stood in front of the toilet emptying my bladder, Ralphie and Jimmy stepped in.

"Hey Alex. We need to take a piss too." They walked in dripping wet and stood on each side of the toilet. Those stiffies looked so delicious. It was a lot easier for them to point their boners downward while peeing than it was for me. I just kept making a mess all over the toilet seat.

"Hey Alex, how come you always have a boner?" asked Ralphie staring at my hard-on.

I looked at their naked bodies as I shook my penis off. "Because you boys always make me horny," I said as I cupped my hands over their butts and started squeezing and massaging. The boys started getting their little hands all over my horny dick and balls. I closed my eyes as I felt waves and waves of eroticism going through my body.

I knelt down and enveloped my mouth over Jimmy's penis and started sucking him, scraping and rolling my tongue all over his delicious boy parts. Ralphie came and stood right next to Jimmy, putting his stiffy right next to his, allowing me to suck both stiffies at the same time. I was becoming delirious with lust at this incredible eye-popper.

Both boys suddenly tensed up and ran out of the restroom as Roland and Mason walked in.

"Alex," said Roland. "You need to stop. You need to go out there and tell them to get their suits back on," he pleaded. "Some of the boys are getting a little freaked out and they're starting to complain."

"What is wrong with you guys?" I asked angrily. "You boys need to relax and loosen up. Come on, let me help you take those trunks off," I said reaching for Roland's speedo strings.

"Alex, you're drunk. You're gonna get into serious shit. You need to slow down and sober up," snapped Mason.

"You boys do whatever the hell you want. I'm gonna have some more fun." I walked out carefully, holding on to the walls on my way out trying not to tip over. I stood at the edge of the pool and waited for the boys to notice me. "Are you boys having fun?"

"Yeah," they said a little more subdued.

"Are you ready to have more fun?" I started whipping and slapping my boner from side to side, making all the boys laugh hysterically. "Catch me if you can!" I shouted as I jumped into the pool again. A few of the boys immediately started coming after me. Some of them started wrapping their arms from behind around my stomach, around my chest, and most excitedly, around my boner. My entire body was tingling with the strongest of arousals.

Ow, what the hell? My stomach started doing summer saults. I felt a glob of bile rising up to my throat. Oh, this can't be happening. Not now. Oh, this can't be good. No matter how many times I swallowed, there was no way I was gonna keep the contents of my stomach from coming up. I suddenly started vomiting in the pool. All the boys started screaming hysterically as they scrambled to get themselves out of the water. I kept vomiting about three more times before I was finally done.

Son of a bitch. This is so embarrassing. I held myself against the edge of the pool with my head in my arms. Everything was spinning even faster. It looks like this party has come to a premature ending. I could feel Mason and Roland kneeling down in front of me.

"Alex, just walk to the steps so we can help you out," offered Roland. Grabbing the edge of the pool, I managed to slide over to the metal hand rail on the steps. Mason and Roland both stepped in and grabbed me by the armpits to get me out. Roland wrapped his arm around my waist and tried to hold me steady as I staggered inside. All the boys had gathered themselves on the patio as they started putting their speedos back on. What a shame. I still wanted them to stay naked.

"Mason, go turn on the shower," Roland said as we stepped inside. I stepped into the shower and just let the water spray hit my face.

"Hey, where's my Jack Daniels," I slurred. "Man, that Jack Daniels really got me jacked up, didn't it." I started laughing. "Get it? Jacked up?" I really don't remember much about what happened after that. All I remember was that I kept laughing hysterically at something while the boys lathered me up in the shower.

The next thing I know is that I found myself waking up in the middle of the night on my comfy bed under the covers. I slowly pulled myself up with a groan and rubbed my face with my hands. I was starting to feel a lot better now. I need to find some Aspirin for this pounding headache.

I got up and walked over to the kitchen to get some water. I saw a silhouette lying down on the sofa. I blinked my eyes several times and realized it was Roland. He spent the night? I felt a little guilty at all the trouble I had caused. He probably wanted to make sure I was okay. I started wondering if he and I had sex. Maybe not. We were both wearing tee shirts and shorts. And if we had, why would he be sleeping on the sofa?

After drinking my tall glass of water thirstily, I headed back to my room to get dressed. I was feeling a little claustrophobic and decided I needed to get some fresh air. I grabbed my helmet and tip-toed out the door heading to my motorcycle. I silently rolled it out several yards away from the house before turning it on. I knew exactly where I wanted to go.

Several minutes later, I sat on my bike on the side of the road at the top of the steep incline where Ethan and I had raced down before taking him to his surprise birthday party a month ago. The night was cool, but it wasn't too bad with my jacket on. I looked up at the moonless sky and noticed just how many stars were out. Being outside city limits on a calm night like this with clear skies made it just right for star gazing. I felt a slight strain on my neck as I felt a growing headache coming on.

I looked up at the constellation Orion and took a deep, emotional breath. Come on, fate, where are you? Step in and pull me through just like you did last time. I looked at the stars hoping for another shooting star, looking for a sign. Something I can wish upon and give me some hope. I guess the gods of fate have spoken. How could I be so stupid thinking Ethan and I could've made our relationship last.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out Ethan's puzzle pendant. I started rubbing it affectionately between my fingers. My words kept coming back to haunt me. "… these cannot be complete unless you and I are together." Why the hell did I have to come here of all places. No matter where I looked, everything reminded me of him. Everything was so peaceful and perfect when we were together. I had never been in a close relationship with anyone until Ethan came along. I closed my eyes as I felt a tear rolling down. I shook my head as I tried desperately to push the tears away.

"Why did you have to go?" I sobbed silently. I looked down at the puzzle pendant on my palm as one of my tears landed on it. "Why haven't you called?" I pleaded to the stars. I felt my anger slowly turning into a rage. I grabbed my helmet and started pounding it against the speedometer, watching shards of glass splintering off. "Damn you, Ethan," I seethed shaking my head. "DAMN YOU ETHAN!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. Before the distant echoes died down, I shoved my helmet on and turned on my motorcycle, peeling off onto the road. As I was going down the steep incline, I turned up the throttle to make myself go faster and faster.

I started reliving that last moment before Ethan left. Before he turned my world upside down.

"Don't say anything …" he echoed in my head. I turned up the speed to go even faster.

"Let's just say without saying…" he had pleaded tearfully. Can't this thing go any faster?

"Bye Alex."

Those two words kept echoing in my head. I couldn't get his anguish out of my mind.

"Bye Alex."

I couldn't keep the tears out of my eyes.

"Bye Alex."

I didn't want to forget Ethan's face. Why didn't I take a damn picture with him? I have nothing from him. Not one damn thing. Why can't I get him out of my mind?

And that's when I lost control of my motorcycle.

I felt my body hurling and tumbling through the air. It felt like I was going in slow motion as I saw the night sky with the shiny stars spinning around silently and serenely. I watched with fascination at my motorcycle bursting into flames. This is it. This is the end. There's no way I was gonna survive the impact of this crash at such speeds. My mom is gonna be so devastated. I wish my last thoughts of Ethan would have been some happy ones. Instead, all I kept seeing was his anguished tears when he told me goodbye. At least I won't have to feel this pain anymore.

As I felt my body impacting against the ground, I gladfully surrendered myself into the welcoming arms of oblivion.

Chapter 12
Recovery and New Beginnings

Alex has to deal with the aftermath of his near fatal accident while he struggles to let go of the past and look to the future.

Characters:
Alex, 18yo – Lifeguard
Mason, 10yo – Swim Team Member
Roland, 13yo – Linda's Brother
Eleanor Greyson (Ellie), 39yo – Alex' Mom

(County Hospital, Monday evening)

… I could hear a distant beeping as I fought to pull myself out of the darkness. Where am I. What am I doing here? I was slowly becoming aware of soft voices as I kept slipping in and out of consciousness …

"I'm so sorry Ellie. It's all my fault. That's why I stayed with him so I could keep an eye on him. If I would've just stayed awake, this wouldn't have happened."

"Oh, Roland. Stop it. No one's blaming you and you are NOT gonna blame yourself either, you hear me? You can't expect to keep yourself awake all night, now can you?"

"Maybe not, but I could've slept against his door. I would've woken up as soon as he opened it."

"And maybe you wouldn't have. Oh honey, I appreciate you staying with him and making the effort. But I'm telling you it's not your fault and you're not gonna convince me otherwise."

Memories started flooding back into my mind. The party, the motorcycle, the crash, me flying through the air … Ethan. I'm still alive? But … I should be dead. Roland was blaming himself for what happened to me. I wanted to reach out to him with my arm and to comfort him and to tell him that he wasn't to blame. This was all on me. But my arms wouldn't move. I tried saying something, but my mouth wouldn't move either. I couldn't even open my eyes. I couldn't feel anything.

Oh God, I hope I'm not paralyzed. I would have rather died than to be paralyzed for the rest of my life. I tried desperately to make any type of movement by trying to move my fingers and my toes – nothing. The more I tried, the more I felt myself slipping out of consciousness and back into the fog of darkness …

**--**

(County Hospital, Wednesday around noon)

"Ellie, he's opening his eyes," someone exclaimed in a soft voice. It sounded like Mason.

Mom quickly got up and came to me. "Honey, can you hear me?"

I blinked a couple of times trying to orient myself. "Mom?" I croaked.

"I'll go get the doctor," mom said excitedly. Mason came up and put his face right in front of mine. I could barely make out his face through my blurry vision.

"Hey sleepy head. About time you woke up. You had us all worried. How many fingers am I holding up?" he said flashing me the bird with his fingers with a big smile.

"Will you cut it out," complained Roland pushing Mason out of the way.

"Mm … Mason. Roland," I managed to croak out of my dry throat. "Wah … water … my throat," I wheezed.

Roland quickly poured water from the small pitcher onto a small cup with a straw. He held it up for me as I took a sip and felt the cool water going down my throat.

The doctor walked in followed by my mom who quickly ushered Mason and Roland out of the way. He looked at the readings from the monitoring machines and then started shining his flashlight into my eyes. "Mr. Greyson? I'm Doctor Patel. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better," I said raspily.

"Can you tell me your first name?"

"Alexander."

"Good. Do you remember what happened?"

"Um, I … I remember I was on my bike. There was this terrible crash and I was flying through the air and then…" The doctor started listening to my chest with his cold stethoscope. "Doc, am I para …" I closed my eyes. "Am I paralyzed?"

"No, son. You're not paralyzed. That's the good news. The bad news is that you had a serious concussion, a dislocated shoulder, a couple of broken ribs, some …" The doctor paused as he noticed my mom giving him a pointed glare. "Ahem, well we can talk about this when you're feeling a little better. But from all appearances, it looks like you're gonna make a full recovery. It'll take a while and you'll have to go through some physical therapy, but you're a very lucky young man. Not too many people survive the type of accident you were involved in. I would even say it was a miracle that you weren't paralyzed or killed. You must've had some lucky stars out that night. Get some rest and I'll check up on you later."

As the doctor exited, mom came up and grabbed my hands with tears in her eyes. "Mom, I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. When I was thrown from the bike, I saw it exploding. I am so sorry."

"Alex, my boy," she said as she bent down to kiss my head and gave me the gentlest of hugs. "Don't worry about the bike. It's covered by the insurance. I'm just glad you're gonna be okay."

"Mom, I don't remember much about exactly what happened, but I was going pretty fast. Don't get me wrong, but how come I'm not dead?"

"Well, according to the accident report from the police, they found some kind of road kill on the road near the crash site and they believe that's what caused the accident. And the reason you're not dead is because you landed right in the middle of a corn field. It must've cushioned your landing. And you were smart enough to be wearing your helmet."

I shook my head in disbelief. It was probably that same cornfield that Ethan and I had stepped into to pet those cute little bunnies. I hope it wasn't any of those bunnies I ran over. I pressed my hand against my neck trying to feel for my puzzle pendant. "Mom, my necklace. Was I wearing a necklace when they found me?"

"I don't know honey. They put all your belongings in a bag. Let me take a look."

As mom was digging through the contents of my belongings, I felt a feeling of despair, already knowing what she was going to say.

"I'm sorry Alex. I couldn't find any necklace. It must've fallen when you landed."

That's it then. Besides the fact that I had no pictures of Ethan, those necklaces were my only connection to him. Now I truly have nothing from him except my memories. Memories that sooner or later will also fade away into nothingness.

"That's all right mom," I lied. "Hey, you look tired. How long have you been here?"

"Since Saturday when I flew back in from the conference. I've been to the house a couple of times just to take a shower."

"Well, why don't you go home and get some rest. Doc said I'm gonna be all right, didn't he?"

Mom hesitated for a moment and then nodded her head gratefully. "All right. Only if you're sure. You want me to bring you anything when I come back tomorrow?"

"Can you sneak me in a Big Mac and a chocolate shake?"

"You got it, honey. I love you. Boys, he's going to need his rest so please don's stay too long okay?"

"Don't worry Ellie. My sister's on her way to come see Alex for a while and then we'll drop off Mason on the way home."

As soon as mom left, Mason came to one side of the bed and Roland to the other, each grabbing one of my hands. "Hey guys. Thanks for coming to visit me. How long have you guys been coming?"

"Now that we're on summer break, almost every day," said Mason. "Hey, now that you're awake, does that mean you get to have a nurse come in to give you a sponge bath?"

"I never thought about that. Maybe. I hope it's a male nurse."

"Hey, I could go steel a nurse's uniform and then I could give you that sponge bath myself," said Roland with a smile.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Roland suddenly got quiet. "Alex, I'm sorry that I couldn't … I mean, this was all …" Roland slowly walked away.

I looked at Mason. "Um, Mason, could you do me a favor? Could you go to the cafeteria and get me a diet tea from the vending machine?"

"Diet? Eew."

"Hey, I've been letting myself go. I need to get my boyish figure back. And I'm feeling really thirsty."

"Here," said Roland handing him five dollars. "Get something for yourself and bring me a Dr. Pepper too."

Mason looked at Roland suspiciously. "I know what's going on. Hey, don't be too rough with him while I'm gone okay? You can pop his boner but just don't pop any bones, got it?" he joked pointing his finger at both of us.

"Move it you perv," Roland said laughing. Mason quickly ran out as Roland pretended to come after him.

"Roland, come here." As Roland came to my side, I grabbed his hand and put my other hand over his. "I don't know how, but I heard you telling my mom that you're blaming yourself for what happened."

"You could hear us?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't move or anything. So let me give you some simple advice – DON'T. It was my fault, not yours."

"But Alex, I could've …"

"Hey," I interrupted. "Even if you had been awake, I still would've taken off. So it doesn't matter if you were awake or asleep. This still would've happened."

"But maybe I could've …"

As weak as I was, I reached out, grabbed Roland's shirt and managed to pull him towards me to give him a long and gentle kiss. After the kiss, I kept his face close as I stared into his eyes. "Roland, I'm ready to give you the whole package. I want us to hook up. I'm ready to give you all of me, not just part of me. Would you still like that?"

Roland stood up looking hopeful but guarded. "What about … you know?"

"I need to let him go, Roland. I have to accept the fact that I'm never gonna see him again. It's affecting my job, it's affecting the lives and the safety of the people at the pool, it's affecting my relationship with you and Mason and my mom. I get it now. I need to get my life back in order. This was a wake-up call and I need to let him go before I really do get myself killed.

"Ethan will always have a special place in my heart. But I need to start making new relationships and new memories. I would love nothing more than to start making them with you. So, what do you say? Wanna be my boyfriend?" Roland leaned down and gave me another long and tender kiss. "Is that a yes?" I asked.

Roland nodded as he started getting all emotional. "Do you really mean this? No bullshit?"

"No bullshit. Whenever you and I are together, I promise it'll just be you and me, mentally and physically. But I have one condition. Will you please stop tickling my face with your hair," I said laughing.

Roland started laughing too. "Then my answer is yes. Alex, I don't want you to think that I want you to forget about him or that I'll want to replace him. What you and Ethan had was special and no one can ever replace that. I can only hope that one day you can feel the same way about me."

"Thank you Roland. You're such a kind and understanding person and you're just what I need to get me through this. And it doesn't hurt that your body is pretty damn hot and sexy too."

"Hey, you stole my line. And I was supposed to give you the boner, remember?"

"Who says you haven't?"

Roland reached down and gave me a tight hug.

"Ow, ow – my shoulder."

Roland looked aghast at the same time that Mason walked in with the drinks in his hands. "Alex, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

Mason paused in mid-step looking at me and Roland. "Wait, don't tell me. You tried fucking Alex but you couldn't get it up?"

"Shut the fuck up, you sexaholic. Give me those," Roland said as he reached out for the drinks.

"Sor – ry. So what's going on?"

Roland looked at me to respond. "Mason, I just asked Roland if he wanted to be my boyfriend."

Mason just stared at me with his mouth slightly open, not saying a word. That didn't look good.

"Mason?"

"I um … I think that …" he looked at Roland.

Roland stiffened as he noticed Mason's expression. "Hey, I need to go take a piss. I'll ah … I'll be right back," Roland said awkwardly as he stepped out of the room.

I noticed Mason's eyes getting watery. "Mason? What wrong? Talk to me. I thought you and Roland were getting along."

"We do get along. I have nothing against him or against you guys getting together. It's just that …"

"What? Tell me," I asked gently as I saw a tear rolling down his cheek.

"I'm sorry," he said wiping his eyes. "When you said Roland was gonna be your boyfriend, I realized that you had lost all hope of Ethan ever coming back. It's like it made it final, you know what I mean? He's never coming back, is he?"

I reached up and gave him a gentle hug. "I don't think so buddy. It's been almost two months and we haven't heard a peep from him. I never thought I'd hear myself saying this, but don't you think it's time we moved on? I almost got myself killed because I refused to let go. You saw what it was doing to me. I was getting drunk at work, I was getting drunk at my own party, I risked going to prison by getting too wild and trying to seduce all those boys. Ethan was the best thing that ever happened to me. But now he's gone and as much as I want to, I can't keep holding on to him any longer. Can you understand that?"

"I know Alex. You're right. I just miss him, that's all. And Roland's pretty cool. He's pretty hot too. I like him."

"Hey, I still got you right? You and I are still pretty tight, aren't we?"

"Pretty tight?" he asked with one raised eyebrow. "Hey, one way to find out, huh?" he said grabbing my hand and rubbing it over his crotch. "I'm gonna go find Roland and tell him everything's cool."

"Tell him to find that nurse's uniform and that I'm waiting for my sponge bath."

"Can I watch?"

"You bet."

Chapter 13
Smart-Alex and The Roly Poly

Alex begins to reluctantly wean himself from the memories of his first true love by fully embracing his miraculous survival and his second chance at life.

Characters:
Alex, 18yo – Lifeguard
Roland, 13yo – Linda's Brother
Linda – Swim Team Coach

(Saturday afternoon, three weeks later, Alex' guesthouse)

I was sitting on the carpet leaning against the wall staring at my empty room. Since I was already eighteen, I had convinced my mom that it was time for me to get my own place. Of course, she tried to talk me out of it. It was going to be a while before I completely healed from my injuries. But this place had too many reminders of Ethan.

I finally convinced her by using some lame metaphors about my wings rattling against my cage and that I needed to explore and expand my horizons. Mom was the owner of some really nice apartments so she convinced me to al least move in there. I agreed under the condition that I would pay her rent as soon as I went back to work.

I can't believe I'm finally moving out. So many memories. I remember when I was around ten or eleven when we were between housekeepers. Me and two of my cousins would run around naked inside the empty guest house after swimming in the pool. It was a time of wonderful discovery when I had found my dad's stash of girlie magazines. I had accidentally borrowed one of them and had accidentally hidden it under the carpet of this room.

While me and my cousins were starting to learn the pleasures of masturbation while looking at Playboys, I found myself secretly glancing at my cousin's delicious boners between their legs as we all sat on the floor next to each other while leaning against this very same wall.

But my excitement of seeing them all naked was tempered by my feelings of guilt. A guy was supposed to get boners from looking at naked girls, not from looking at naked guys. I'm glad I was finally able to overcome those feelings of guilt. I've accepted the fact that boys were my thing now. Their bodies are just so perfect, so smooth, so hairless, so innocent. And I don't have to worry about getting them pregnant.

Roland walked in wiping his sweat with his arm, pulling me out of my musings. "Hey Alex. I put the last box in the truck. You wanna walk around and make sure you got everything?"

"I already did. I'm leaving everything else here." Roland had been the one who had helped me the most during my recovery and during my therapy sessions. My body still had all the cuts and lacerations from my accident, but they were healing nicely. It was still a little difficult for me to walk, but the therapy was doing what it was supposed to and now I could walk unassisted.

Roland has been so patient and so wonderful with me. We had fooled around here and there whenever we got a chance, but because of my injuries, we still hadn't done anything serious with each other. However, we had been spending a lot of time just being together, usually after therapy.

Now that I was able to drive, we'd look for a quiet out of the way spot where we could park behind a tree and be intimate with each other. Sometimes images of Ethan would pop into my mind, but not to the point where it interfered with my relationship with Roland like it used to. It was much easier for me to gently push those images to the back of my mind.

Roland noticed something on top of my closet and walked over to it. "Alex, what about this? It's a model of the aerial tramway. Aren't you taking it with you?" he said picking it up to inspect it.

I shook my head slowly as I tried not to get emotional. It was one of the tramway models that I had bought for me and Ethan at the gift shop at the top of the mountain. It was a reminder of when he and I used to … no – I need to start looking to the future, not dwell in the past anymore. "Aw, nah. It's a toy my mom got for me a long time ago," I said feeling a little guilty. "I'm too old to be playing with toys, don't you think?"

"Wow, you really took care of it. It must've meant a lot to you."

"Yeah, it did," I said with a sigh. "Hey, you hungry?"

**--**

(Saturday evening, fast food restaurant)

"Have you decided what you want?" I asked Roland while standing in line.

"I think so. I'm still deciding."

"Okay, well I'm next. Here's ten bucks. Order what you want." I stepped up to the counter and gave the cute teen my order. The guy looked pretty young and had a tinge of light green eyes.

"What the name on the order sir?" asked the cutie after punching up the total.

"Oh um, here let me spell it for you," I said as I jotted something down on a napkin. The guy looked at the name and snickered as he took my payment while giving me an appreciative stare.

Roland noticed the exchange. "Aw jeeze, I know that look. You gave him a weird-ass name, didn't you?" he demanded as I walked up to him.

"You'll see. Here. When he asks for your name, give him this," I said handing him another napkin with another name written on it.

Roland looked at the name and gasped. "Are you crazy?!"

"You're next. Go, you're next. You're holding up the line." I said giving him a slight push.

I covered my mouth with my hand trying so hard not to laugh as I noticed the look of embarrassment in Roland's face as he handed the employee the name on the napkin after completing his order. As we were sitting at a booth table waiting for our order, Roland was covering his face with his hands.

"I can't believe you just made me do that," he said with an embarrassed smile. "Did you see the look on the dude's face when he read the name. He's not stupid you know."

"Hey, he didn't object did he? He was actually smiling. Didn't you notice? Maybe we turned him on."

We heard the speaker click on. "Haywood Jablomi, your order's ready. Haywood Jablomi, your order is ready."

Roland burst out laughing and quickly slithered under the table in embarrassment as the other customers started laughing and chuckling. When I went to pick up my tray, the cutie who took my order handed it to me with a smile. "Hey, thanks man," I said laughing. "I didn't think you'd do it."

"Happens all the time. Never a dull moment around here," he said smiling as he finished assembling Roland's order. "Here comes the other one," he said clicking on the microphone again. "Ben Jackinoff, your order is ready. Ben Jackinoff, your order is ready."

There was some more chuckling from the customers as Roland meekly walked up with a prominent blush. "Thanks," he said shyly.

"Thank you. And please come again soon," the cute guy said sexily.

We went back to the booth to eat our meal. "Oh my God, that was so embarrassing. You're terrible Alex. I can't take you anywhere can I?"

"Nah, people do it all the time. I used to do it with some of my buddies when I was in school."

"Hey, there's something on the napkin where you wrote that name," Roland said pointing at it on my tray.

I picked up the napkin and next to Haywood Jablomi, someone had written 'Yes I wood'. Roland picked up the napkin from his tray. Next to the name Ben Jackinoff, someone had written 'Mouth wide open'. We both turned around to look at the guy at the counter. He looked at us and licked his lips slowly as he wiped the counter with a wet towel. Roland and I looked at each other and started laughing.

(Late that same evening, Alex' new apartment)

"Ahhhh, that feels so good," said Roland putting his face directly in front of the portable fan in my new living room. I loved watching the way the fan blew his hair back. "Man, what a workout. I think I'm gonna be sore tomorrow."

"Don't worry lazy butt. I'll let you sleep in tomorrow," said Linda wiping the sweat off her forehead. "You're still spending the weekend at my place, right?"

"Yeah, thanks sis."

Linda had stopped by to pick up Roland and both of them had been helping me unpack and getting things somewhat organized. I still had a lot of work to do. "Hey, thank you guys so much for all your help. I'm sorry you've had to put up with this invalid for so long."

"Oh shush. I bet you've been enjoying all the pampering you've been getting. I'm just glad you'll be coming back to work pretty soon. For some reason, all the boys from the Tadpole Team keep asking about you and when you're coming back."

"Aw, that's sweet. Hey, I'll get to see them this Thursday when I go back to work."

Roland laughed. "You better keep your distance. Knowing those leeches, they'll all pick you up and toss your ass into the pool."

"Aw, that's even more sweet. You're gonna make me cry."

"You woos."

"Alright Baracuda, it's getting late. Get your stuff cause it's time to go."

"Aw, come on sis. Can't we stay a little longer?" Roland pleaded.

"No, I have to go to that swim meet early in the morning tomorrow."

"Swim meet? You didn't tell me nothing about no swim meet."

"I know. I'm sorry, I forgot about that when I invited you over. I'll just drop you off at mom's and you can stay over tomorrow night."

"Or … I could just stay here tonight and help Alex finish getting set up," he offered casually.

"And get my head chewed off by mom? No thanks."

"You could cover for me. Just say I'm with you. You know those meets can last all day." Roland started making pleading expressions to his sister while he silently kept mouthing the word 'please'.

Linda stared at Roland for a moment and then turned to me. "What do you think, Alex?"

"Well, this invalid wouldn't mind a little more pampering."

"Alright Roland. Just pray that mom doesn't find out about this or she'll go into conniptions and blow a fuse." She walked over to give Roland a warm hug. "Be careful little brother?" she said giving him a strange look.

"What?" asked Roland curiously from the way she was looking at him.

"You know what," she said with a slight smirk as she opened the door. "Alex, can you walk me out to my car?"

"Yes, of course," I said following her out the door.

"Alone," she added when she noticed Roland following us.

"Oh um, sure. I'll just wait in here."

There was an awkward silence as we approached her car. "Alex, I know about your secret relationship with Roland."

I stood frozen with my mouth open and felt my heart pounding, having absolutely no idea how to respond.

"Relax. Roland's the one who's been telling me about it."

"He's … he's been telling you what exactly?"

"That you asked him to be your boyfriend. That you guys have been getting intimate. That he really likes you."

"Linda, I'm shocked that he would tell you any of this. I'm embarrassed. I … I don't know what to say."

"Alex, it's okay. We tell each other secrets because we know we can trust each other. Ever since he met you at Ethan's party, he hasn't stopped talking about you. When he asked me if he could stay at that party, I knew instantly that you had caught his eye. But I didn't know you were gay back then. It wasn't until after your accident that Roland told me you had asked him to be your boyfriend. Look, when I was fourteen, I had a secret boyfriend who was seventeen at the time and when he turned eighteen, we were still seeing each other. We fooled around and um … did stuff with each other, so I'm not going to judge you, okay?"

"How long have you known that he was … well, you know, gay?"

"I'd say about two years. He came out to mom first and she totally freaked out. She freaked out even more when she found out that dad was more accepting and understanding than she was."

"Linda, why are you telling me this? Why did you bring me out here?"

"Because ever since he decided to come out to everyone at school, he's been having a hard time. Alex, he needs a friend. He needs a gay friend. Someone he can identify with. Despite the age difference, I'd rather it be you than some punk with piercings all over his tongue or all over his whatevers. Look, wherever you and Roland decide to take this relationship is none of my business and I'm not going to interfere in any way. All I ask is that you please be careful with him. He's really vulnerable right now and I don't want to see him getting hurt."

"Linda, believe it or not, I'm probably just as vulnerable as he is right now." She hadn't mentioned anything about Ethan so maybe she didn't know about that relationship and I wasn't about to bring it up. "I'm kind of new at this relationship stuff myself and it hasn't been too long since I've accepted my own sexual orientation. He's gonna be providing as much support for me as much as I'll be supporting him. Trust me on that. But I understand what you're saying. In a way, I'm glad you know about us so we don't have to be sneaking around."

"That's why I didn't mind letting him stay with you tonight. If this relationship is going to last, you guys need to spend more time together – alone. Get to know each other. Be a positive influence for each other. I know you Alex. You're a kind and sweet person and I know you would never intentionally hurt Roland. Just be really careful. You can get into serious trouble if anyone else finds out."

"Thank you, Linda. For everything you've done for me. I really appreciate it."

"You're sweet. Thank you for taking him under your wing. I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon to pick him up," she said as she got in her car.

When I stepped back into the apartment, Roland was sitting on the couch with the fan right in front of him. "So what'd she tell you?" he asked. "Wait, don't tell me. She knows about us and you better not fuck me up or else she'll fuck you over. Am I right?"

"Not exactly, but something like that. How come you didn't tell me that she knew about us?"

"Because she made me promise not to. We've never broken any promises to each other, ever."

"Well, you've been a naughty boy and I'm gonna have to give you a good spanking."

"You're gonna put me over your knee?"

I started laughing. "Shut up and come here," I said sitting down on the sofa. "Come lie down and relax. We can finish setting up tomorrow." I held out my hand and had Roland lie down facing up with his head on my lap. "Hey, I really want to thank you for everything you've done for me. You've been a tremendous help at the hospital. I don't know what I would've done without all your help."

"Yeah, you would've been all lost like a little puppy yelping into the air."

"Well I'll bet I would've eventually been found by that cute male nurse. You know, the one that gave me one of my sponge baths."

"I'm jealous. Did you think he was cuter than me?" Roland asked grinning up at me with his long hair splayed sexily.

"Maybe not the face. But that body … hooo wee." Roland gave me a light knuckle punch on the arm. "Aww, is my widdle roly poly getting jealous," I teased poking him on his stomach and making him laugh. "Does my roly poly want to punch that nasty old nurse in the nose?"

"Not before I punch you first," he said chuckling. "And stop calling me a bug."

"Hey, that's what you're gonna be from now on. You're gonna be my Roly Bug."

"In that case, the next time I see that nurse, I'm gonna bite him. And not in a good way either. Although I have to admit, he did have a hot body, didn't he?"

"You know I'm just kidding with you right? You're the one who picked this little puppy up and held me in your lap and took care of me. I'll always be grateful for that," I said stroking his hair. "Just be glad I didn't pee on you."

"You're such a smart-Alex. That's what I like about you. You're always so fun to be with."

"Well, even if that nurse did have a hot body, yours is infinitely hotter," I said leaning down to give him a kiss.

"Yeah, well your body is infinitely plus one hotter than his," he said during our kiss.

"And yours in infinite times infinitely hotter than his," I continued, slipping my hands under his jeans to feel his boner rising.

"Well your body is … is um … mmm, okay you win big guy," he gasped as I kept rubbing him over his underwear.

I started unbuttoning his jeans and pulled down his zipper. While we kept kissing, Roland finished pulling down his jeans and underwear. This was the first time Roland and I have had the opportunity to be alone in a room together without having to worry about anyone coming in. Our kissing became more passionate as I grabbed his hard penis and started stroking him.

"Hmm … you wanna roll around on your bed with this Roly Bug?"

"I'd thought you'd never ask."

"Yeah? Well you're gonna have to catch me first," he said as he jumped up and started jogging in place. The site of this thirteen-year old half naked boy with just a tee shirt on jumping up and down making his bouncy boner bob up and down caused my arousals to overtake me like a wave. "Come on, big guy. You need some more exercise. You need another therapy session. You want this? Huh? You're gonna have to catch me first. Come on. Up … up!"

Despite my sore muscles, I got myself up and went after him like a magnet. He started jogging backwards away from me with enough speed to keep me from catching him. Although the aches and pains from my injuries were not as painful as they used to be, I could still feel the soreness in my bones and in my muscles.

"Come on smart-Alex. You're gonna have to do better than that," he said jogging to the other side of the kitchen table. "You want this don't you?" he said swiveling his hips erotically with his hands behind his head. "Come and get it."

Mmm, he knew exactly how to get me the most horniest. "Come on Roly. Give this invalid a break. I've already had my therapy session this week."

"If you wanna have me, you're gonna have to build up your strength."

I made a quick move to the right and as soon as Roland moved out of the way, I bent down with a painful expression.

"Alex! What's wrong? Are you okay?" he exclaimed as he ran to me almost in a panic.

"GOT YOU!" I said wrapping my arms around him and picking him up.

"Hey, you cheated," he said wrapping his legs around me. "What are you gonna do with me?"

"What I've been waiting to do to you all day." I sat him up on top of the counter and kissed him hard. I quickly pulled off his shirt leaving him completely naked. I started kissing his neck and started working myself down to his chest, down further more to his belly button, and yesss, finally to that wonderfully big and hard bouncy dick of his. Roland opened up his legs and leaned his head back against the cabinet door as I slurpily sucked on his perfectly circumcised hardness.

"Ooooh, Alex. I've been waiting for you to do this to me all month. Oh yeah baby. Keep doing that."

Roland stepped down and quickly pulled off my shirt. He grabbed my cheeks and started kissing me while turning me around against the counter. As we continued kissing, he undid my pants and let them drop. He bent down and pulled off my boxer briefs just enough to expose my glowing hot boner and started sucking on me even harder than I was sucking on him.

After kicking off my pants and underwear, I picked him up again letting him wrap his legs and his arms around me as I carried him back to the living room. I sat him down on the edge of the coffee table and pushed all the drink coasters and decorations off with a swipe of my hand so he could lie down. I kneeled down, opened up his legs, and without further thought, I started plunging my dick into his hole. By this time, we had worked up enough sweat so that I had little trouble sliding it in.

I had never felt such sensations before as I felt my dick gliding in and out of him. I realized that I had just lost my virginity to this sexy young teen. Despite all my sexual experiences with Ethan and Mason, I had never actually fucked any of them before. I had never fucked anyone before. And it just felt so good. For the first time in two months, I felt really happy again. I felt whole again. Life had given me a second chance and the gods of fate were looking down favorably upon me once more.

Roland got up and pushed me down on the coffee table face down. He climbed on top of me and started probing with his dick looking for my hole. I reached back and guided his dick to the right spot. This was another new sensation for me as I had never felt anyone fuck me before. It felt a little painful at first, but as his dick became more lubricated, it started feeling so good.

Roland was pounding on me hard. I could tell by his moaning that he was getting close to squirting his load. The coffee table started becoming more and more unstable as I felt it swerving a little more than it should. The wood started creaking and crackling which didn't sound good at all. I hope it doesn't …

CRRRAAACK!

SHIT! The coffee table collapsed causing us to roll off of it. We stood up and looked at each other for a moment with overpowering urges. Then I pushed him against the wall and started kissing him again, pressing my boner against his. Then he rolled me around and pinned me hard against the wall. As I reached around to cup his bubble ass cheeks, I accidentally knocked over the tall corner lamp.

He took a good grip of my engorged penis and started fondling my nuts while we kissed. I pushed him down on his knees with his head pressing against the blinds and his arms resting on the window sill. I started fucking him harder and faster. My first real fuck. This was wonderful. I was up in the clouds when I felt myself squirting my cum on Roland's back.

"Let me do you," Roland gasped desperately as he turned around and pushed me down on the carpet. He wrapped his hands around my raised thighs and resumed his previous actions from which he was rudely interrupted by that insufferable and inconsiderate coffee table. Roland's face was completely covered by his hair as he swiveled his head in sexual pleasure. "Uhh … uhh … oh Alex. You make me so horny," he moaned swallowing hard. He started gasping spasmodically as he pulled out and squirted his hot juices all over my chest as he continued jacking off.

He looked like a falling tree as he let himself drop on top of me. "Damn, Roly Bug. I know you wanted to roll around a bit, but jeeze. How was that for a therapy session?"

"That was wild," he said gasping. "That'll count for two therapy sessions. Sorry about the coffee table."

And that's when the blinds broke off and came crashing down on top of us. We quickly pulled them over our naked bodies before someone passed by and saw us.

"Um … sorry about the blinds too," he added.

"What about the lamp?"

"Hey, that one's on you."

Roland and I just started laughing as we continued kissing under the mangled blinds.

Chapter 14
Fireflies and The Glow Worm

The relationship between Alex and Roland grows stronger and stronger by the day as Alex continues to heal, not only from his physical wounds, but from his emotional ones as well. Is Alex finally ready to let go of the past?

Characters:
Alex, 18yo – Lifeguard
Roland, 13yo – Alex' New Boyfriend

(Friday afternoon, nearby lake, two weeks later)

"ALEX, I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE!" Roland yelled excitedly as he felt some tugs from his fishing pole.

"Well reel it in. Don't just sit there. Hurry before it gets away."

"I'm trying to. Stop rocking the boat so much."

Roland kept reeling in the line as I tried to steady the small motor boat we had rented. "Alex, what do I do? I've never done this before."

"Just keep pulling up on the rod while you're reeling it in. When you bring it in, just bring it out of the water a little bit and I'll catch it with the net. Keep going. You're doing great."

Roland continued reeling in the line with renewed excitement. I took a moment to reflect on just how close Roland and I had become during the past month and a half. Our relationship was getting stronger and stronger by the day. According to Linda, Roland was doing a lot better at school and had noticed a remarkable improvement in his attitude. He seemed a lot more upbeat and had a livelier step in him. He seemed a lot more confident, and a lot more happy.

She also said she had noticed a remarkable improvement in me as well. I still find it hard to believe that I would let myself fall so hard after Ethan left and how strongly it affected me. Although I still miss him very much, I've accepted the fact that I have to move on. And Roland was playing an important and wonderful role in filling in that void.

"Alex, the net! Where's the net!" Roland shouted as he pulled the fish up over the water.

"Holy shit! That's a big one," I said as I quickly grabbed the net. "Hold it steady."

Roland pulled up on the pole too much and panicked when the struggling fish slammed into his face. "AAAH, ALEX! HELP!" Roland yelled as he let go of the pole.

"Shit! Hold on," I said as I tried frantically to get a grip on the slippery fish with no success as it kept flip flopping and bouncing all over the boat. I quickly grabbed the fishing line and was finally able to hoist it up with a big smile. "Roland, congratulations on your first fish. She's a beauty."

"Really? She … she is?" Roland beamed with pride. "Wow. My very first fish."

"Here, help me hold him while I get the hook out of his mouth so I can put him in the bucket. When we get back to the cabin, I'll show you how to gut it."

"Ew, no thanks. I'll just let you do that," Roland said with disgust.

"Oh, come on. That's the best part," I said as I grabbed the needle nose pliers behind me and quickly cut the barbed tip. As soon as the hook was free, the fish unexpectedly started struggling again. It quickly started bouncing between both of our hands as we desperately tried to get a hold of it. With a final slap of its tail on my face, the fish triumphantly slipped back into the water and quickly disappeared.

"Noooooo!" I shouted reaching out with my hands. Roland was trying so hard not to laugh and quickly gave up as he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"You just got bitch-slapped by a fish. That was so funny," he cackled slapping his hands on his knees.

"You think that was funny?" I said as I grabbed him and started poking him. "You think that's funny? Huh?"

"I thought that was hilarious," he shouted loudly as he kept laughing harder and squirming under my tickling fingers.

We started hearing some kind of announcement through a loud speaker coming from the boat dock. It was pretty far away so it wasn't very clear. "Did you hear what he said?" I asked Roland.

"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with that," he said pointing behind my shoulder to the horizon above the pine trees. I turned around and what seemed like a dark cloud turned out to be a dust storm ominously rolling in our direction.

"Shit. Time to get out of here," I said as I started pumping on the cord to start the motor. As soon as it started I headed straight towards the shore as fast as it would go. By the time we reached the dock, we could feel fat drops of rain starting to come down. The cabin that we had rented was not too far away and so we decided to just make a run for it. As we followed the thin trail through the trees, the light rain started turning into a real downpour.

Still feeling a little soar from my injuries, I had to stop and catch my breath. Roland noticed and quickly ran back. "Alex, are you okay?" he asked with concern.

"I'm fine," I said as I stood up straight and leaned my head back letting the rain come down on my face. For some reason, that felt so good. It just felt so cleansing. "I've always wanted to do that," I said as I took a deep replenishing breath. I opened my eyes and saw Roland also letting the rain fall on his face. He looked so beautiful with his wet hair plastered over parts of his face. I walked up to him and gently pushed him against a tall tree. I pushed his hair out of his face as we gave each other a long romantic kiss as we stared into each other's eyes through our wet eyelashes.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn't having any of it. As we were kissing, we both jumped at the same time when we saw a flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder, prompting us to duck and start running again laughing at our own reaction. As we reached the cabin, we quickly kicked off our muddy shoes and pulled off our socks. We ran inside and headed straight for the shower while stripping off our wet clothes. After adjusting the water temperature, we both stepped under the luxurious hot spray washing off the cold rain from our bodies as we embraced each other.

"Aaah, that feels so nice and warm." Roland placed his hands on my face which made me wince. "Whoa Alex, would you look at that. Dude, you have a nasty ass bruise on your cheek. You must've really pissed off that fish. It really whooped your ass out there."

"That's it. Were heading back out there tomorrow and I'm gonna hunt that fish down even if I have to go scuba diving to find it."

Roland started moving his mouth like a fish out of water and waving his hands like the fins of a fish. He let some water into his mouth and started gurgling. "Alex," he said in a gurgling voice. "Alex, come and get me so I can slap the other cheek." Roland burst out laughing and went into a fit of coughing as some of the water went down his wind pipe.

"Ah. Ahah. That's what you get for making fun of me you slimy barracuda."

After recovering from his coughing, Roland continued moving his mouth like a fish.

"Grab your fishing rod. We're going after that fish tonight."

"Hey, not so fast there Ahab. There are plenty of fish in the lake. Besides, you're still recovering from one almost fatal accident and I ain't letting you get yourself into another one."

"Aw. My roll bug is still trying to protect me," I said as I kissed him under the spray.

"You bet your ass cheeks I am," he responded by squeezing my butt.

(Later that evening.)

"Mmm, don't you just love that after the rain smell?" I asked Roland as we both stepped out to the front porch carrying some blankets. We placed a thick blanket on the porch swing and sat down, pulling the other blanket over us.

"Yeah, it brings back so many memories of when we used to go camping with mom and dad when he was still with us. We've never gone camping ever since. I've asked mom about it, but she kept saying that it was still … Alex, what's that?" Roland asked as he sat up excitedly pointing into the darkness.

"What? Where?"

"Those lights over there, where those trees are."

I smiled warmly. "Ah, those are fireflies."

"Dude, are you serious? I've never seen live fireflies before. Why do they glow?"

"That's their way of getting some boot-aay. You know, churning the butter, glazing the ham, getting down on six knees …"

"Laying some pipe," continued Roland trying not to laugh. "Releasing the cracken, jingle belling … Hey, I know. They can sing 'You Light Up My Life' to each other."

"It'll be their wedding song," I blurted out. We started laughing so hard that tears started coming out.

"They look so beautiful?" Roland said leaning into me.

"Not as beautiful as you."

"Are you saying I have a glowing butt?"

"A sexy glowing butt. Every time I screw in my glow worm in it, you just light me up."

"Ooh, it looks like we're gonna be lighting up the room all night," Roland said as he snuggled into me.

What a perfect night. We could see the storm clouds lighting up in the distance as the passing storm slowly receded. The night was cool especially from the light breeze, but we kept each other warm with the blanket and with the warmth of our own bodies.

"Alex, tell me about him."

"About who?"

"About Ethan. Tell me about him." Roland must've noticed my hesitation. "Alex, I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. That was a stupid question."

"No, no. That's all right. I've struggled so much trying not to think about him that you just caught me off guard, that's all."

"Hey, you don't have to …"

"S'all right. I'm all right." I took a deep breath. "Let's see, well Ethan was … he was just Ethan. He was a normal 10-year-old boy in every sense except for the fact that he was having problems at home with his dad who had a drinking problem. Every time he got drunk, he would take it out on Ethan and he would ah … we would …" I started shaking my head trying not to get emotional. "But every time we were together, he would manage to put that aside and just enjoy every moment we spent together. He was gentle and kind and compassionate and the type of person who could just get along with anybody. In that respect, he was a lot like you.

"But he was also very vulnerable. It was because of his father's drinking that he ended up staying at my place one night after vacuuming the pool. His mom, whom I had never met in my life, begged me to take him with me because his father was drunk and she had nowhere else to send him. And that's how it all started. It's still hard for me to figure out how we ended up falling in love so quickly. I guess I found myself in the roll of his protector and he saw me as someone who would be there for him. Someone who would take the time to do a lot of the things he wished his father would've done with him."

"Well, you are a kind and gentle and compassionate person yourself. You're also a sizzling hot sex muffin. I can see why he had the hots for you."

"You didn't get jealous from everything I said about him?"

Roland thought for a moment. "Maybe I would have about a month ago. But one thing I learned after my dad died is that the more I talked about it, the easier it got for me. Maybe it'll get easier for you too. You know why I'm not jealous? Because I've seen how much energy you've been putting into you and me and to this relationship. Even though I can still sense some of the pain that you've managed to bury deep inside of you, I think I've come to know you well enough to see what's inside your heart. Alex … I know it may be too soon for you and I don't want you to feel pressured or feel like you have to respond. But I'm falling in love with you dude. I'm falling hard," he said with a shy smile.

Roland's revelation was unexpected and left me feeling conflicted. He noticed my hesitation and pulled away a little to look at me. "Alex, it's okay if you don't say it back. It's too soon. I get that. I'm just telling you how I feel. I just want you to know just how much your friendship has meant to me. I've never ever had a friend like you."

For some reason, the words 'I love you' scared the hell out of me. Those three simple but powerful words sparked some vivid memories of how I felt about Ethan. It was the power of that love that had such a grip on me that it almost got me killed after he left. Do I still love him? Am I ready to love someone else?

As Roland gently rested his head on my shoulder, I could tell he was disappointed despite his denials. "Roland, please don't misunderstand my hesitation. I never thought that I could ever be capable of loving someone else. But I don't think that anymore. I've fallen in love with you too Roland. I love you so much. It's just that the last time I said those words to someone, I ended up loosing that person. I was afraid that once I started saying those words to you, that I might end up losing you too. I wouldn't be able to go through that again."

"Alex, we have to live our lives in the moment. No one can tell what the future will bring. There's no right or wrong time to fall in love. No one chooses to fall in love, it just happens. It creeps up on you. Hey, I'm not going anywhere okay? I'm sticking with this stud muffin and I'm not letting go," he said wrapping both arms around me.

"You'll always be my roll bug?"

"As long as I get to have your glow worm," he said as we cuddled under the blanket.

"What about you Roland. Why don't you tell me something about yourself that you haven't already told me."

"Well, I know this may sound surprising to you, but I've been thinking about cutting my hair."

"Shut up! You're putting me on."

"It's true. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I've been thinking about it."

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just getting tired of everyone at school pretending to mistake me for a girl or making fun of me all the time. I can't even walk into the bathroom without some idiot saying things like 'Hey, what are you doing in here? This isn't the girl's bathroom.' You know, stupid things like that."

"Hey, who's making fun of you? Give me a list and I'll go tie their fucking balls around their own necks," I said heatedly.

"You're so cute when you're angry. You're gonna be my protector now?"

"Damn right I am."

Roland reached back and gathered his hair behind his head making it look like he had short hair. "What do you think?"

"Wow. Now that looks pretty hot. But hey, you look pretty hot either way."

"Well, it would be a lot easier to get my hair into the swimming cap during practice."

"Hey, speaking of swimming, why don't you drop by Sunday at the Y after I vacuum the pool? We can have some fun afterwards."

"Alright, sure. Hey, can I bring Mason with me?"

"Well um, things might get a little steamy in the shower and Mason is the type of person who doesn't hold back. You wouldn't mind?"

"Are you kidding? Mason's hot. You think he might be interested in um … our kind of therapy?"

"You can count on it." Oh man. It's been so long since I've seen Mason's naked body. I sure hope he'll be able to make it. As we swung back and forth on the porch swing, I felt a growing anticipation of having Mason joining us in what could only turn out to be a most satisfying threesome with these sexy boys. I was glad Roland was open to the idea of group sex once in a while. Roland got up on his feet and pulled on my hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Come on glow worm. I want to try something," he said as he guided me into the darkness towards the trees. He lied down on his back on top of the lush grassy field and had me lie down next to him. We kept looking around and watched in wonder as some fireflies started buzzing around overhead shining their bellies in search of a mate. Roland reached up with his arms hoping one would land on his hand. I regarded him in the near darkness and studied his shadowy boyish features. He was so full of joy. We were both so full of joy.

Roland was right. We don't choose to fall in love. Love just happens. You have managed to conquer me Roland – physically and emotionally. Your body is like heaven, but I am beginning to see more and more of the beauty inside. I am no longer falling in love with you because I'm already there.

I leaned over on my elbow and started kissing him while caressing the side of his head. We already made out under the blinds in my apartment and also made out in the rain. That was so wonderful. But making out under the fireflies was the most magical of all. But the magic wasn't coming from just the glow of the fireflies, it was also coming from the glow of this beautiful boy who had become my savior and my true love. As I dissolved myself into his soft lips, time stood still and for this moment, everything else faded away.

(Sunday morning at the Y)

I walked slowly around the pool to inspect my handiwork to make sure I didn't miss any spots before I turned off the vacuum filter. This time I took my time and didn't want to cut any corners. I still felt like I wanted to make a good impression with my boss and with the other lifeguards to try to regain their respect. If that meant I was gonna have to take almost three hours to vacuum this pool, then so be it.

After turning off the filter machine and storing it away, I decided to step into the corner office and grab a snack. I looked out through the corner of the outside window and wondered where Roland and Mason were. They should've been here already. It was already past ten o'clock and I was starting to get a little hungry and, I have to admit, a little horny too.

While I was chomping down on an apple, I pulled out my phone and started surfing the web trying to look for a gift for Roland. I wanted to get him something really special, but I just couldn't figure out what that would be. Maybe if I just keep surfing, something will pop out at me. Maybe I should just ask Linda for her opinion. She would know better than anybody what he would enjoy. And then something did pop out at me. Well what do you know. He's gonna love this. I placed the order immediately with a humorous smile.

As I bit down on the apple, a text message popped out on my phone. Maybe it's Roland. When I opened it up, I saw that it came from an unknown number.

"Step out to your truck," the message read.

Step out to my truck? I scoffed and wondered if maybe Steph and Sophia were hiding somewhere outside trying to play games with me. Or maybe it was just Steph. She's probably just trying to get under my pants again. Just thinking about her last attempt started to give me a rise. But even if I wanted to, and I did want to – badly, I'm just gonna have to turn her down. I don't think Roland would appreciate walking in here and find me and Steph on the floor fucking each other. The phone beeped again.

"Step out to your truck and find a prize ; )"

"Might as well get this over with," I mumbled as I got off my chair. I unlocked the door and slowly walked out just waiting for someone to pop out of the bushes and surprise me. Nothing. I looked around as I walked over to where I had parked my truck. On top of the hood, there was a hair clip that looked oddly familiar. I picked it up to inspect it and it looked exactly like a hair clip I had bought for myself a long time ago. It was a hair clip specially made for men with long hair. What's going on? I bet it's Roland and Mason using somebody's else's phone and trying to get me all weirded out.

"ROLAND? MASON? YOU CAN COME OUT NOW. I KNOW IT'S YOU!" I yelled out. I started walking around the building hoping to get a glimpse of their hiding spot. As I was passing by the rear entrance, I put my face to the door window and got a fleeting glance of someone with long hair racing into the boy's dressing room. Roland – just what I thought. I hope you brought Mason with you.

I quickly ran around to the front entrance and quietly stepped inside. As I was reaching in my pocket to grab my keys, I noticed something on the floor. It was a Hershey's Kiss. I turned around and there was a trail of Hershey's Kisses leading into the boy's dressing room. Oh my God, that is so romantic. Maybe Roland decided to ditch Mason so that we could have a romantic date with just the two of us. Damn, I wish I could've thought of something like this. This kid has a romantic streak in him.

I walked over to the dressing room and slowly opened the door. I took a deep breath and walked in. Roland was sitting down on one of the benches with his back towards me. Without saying a word, I walked towards him. He hung his head down so that his curly hair was covering up his face. Wait a minute. Curly hair? Roland's hair is not curly, it's wavy. Could it be Sophia? No, that doesn't fit either. Her hair is not that curly either and it's a little longer.

I started getting an uneasy feeling. I started going through all the possibilities in my head and quickly shut my brain down when a crazy thought crossed my mind. I chastised myself mentally. I felt like laughing out loud at the stupidity of even thinking that this kid could actually be …"

"Hey Alex," said a soft familiar voice that instantly froze my blood solid.

"Ethan," I whimpered shakily almost in a whisper. As Ethan parted his hair to reveal his face, I involuntarily dropped to my knees.

No …

Chapter 15
Crossroads and No-Win Scenarios

Ethan is back and Alex' world has once again turned upside down. But some alarming revelations from Ethan catapults the group into a real life and death struggle for their very own survival, leaving Alex with having to make some of the most painful decisions of his entire life.

Characters:
Alex, 18yo – Lifeguard
Roland, 13yo – Swim Team Member
Mason, 10yo – Swim Team Member
Ethan, 11yo – Swim Team Member

Ethan threw himself to me and hugged me tightly. "Oh Alex, I've missed you so much," he said into my ear as I stared into chaos with my mouth open in stunned disbelief. That's where I had seen that hair clip. It was the one I had given Ethan to hold on to when we thought he was gonna be taken away by Child Protective Services.

"Ethan … Ethan!" I gasped. I touched his face and took a closer look. My God … it was really him. We stared at each other for a moment as a tear rolled down his cheek. He pressed his lips hard against mine and started kissing me passionately. I wrapped my arms around his small frame and it just felt so incredible and as magical as that first time when we kissed at the Y during that Dirty Slots game. Then I remembered the very first time I had kissed Roland in these very same showers right behind me.

I slowly placed my hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him away as I hung my head and started crying softly. I quickly got myself up and walked over to the row of sinks. This can't be happening. This just can't be happening. I stared at myself in the mirror and I could feel myself breathing so hard that I started getting dizzy. My brain was getting so scrambled that I felt myself starting to hyperventilate. I opened the faucet and splashed cold water on my face. What in the world am I gonna do now? How am I supposed to react to this?

"Alex, what's wrong? I thought you'd be happy to see me. Didn't you miss me?" Ethan pleaded still sitting on the bench.

"Ethan, wh … what are you doing here," I choked out in a hoarse and anguished voice.

"I came cause I wanted to see you," he whimpered. "Why aren't you happy to see me? Alex, what's going on? Please tell me what's wrong. Don't you love me anymore?"

I put my hand on my forehead and leaned against the wall. Of course I still loved him. But I also loved Roland. And now I was starting to realize that I might end up losing them both. With a stream of tears, I slowly let myself drop to the ground with my knees up and started sobbing into my hands. I felt Ethan's hand on my shoulder as he tried to comfort me.

"Alex, please talk to me. If you're mad because I left, it wasn't my fault. You don't know what happened. Please!" he pleaded with tears in his eyes.

"I can't. I … I can't do this," I said as I crawled into the nearest restroom stall and locked the door. I buried my face in my arms over the toilet seat as I started crying unconsolably. Hearing Ethan's soft wails on the other side of the door made me feel even worse. I could feel the sinister tendrils of despair slowly intertwining themselves around me again until I felt completely enveloped. I had worked so hard to finally let go of Ethan and put him behind me. It's not fair. Damn it, it's just not fair.

It took a while for both of us to calm down. I sat on top of the toilet seat wiping my tears with some tissue. I could see Ethan sitting on his knees through the bottom of the stall door. None of us said a word for a long while which gave me some time to try and sort all this out in my head. I guess the first thing I needed to do was try to understand what happened.

"Ethan, when you left, I was devastated. You have no idea what I've been through. When I tried calling you and found out that your number had been disconnected, it just made the situation worse. I just wanted to hear your voice," I wailed softly between sobs. "You have no idea how many times I checked my phone hoping for a phone call or a text from you. Every night I fell asleep with my phone on my pillow to wake me up just in case you called.

"Why didn't you call? Why? At least to let me know you were okay? You could've at least sent me a fucking message. You just disappeared. It's like you were dead. I spent my days walking in shadows and not even caring about anything or anyone, not even myself. I almost got myself killed because I couldn't deal with the pain. And now, just when I was finally starting to cope with that pain, just when I was starting to move on, just when I had finally let you go, you show up just like that. Ethan, what the hell happened to you and why are you here now?"

"Alex, you think you're the only one who's gone through hell? You think you're the only one who suffered after I was forcefully taken away from the person I love more than anything? Do you actually think that I didn't miss you?" he asked raising his voice in anger. "You think I actually stopped loving you?" he cried out incredulously as he started sobbing again. He started pounding on the stall door in frustration. "If that's what you think, then you're a selfish bastard.

"All those times when you were staring at your phone, I was staring at my own wrist trying to decide which way to slice it open because I couldn't stand being without you," he said as he stuck his arm under the door to show me a long scar on his wrist. "All those times when you were walking in shadows, I was staring up at the night sky imagining that somehow you would find me and that you would come and take me away with you. You've been through a lot Alex, and I'm sorry for that. But so have I and it wasn't my fault."

"Oh, Ethan, I'm …"

"Look, I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but I don't fucking care anymore. Me and my mom were put into some crazy Witness Protection Program. We didn't go to Arizona after all. Mom just said that to throw you off. We actually went to California. My dad was involved in some shit with some cartels and my mom was a key witness to a lot of the things that went on. They said that with mom's testimony, they could send the leader of that cartel to prison for the rest of his life."

"Your mom was part of this?"

"There's a lot of things I don't understand. All I know is that my dad got arrested and he's waiting for a trial. Some agents told my mom that if she cooperated, that they would cut her a deal and that maybe she won't have to go to prison. They had us move into this secret house and they made us change our names. These agents kept an eye on us day and night. They made us swear not to talk to anyone about this and said it was for our own protection.

"They took away our cell phones and they said they were monitoring the house phone all the time. That's why I couldn't call you. I thought about using someone else's phone at school, but I couldn't remember your number. And that's another thing. Some FBI agent always took me to school and picked me up. I couldn't even join any sports afterschool or have friends come over to the house. I didn't even have any friends at all.

"Alex, I was so miserable over there. I kept thinking about you all the time and how I wanted things to be the way they were. I just couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted to come back. It got so bad that I actually cut my own wrist. They had to call an ambulance to take me to the hospital.

"Someone from the cartel must've found out that I was there and came looking for me. This man actually came into the room and threatened me and my mom. He told her that if she testified, that he would …" Ethan started crying again. "… he said he would come after me and kill me."

All my anger and frustrations and feelings of despair suddenly turned into alarm. Ethan started pounding on the door again. "Alex, I need you. Please open the damn door," he cried pounding harder. "Alex, open the fucking door. Pleeease!" he wailed desperately.

I unlocked the door and slowly swung it open. Ethan was sitting on his knees with his head down and his hair covering his face, wailing softly. He looked so distraught and frightened. I knelt down in front of him and slowly wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to my chest as we both started crying. We just hugged and held each other rocking to the sides as I caressed his hair.

I just breathed in his distinct smell that I had missed so much. I felt guilty about how good it felt to hold him in my arms again. Ethan was right. How could I have thought that he could just forget about me so easily. I should've realized that there must've been a logical reason for him not being able to contact me. We finally pulled away and Ethan continued with his story.

"So, one night without the agents knowing, mom sneaked me out to the bus station and gave me some money. She also bought one of those cheap cell phones that you can buy from a machine and gave it to me. She told me to come here and to find you and your mom and that she would know what to do. Mom said she couldn't come with me because without her testimony, that they'd probably have to let that cartel guy go and he'd come after us. But she was so scared that something would happen to me that she decided to just send me away. I guess she also saw how miserable I was.

"So when I got here, I took the bus to your house but no one was home. I went to the back to try to find you and when I looked through the window, I saw that everything was gone. So I took another bus to my old house and found my bike where I had left it. I decided to come here hoping to find you. I was so happy when I saw your truck."

"So you're the one who sent me those text messages?" Ethan nodded. "And you left that trail of Hershey's Kisses?" He nodded again with a weak smile. "How did you send me a text if you didn't know my number?"

"When mom bought me the cell phone, she gave me your number. She had it all the time. She kept it from me because she was afraid that if I managed to get in contact with you, that I might tell you where I was and you'd come looking for me. She said she didn't want to put you in any danger. I made her promise not to call you because I wanted to surprise you.

"Anyways, when I saw your truck, I stopped by at the corner store and bought the chocolates there. I was hiding in the bushes nearby when you walked out to your truck, When I saw you walking around the building, I just snuck in. I've been imagining this moment for such a long time," he said as he started hugging me again. "When I heard you opening the door, I was imagining us hugging each other and hopping up and down cheering to each other. Alex, I never expected you to … why aren't glad to see me?"

"Ethan, I didn't think you were ever coming back. I had lost all hope. During the time that you were gone, I decided I needed to move on and …" I tensed when I heard the dressing room door creaking open. My blood froze again when I saw Roland and Mason walking in while me and Ethan were still hugging. With the distraction of the Hershey's Kisses, I realized that I had forgotten to lock the front entrance.

"ETHAN! Is that really you?"

"MASON!"

"OH MY GOD," they both shouted as they slammed into each other's arms hugging tightly.

Roland stood frozen holding some kind of gift bag with his mouth open as he stared at Ethan, then at me. "Roland …" I said cautiously as I stood up and reached out with my hand.

Roland backed away. "I ah … I think I need to go," he stammered emotionally. He turned away towards the door. "Roland wait. Please."

Roland turned to me and blocked me with his hand. "Alex, it's alright," he said losing his composure. "I just need to …" He dropped the gift bag on the floor as his eyes began to pool with tears. "I need to get out of here," he whimpered walking out the door.

"Roland … no, no, no, NOOO!" I shouted as I started banging my head against the door.

"Mason, what's going on?" Ethan asked.

Mason started explaining the situation to Ethan as I was desperately trying to keep myself from panicking. This was turning out to be my worst nightmare. I opened the door and decided to go after him. I found him sitting down on one of the sofas in the lobby with his knees up and crying into his arms.

I walked over and tried to put my arm around him, but he just pushed it away. "Roland, I'm so sorry. He just showed up. I didn't know he was coming. I promise."

"I knew this was gonna happen," he sobbed loudly. "I just knew it. How could I have been so stupid to let myself fall in love with you so soon." He said it with so much anguish that I just wanted to die. "I feel so stupid," he cried.

"Roland, please don't say that. You aren't …"

"Alex, I wanna be alone. Just go away," he cried.

I slowly walked back into the dressing room feeling a deep sense of loss. Mason was still recounting to Ethan all the events that took place while he was gone. When Ethan saw the tears in my eyes, he suddenly stood up with a look of determination. "Alex, I can't let this happen. I need to make this right," he said as he quickly jogged out the door to go after Roland. Mason gave me a look of sympathy at the unfairness of the situation I suddenly found myself in.

I knelt down on the floor to pick up the gift bag Roland had dropped. When I saw what was inside, I just broke down in tears. It was a small stuffed roly poly bug toy. Roland had brought it for me as a gift. I opened up the card and had trouble reading the words through all my tears.

Alex, my love. My first love. When I rest my head on your lap and look into your eyes, I am no longer alone. When I rest my head against your chest and listen to the beat of your heart, I know that it's beating for me. When you put your arms around me and hold me tight, I no longer feel afraid. When you touch my lips, you make my body glow just like those fireflies we saw the other night. I am your roly poly and I will roll over for you anytime. Thank you for your kindness and for letting me be part of your life. – Love always, your Roll Bug.

"Roland …" I sobbed.

Mason came and put his arm around me. "Alex, I'm so sorry. This is a really tough one. What are you gonna do?"

"I don't know Mason," I cried. "I don't know."

A moment later, Ethan ran back in with a look of terror in his eyes and breathing very hard.

"Ethan, what's wrong?" I asked nervously.

"Alex, it's that man from the hospital, the one who threatened to kill me," he squealed in terror. "He's … he's outside. He must've followed me all the way from California."

"What about Roland? Where's Roland?"

"I couldn't find him. I think he was already out the door. Alex, I'm scared."

"ETHAAAAN!" we heard a man screaming from somewhere inside the building. "I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE!"

I yanked the door open and we all ran out to the lobby. I came to a screeching halt when I saw an older man holding Roland around his chest with a pistol pointed at his head. I reached out with my arm and blocked Ethan and Mason from going any further. I felt a cold shiver going down my spine at this incredible nightmare we were finding ourselves in.

"Who are you? What do you want?" I demanded angrily with a growing sense of dread.

"I want that boy standing right there behind you. I want Ethan," he said crisply. The man had greying hair with a white mustache wearing a black overcoat.

"Alex, what the fuck's going on?" Roland shrieked with a terrified look.

"QUIET," the man yelled. "Look man, I don't want any beef with you or the kids. Just hand me Ethan and we'll be out of your pretty hair."

"What do you want with him? What are you gonna do?"

"Look, I'm only going to explain this to you one time," he said raising his voice in anger. "Hand over that kid or I shoot this sissy here in the head right here, right now. In fact, I'll shoot all of you. I don't fucking care. Either way, I'm walking out with Ethan with or without your cooperation. Are we clear?"

"Wait! Hold on. Look, why don't you just let everyone go and … and you can take me. My mom, she can get a hold of a lot of money and she can pay you a big ransom. What do you say huh?" I asked reaching my arm out to him.

"Whatever your mom has to offer would be spare change compared to what I'm getting after I bring Ethan in. So, you have a simple choice. Hand him over, you all live, and I walk out of here with Ethan. Or, I shoot all of you, you all die, and I still walk out of here with him. It don't take no Einstein to figure that one out. You choose mister touch guy."

I looked back at Ethan and Mason. They were both crying as they faced each other. I looked at Roland who had a look of defiance, but still looked very scared. How do I choose? What am I supposed to do? No matter what I choose, someone ends up dead. I started getting desperate just thinking about the consequences of each of these two choices. If Ethan stays, we die. If Ethan goes, he dies.

"Alex, don't do it," yelled out Roland as he started struggling. "You already have Ethan back. You don't need me anymore. Just run. Get the hell out of here," he pleaded tearfully.

Roland cried out in pain as the man punched him in the stomach. "You bastard, he's just a kid," I seethed. "I'm gonna rip your fucking head off!" I spat as I started moving towards him. I stopped in my tracks when the man suddenly shot his pistol into the ceiling. Ethan and Mason started crying harder as everyone crouched down.

"BACK OFF!" the man yelled pointing the gun at me. "No more games. This is your last chance. I'm gonna start counting and Ethan better be standing right here next to me before I count to five. If he's not, I shoot this kid and we'll try this again. You hear that Ethan? You might as well come out now and save your friends.

"One …"

Shit. I have to do something. I looked around in desperation for anything I could use as a weapon.

"Two …"

I looked at Ethan and Mason as they stared at me in terror. I turned to Roland and saw him in tears mouthing the words 'I love you' to me.

"Three …"

I can't choose … I can't choose. This can't end like this. I would rather die than to watch any of these boys suffer like this. As I wiped my tears, that's exactly what I decided I had to do. This bastard's not gonna take us down like helpless lambs without a fight. If I do nothing, we all die. If I try to charge him and distract him, the boys might have a chance to escape.

"Four …"

"WAIT! Wait, I'll come. I'm coming out," shouted Ethan.

"Ethan, NO!" I screamed as I tried to grab him by the arm. Ethan twisted and quickly got away.

"I'm sorry Alex," he said making his way towards the man. "None of you are dying because of me."

"Ethan, what are you doing?" screamed Mason desperately. "NOOO, come back here!"

What happened next seemed like a blur of events. While the old man had his eyes on Ethan, Roland took advantage of the distraction and pummeled the guy with some kind of karate side kick in the face. I remembered Roland telling me something about him taking karate classes, but I had thought he was just joking. The man was stunned and staggered a bit in pain until he fell down on his face. Roland looked so surprised at the accuracy of his kick that it almost looked comical.

We all looked at each other. "Run! Everybody out. NOW!" I yelled.

I tried to go after the gun on the floor, but the man reached out for it first. Shit. Well if he's not gonna let me have it, then I'm not gonna let him have it either. I quickly ran over and kicked it out of his hand. The man took the opportunity to grab my other foot which made me stumble to the floor.

"Get your hands off me you fucking asshole," I yelled as I started kicking him in the face until he let go. Unfortunately, the gun had slid underneath some vending machines and it would take too long for me to go after it. I quickly got up and ran out the front entrance and headed straight for my truck where the boys were anxiously waiting for me.

"Alright, everybody in. Hurry."

"What about our bikes?" asked Mason.

"We'll come back for them later. Right now we have to get as far away from here as possible and head straight to the police station." As I drove off the parking lot, I noticed a shiny black sedan parked on the side. "Hold on guys, I have an idea," I said as I pulled over in front of the car and reached into the glove compartment for my cutting blade. "I'm gonna slash his fucking tires," I said with a look of satisfaction.

As soon as I opened the door and stepped out, I froze when I noticed something disturbing on the license plate of the shiny black car. Then I heard a gunshot. "Get down! Everybody down!" I yelled as I got behind the wheel and peeled off onto the road.

As I was heading towards the nearest police station, I started thinking about that license plate. It had the word 'Exempt' at the top. That means that car was a government vehicle. What if that man's a dirty cop working for the cartel? How deep would it go? What if we go to the police station and there are more of them there? They could dump our bodies in some desert and no one would ever know what happened. At the first opportunity, I made a U-turn and headed in the opposite direction.

"Alex, the police station is just up ahead. Where are you going?" asked Roland.

"I'm not sure, but I think that asshole was a dirty cop. If we go to the police station, there might be more of them. We need to lay low for a while." I decided to go to a spot that I was familiar with. On the way over there, Ethan was explaining to Mason and Roland everything that had happened to him.

When we finally made it out of the city limits, I looked through the mirror and noticed a car from far away that kept getting closer and closer. I had a bad feeling about this. I stepped on the gas pedal and took it to 90 miles per hour. The car was still gaining on us. If we're going this fast and he's still gaining, that can only mean one thing. Shit.

"Guys, do you all have your seat belts on?"

"Yeah, why?" they asked nervously.

"Hold on to something," I urged as I suddenly turned us into one of the many corn fields we had been passing by.

"OH SHIT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" they all yelled bouncing up and down on the seat as corn stalks pelted against the hood and the windshield.

"Trying to save our lives." I brought the truck to a complete stop and opened the door. "Everybody out. Come on." I gathered everyone close. "Listen up guys," I whispered. "I need you all to make as little noise as possible. Follow me." I walked slowly and carefully, making sure no one was falling behind. We could hear the engine of a car slowing down and then what sounded like someone stepping out of the vehicle.

"ETHAAAN!" shouted that same man from far away. "You're just making this harder on yourself. If you come out now, I promise I won't hurt your friends. But if you make me come after you, I'll kill them one by one right in front of your fucking face. You hear me!"

"Alex," Ethan said as he instinctively pressed himself against me.

I put my finger in front of my lips to keep him quiet. I motioned to everyone to keep following me. We kept walking quietly until we came to the outer edge of the field in front of the road. "Wait here," I whispered as I carefully stepped out and looked in both directions. I could see the back of the sedan sticking out of the field from a distance. Not seeing any movements, I quietly walked back.

"Alright guys, we're all gonna cross the street one by one and head into that other cornfield. Stay low and stay quiet. Ethan, you go first, Mason, you'll go second, then Roland, and I'll go last." I stepped out to look around one last time. "Ethan, go in a couple of feet and wait for us. Go." Ethan crouched down and soft-footed across the road. "Mason, you're next. Go."

A few minutes later, we were all gathered on the other side of the road and started walking deeper into the other corn field. Hopefully that asshole will be searching for us for hours and finally decide to give up. We continued walking for what seemed like a long time. I could tell everyone was getting tired including myself, so I decided to let everyone rest.

"Listen, I wanna talk to Roland. Why don't you guys go on ahead and take a break." Ethan's gaze lingered on me for a moment before turning around and followed the other boys. "Roland, we need to talk about this. Please tell me what you're feeling."

Roland dropped down to his knees and shook his head slowly with a blank stare. I went down and knelt in front of him. "Alex, when that man was holding that gun to my head, I was actually more scared of loosing you than of him pulling the trigger. I was even hoping he would pull the trigger. Somehow, I knew this was gonna happen. Sooner or later, I knew Ethan would be back in your life. That's why I tried so hard to keep myself from falling in love with you. Obviously, I didn't try hard enough."

We stayed silent for a moment as I tried to come up with the right words. What could I possibly say?

"Alex, were you glad to see him?"

"I'm not gonna lie to you. Part of me was glad. But an equal part of me was terrified that I was gonna lose you. Roland, please don't be angry. I never …"

"I'm not angry!" he said sharply as he abruptly stood up. He started walking away and stopped. "Yeah … I'm angry. I'm angry at myself for being so naive." He turned around and slowly walked away.

I hung my head and once again felt my world being swept away in another tidal wave of this cruel and vicious cycle. I got myself up and joined the rest of the group. Mason and Ethan were sitting down facing each other. Roland was sitting down by himself. I went and sat down on the opposite side. Everyone kept to themselves with their heads down as they aimlessly fiddled around with their fingers. Ethan was the first one to break the silence.

"Roland, I'm sorry. I didn't know that you and Alex had …"

"You don't have to say it Ethan," Roland said flatly. "I know it wasn't your fault. You had Alex first so, I'll just try to stay out of your guy's way alright?"

"That's not what I was going to say," Ethan said pointedly. "I know it wasn't my fault, but I'm the one who caused this. Not you, not Alex – me. I caused this. I'm the one who's going to be staying out of the way. You deserve to be with Alex more than I do."

"Ethan, the only reason me and Alex hooked up was because he thought you were never coming back. If he knew you'd be coming back, don't you think he would've waited for you?" he snapped.

"Look, I don't care how you wanna twist this. All I know is that whatever connection we had, Alex has broken that connection with me," Ethan said staring at me with sadness. "It's my decision. Me and Alex are done."

As they continued arguing, I stared at both of these two beautiful boys and I was in awe of their compassion and their unselfishness. Instead of fighting about who was gonna keep me, they were each making their case for why the other deserved me more. But I knew they were both hurting deeply for it. I was hurting even more. And it just broke my heart.

I finally broke down in tears. "Will both of you please … just stop," I pleaded. "What about my decisions? What about my choices? You're asking me to choose between the two of you and I just … I can't do that," I cried out softly. "I love both of you equally and if I choose one of you it would just kill me to see the other one get hurt. I just can't choose. If I can't choose one of you … then I choose neither of you." I slowly stood up and walked away.

"Alex, where're you goin?" asked Mason looking a bit startled.

"I just need to be alone for a little bit." After walking for a few yards, I knelt down and cried some more. Why is this happening to me? I'm a good person. Don't I deserve to be happy? When is this bad streak going to end? When I first saw Ethan in that dressing room, part of me was elated. I longed for the warmth of his smile, the warmth of his embrace, the smell of his hair, the feel of his touch. So many memories started pouring in.

But another part of me was terrified. Terrified of what this meant for me and Roland and how this was going to affect our relationship. Not only will this affect our relationship, it's gonna end up destroying it. My love for Roland had grown so much that it was now as powerful as my love for Ethan. And now I'm gonna lose them both. I'm gonna lose everything.

I heard a noise and saw Ethan and Mason walking towards me. Ethan walked behind me and wrapped his arms around my chest, cupping his chin on my shoulder. "Alex, we've been talking. Just don't say anything until I'm finished okay? Look, when you and I were together, our relationship lasted only a few weeks before I had to go away. You and Roland have spent almost two months getting to know each other and getting really close. I want you to keep doing that. He deserves it."

"But what about you Ethan? What do you deserve?"

Ethan looked at Mason. "Tell him."

Mason moved his hair out of his eyes and looked at me. "Um, me and Ethan started talking and we decided to hook up. He asked me if I wanted to be his boyfriend and I said yes, but well … only if you give us your blessing."

"Is that what you really want Ethan?"

"We both know the answer to that Alex. But it's for the best and I think it'll work out. And also, well … I didn't want to mention this before, but I think my caseworker was getting a little suspicious about us. One day when you were at work, she stopped by and started asking me some weird questions about what we did when we were together. She asked me if I had a girlfriend and then she asked me if you had a girlfriend. It kind of felt a little uncomfortable, know what I mean?

"Look, I know it feels like we're never gonna stop loving each other. Maybe we will, maybe we won't. But Roland did save my life and I'll never forget that. He risked his life to save all of us. And for that, he deserves this more than anything. And well, me and Mason have gotten pretty close even though he can be a little squirly sometimes," he said tying to rustle Mason's hair.

"You fucker. I'm not squirly. You're squirly. You're a damn gopher with giant buck teeth," he said imitating a gopher.

Ethan started laughing. "Isn't he so cute and sexy like that? Besides, we've practically been together since we were children."

"You're still children," I said with a crooked smile.

"Hey, at least we got you to smile."

"You are wiser beyond your years. Are you sure you're only eleven?" I gave both of them a warm hug. "Thank you guys. I love you so much."

"We love you more," they both said softly.

"We better get back to Roland. I'm getting a little nervous leaving him by himself."

We all jumped at the sound of a gunshot. Roland – oh God, please no. We saw Roland emerging from the thickness of the field yelling for us to run as he scrambled by us. I could see the gunman not too far behind.

"You guys run," I urged softly. "Get as far away as you can."

"What about you?"

"This has to end now. GO!"

The boys stopped and looked back waiting for Ethan to catch up. They looked at me expectantly. I started waving frantically for them to keep going. I backed away a little and crouched down waiting for the man to run by. As soon as he passed, I pounced and tackled him to the ground. We began to struggle. The old geezer was sluggish from his old age, but what he lacked in agility, he more than made up for it with his fighting skills.

I managed to wrap my arms around his neck and I squeezed as hard as I could hoping he would pass out from the lack of air. The man tipped himself back causing us to go down with him falling on top of me and knocking the wind out of me. The man got on his feet, grabbed his gun from the ground and pointed it straight at me as I was gasping for some air.

"Call out to him," he demanded. "Tell him I'm gone or that you knocked me out. Do it now or I'll blow your fucking brains out," he seethed.

"Fuck you. I ain't doing shit for you."

"I didn't think so." He smiled sadistically as he prepared to shoot me. I saw some movement behind the man and realized the boys were trying to sneak up on him. No, what the hell are they doing? They were supposed to be running away from here. The man noticed my reaction and quickly turned his head back. That's when Roland swung a long piece of scorched metal and struck him square on the face causing him to fall to the ground. With a look of rage, Roland stepped up and swung at him again striking him hard on his back. The piece of metal looked remarkably like some kind of handle bar from a motorcycle. Oh my God. This must be the field where I crashed. That was the handle bar from my bike.

Mason was also holding some kind of metal tubing and started swinging it at the fallen man. Then man covered his head with his hands trying to shield himself as they both kept pummeling him. We all froze when we noticed Ethan picking up the man's gun from the ground and pointed it at him. The look on his face spoke volumes. He was determined. He was committed. He was right at the breaking point. I motioned for Roland and Mason to back away.

"Ethan," I said softly, reaching out with my hand. "Ethan don't. Give me the gun."

"No," he declared with a hard stare. "He tried to kill me. He tried to kill all of us. If I don't kill him now, he's just gonna keep coming after us."

"Ethan, you don't want to do this. It'll haunt you for the rest of your life. Please, just give me the gun and I'll handle this. Ethan, give me the gun NOW!" I demanded with as much authority as I could muster.

Streams of tears started coming down his face. "No," he squealed. "He deserves to die. HE DESERVES TO DIE!" he screamed and pulled the trigger.

"NOOO!" Never having fired a gun before, the recoil caused Ethan to stumble back and drop the weapon, missing the man entirely. Seeing an opportunity, the man lunged desperately for the fallen gun. Fortunately, I was faster. With the old man's injuries, he never had a chance.

I grabbed the gun and pointed it at him, putting myself between him and Ethan. The man stood up, squared his shoulders and started charging at us with a raging scream. I closed my eyes tightly and pulled the trigger. After the deafening gunshot, I stumbled a bit and felt the man ramming into me which caused me to fall back on top of Ethan. I can't believe I missed him. How could I have missed? I felt the weight of the man on top of me. I opened my eyes wide and the man was just staring at me. But it was a blank stare. I pushed him off, grabbed Ethan, and quickly scrambled away.

"Alex, you got shot," screamed Ethan pointing at the stain of blood on my shirt. I felt around my chest and my stomach looking for a wound, but I couldn't find one. I realized the blood belonged to the man who was lying face down over a dark red stain.

I went to kneel down in front of Ethan. "Ethan, are you okay?" Ethan just wrapped his arms around me and started crying. Mason and Roland came over and pulled us all together. "Hey, shhh, it's okay Ethan. It's over now. He can't hurt you anymore. You're safe now okay?" I looked at each of these boys and hoped that this ordeal wasn't going to be too traumatic for them, or for me.

We spent the next couple of hours burying the man's body along with his gun in a shallow grave. Fortunately, we found a small shovel in the trunk of the man's car making us wonder what secrets he had taken to his grave that we had just dug up for him. I had searched through his pockets and found a police badge in his wallet confirming what I had suspected all along. After doing our best to camouflage the area, we stood solemnly around the small burial. It would be a long time before anyone discovered his remains.

"I've never seen a dead body before," said Mason softly.

"I don't think any of us have," I added. "I've never fired a gun either. Listen guys, we have to keep this between us. I know how exciting it would be to tell our friends about what happened here, but we have to keep this top secret. Like I said, we can't tell the cops about this because if this guy was with the cartel, there might be others and there's a good chance they might come after us. We all need to make an oath and swear not to mention this to anyone, ever." We formed a circle and put our hands together.

"I swear," each of us said one by one.

"Alright, we need to head back to the man's car and wipe off any fingerprints we might've left behind. Then we need to go back to the Y so I can close up and get your bikes." As we were heading back, we came across some debris of what I was sure were the remains of my motorcycle scattered about.

Ethan looked around slowly and gave me a startled look. "Alex, was this where you crashed?"

I nodded, taking a deep breath. Ethan came over and gave me a hug. "Alex, I'm so sorry."

We all started walking around the area looking for more pieces of metal. Through the corner of my eye, I saw a sparkle glinting off a shiny object hanging from one of the stalks. I walked up to it and what I found made me gasp. It was my puzzle pendant. This is where it landed when I was thrown from my bike. I reached out and pulled on it and to my surprise, I saw that it was two puzzle pendants – the one I had been wearing and the one that belonged to Ethan.

I knelt down on the ground and put my hand over my mouth when I realized that the two magnetic pieces were perfectly fitted together. My God, what are the odds? I swallowed hard as I flashed back to that day when I had given one of these to Ethan. These cannot be complete unless you and I are together. Is this supposed to be some kind of sign that Ethan and I are meant to stay together?

"Alex, are you okay?" asked Ethan walking up to me from behind.

If Ethan and I were no longer together, it wasn't because I had chosen one over the other. Ethan had painfully made that decision for both of us. These pendants still held a lot of meaning for me, even more now. But even if I did find them perfectly joined, I realized with sadness that they were no longer complete. At least not for Ethan and I. But maybe they could be for … "Ethan, come here. I wanna show you something." I had Ethan kneel down in front of me. "Give me your hand." I turned his hand over and placed both pendants on his palm, closing his fingers over them.

"Our puzzle pendants!" he exclaimed. "I don't understand," Ethan said looking at me curiously.

I tilted my head towards Mason who was headed our way with Roland following behind. Ethan gave me a look of understanding with a sad smile.

Ethan stood up and turned around. "Mason, I have a surprise for you. Turn around." Ethan carefully clasped one of the pendants around Mason's neck. Then he attached the other one around his own neck.

"Ethan, what's this? Didn't these belong to you and …"

"Mason," he interrupted. "These two pieces belong together." He walked up to him and fitted the two pieces together. "This is Alex' way of giving us his blessing. These pieces are complete for you and me now. I'll explain later. Just remember that these pieces can't fit together unless you and I are together. Right Alex?"

I nodded and watched with mixed emotions as Ethan leaned into Mason and gave him a long and intimate kiss. I walked over to Roland and grabbed his hands. "Roland, when Ethan left, I felt so alone. I wanted to hide from the world and never come out. You saw it with your own eyes. When I crashed my bike and I was flying through the air, I actually welcomed death. I didn't want to live anymore. But when I regained consciousness in the hospital and I heard you talking to my mom, somehow I knew that I was meant to stay on this earth for a reason.

"It was because of you that I decided to push on. It was because of you that I was able to heal from my injuries a lot faster than I thought possible. You made me want to live again. Roland, you made me want to fall in love again. You filled my emptiness and made my life worthwhile. Everything I've shared with you, all my secrets, all my intimate thoughts, all my passions – all the love that I've given you, that hasn't changed one single bit. You have given me so much and I want to give you so much more.

"I know this is hard for you, but I promise I'll be committed to you and only you. I'll continue to give you all of me, not just part of me. Give me a chance to prove it to you. Let me be there for you for a change. Let me help you chase away all your fears. Let me wipe away those tears from your eyes," I said catching his tear drop with my finger. "Roland, the other day, you told me that people don't choose to fall in love, that love just happens. Well I'm here to tell you that you're wrong because right now, I choose to fall in love with you. I haven't stopped loving you so please … please don't stop loving me."

"I won't Alex." Roland gently cupped my cheek with his hand. "I won't. I love you so much." Roland wrapped his arms around me tenderly and leaned his head against my chest.

"There's my roly poly. There's my roll bug," I whispered in his ear as I sent a silent thank you to the gods of fate. "Hey, you know my heart's beating for you right?"

Roland looked up at me. "You read my card?"

I nodded with a smile. He hugged me even tighter as he continued listening to my heart beat.

Roland pulled away and walked up to Ethan and Mason who were still holding each other. "Ethan, I just want you to know that I don't hate you okay? You were willing to turn yourself in to that man to save us – to save me. I just wanted to say thank you. That was very brave of you." Roland stuck out his hand. "Friends?"

Ethan took Roland's hand and pulled him into an embrace. "Friends," he said smiling. "Look who's talking. That karate kick you landed on the guy – that was freaking awesome. You hit the bull's eye. You gotta teach me that sometime."

"Jeeze, I still can't believe I actually pulled it off. Hey, I want us to hang out together, all four of us okay?" Roland added.

"Group hug," hollered Mason out loud. "Group hug – group hug – group hug!" We all put our arms around each other in a circle and touched our faces for a while.

The sound of laughing boys never felt so sweet after such a nightmarish ordeal. But I knew it was going to take a while before all of us were able to cope with the aftermath of this traumatic event and to try and sort out and process all of these new changes in our lives. When Ethan left, I had felt his loss deeply. Now I felt like I had lost him again. But these are the crossroads we've come to. At least he won't be completely out of my life again.

As I was hugging Roland and Ethan was hugging Mason, Ethan and I smiled at each other and gave each other a silent nod as if to say that this wasn't over yet. Roland had said that we can never know what the future will bring. Even though I planned to fulfill my commitment to Roland, somehow I knew that Ethan and I would find a way. It was our destiny. How did I know? Because the puzzle pendants told me so when I found them joined together like that. One day, Ethan and I would be complete once again.

Chapter 16
Immortals and the Partie Carree

(One week later, Thursday around noon at Little Scissors Hair Saloon)

"Linda, I'm having second thoughts," said Roland looking concerned as he sat on the stylist's chair surrounded by me, Ethan, Mason, and Linda. "What if I cut it and mom gets mad?"

"Roland, you're thirteen years old. You're old enough to decide how you wanna have your own hair. Look, I'll back you up. I'll tell her I'm the one who convinced you. If she gets mad, she gets mad. She'll get over it."

Roland looked doubtful, but excited at the same time. He turned to face each of us and we all gave him an encouraging nod one by one. "Alex, help me decide."

"Roland, whatever you decide, I'll support you a hundred percent. But this has to be your decision."

Roland pulled me in to whisper in my ear. "If I do this, will you try out the new me in bed tonight?"

"You couldn't stop me, Roll Bug."

Roland turned to the hair stylist waiting patiently to the side. "All right, I've decided. It's a go. Start chopping."

"Wait," said Mason. "Aren't you forgetting something?" He reached down under the counter and placed a booster chair on Roland's lap.

"Get out of here you little shit," said Roland as we all started laughing, including him.

"Okay Mr. Roland, this is your last chance to change your mind," said the hair stylist grabbing the base of his hair with one hand and the scissors with the other. "Once it's done, it's done and there's no going back. On the count of three okay?" Roland nodded nervously. "One, two, …"

"Wait!" said Roland blinking with indecision. We all sat up on our seats and looked at Roland in suspense from the waiting area.

"Alright, go for it," he said swallowing hard. "Don't count, just do it. Do it now," he said closing his eyes tight.

"If you say so." The hair stylist started on one end and started cutting his hair across with the scissors. And then it was done. She grabbed a couple of rubber bands and tied both ends of his long hair that she had just chopped off. "Congratulations, Mr. Roland. I hope this wasn't too hair raising for you," she teased with a smile.

Roland looked in awe as the young lady handed him his severed long hair inside a plastic bag. He reached back and started feeling around where his long hair used to be.

"Whoa," some of us whispered as we all held on tight to the arm rests of our chairs. Then we all jumped up and started clapping and cheering. "He did it! I can't believe it."

As the lady continued styling Roland's hair, I just sat back and soaked in his new look. He looked a lot more like a boy, which in a way, made him look even hotter and a lot sexier. I couldn't wait to try out the new him in bed tonight. That's if we can find a way for him to spend the night at my apartment.

I turned to look at the other boys and started reflecting on that deadly encounter we had last week with that cartel cop. I had been looking out for any signs of stress disorders as a result of that traumatic experience we all went through. I was no expert, but I thought I noticed some possible problems. All of them had mentioned that they were still having nightmares at night, but from the looks of them right now, they seem to be doing relatively well.

Ethan's mom had made arrangement with my mom for him to stay at her house to give his mom enough time to deal with her legal proceedings back in New York. My mom had gladly agreed, but given the fact that I had moved out, she was pretty flexible on where Ethan wanted to stay from day to day. Since they were still out on summer vacation, some days he would stay with mom, and other days he would stay at my place, but only during the day and only when Roland could also be there. The last thing I wanted was to make Roland start feeling uncomfortable with Ethan.

Summer vacations were almost over and they were starting to feel a little anxious. They all could use a little distraction. Something to take their minds away from their anxieties and help them heal mentally. And I had just the perfect place. It was gonna take a little bit of planning, but with mom's help, I was sure I was gonna be able to make this happen. But first, I wanted to do something I'd been wanting to do for the longest time.

About an hour later, we were all sitting down at a photo studio waiting to be called in. Linda had gone home to rest up before swim practice tonight. An older gentleman called me up to show me a catalogue of their products and services. I remembered how distraught I was at not having any pictures of Ethan before he left, and I felt the need to overcompensate by the large package I wanted to order for our group picture.

I could hear the boys conversing with each other behind me. "Hey Alex, come here for a sec," said Roland. I walked over and knelt down in front of the boys. "It's cool that you wanna take a group picture with us, but we aren't even dressed for it. Wouldn't it be better if we went home and showered first and made ourselves a little more presentable?"

I looked at each of them individually, and then looked at them as a group. All three of them just happened to be wearing sexy looking loose-fitting tank tops. I could even see one of Mason's nipples from the way he was leaning down. And each of their hair was a little ruffled with the perfect amount of sweat soaked in. Instead of them looking dishevelled, they actually looked quite sexy like that in a rugged sort of way.

No, this is exactly how I wanted them to look in the photo. I didn't want them in some fancy clothes with ties and with their hair all slicked up. I wanted a natural portrayal of them just as they were right now. This is exactly how I wanted to remember them. "Don't worry. You guys look great. This is exactly how I want you," I said getting back up. "And do me a favor – don't take out your combs, don't run your fingers through your hair, just leave your hair exactly the way it is okay?"

"Okay," said the boys shrugging their shoulders.

I went back to the counter to continue looking through the catalogue. There was one particular item, or items, that I kept looking for that I couldn't find. "Excuse me, but is this the only catalogue you have?"

"Well, we actually do have another one with some miscellaneous items. They're a little pricy, but I'll let you take a look," he said passing me a smaller catalogue.

I started looking though the pages and then I saw it. There it is. That's it. This was even better than what I had in mind. It was a little pricy, but I knew I just had to have it. As soon as I gave the photographer my rather large order, he gave me an appreciative smile at the generous windfall he had just received as he processed the transaction with my credit card.

"Gentlemen, I'm ready for you now. Please step right in so we can get you boys immortalized."

Immortalized – yes. That's the word I was looking for. This is how I wanted them immortalized. I loved the way that sounded.

(Saturday afternoon of the following week)

We all had our hands raised up in the air as we ascended up The Goliath at Six Flags. That is, everyone except Mason who was sitting next to Ethan in the front row of the very first car hugging him tightly. The continuous and endless clacking of the gears seemed to rattle him even more as we neared the top of one of the tallest roller coasters in the U.S.

"Oh my God Ethan, I can't believe you talked me into this shit. I think I'm gonna barf," said Mason shakily.

"Oh no you don't," warned Roland sitting next to me. "Hey, I'm sitting right behind you dude. I swear if I feel even one speck of spit from you, I'm tossing your ass out."

"Oooh my gaaawd, just toss me out now before we reach the top," Mason pleaded all scared.

"Stop being such a woos," Ethan exclaimed. "It's only a 235-foot-drop and we're only gonna be going down at a measly 85 miles per hour. Raise your hands up like the rest of us and stop being a pussy."

"Oooooh Ethan, will you shut the fuck up? You're not helping. Ooooh fuck … OOOOH FUCK! ..." Mason whimpered as we reached the crest right before the drop. He pushed himself hard against the seat and cried bloody murder all the way down. "AAAAAAAAAH, I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIIE!" he screamed.

After the drop, I started laughing when I noticed Roland wiping Mason's spit off his face with a disgusted look. "I'm gonna kill him," Roland mumbled as we continued through the winding and turbulent turns.

After The Scream and The Riddler's Revenge, Mason's face was starting to look a little green, so I decided to hang back with him while Ethan and Roland continued on to The Viper and The Full Throttle. I was just thrilled that Roland and Ethan were getting along so well.

The boys were so excited when I sprang the news that I was flying all three of them to Six Flags. My mom had talked to Mason's mom and convinced her to let him come with us. She had told her that I was very responsible and that I would take very good care of them. I had paid for Ethan and everyone else had paid their own way.

I thought back on the look of excitement in Ethan's face when I first told him we were going to Six Flags before his mom suddenly took him away. I just had to make it up to him. And now, it felt three times as rewarding to see all of them so excited to go on their first airplane rides and to just have the greatest of times together. After dropping our luggage at the hotel, they were so excited that I had to keep running after them just to catch up.

"You feeling any better?" I asked Mason as he sipped on a bottle of juice.

"Yeah, thanks." Mason shook his head. "I can't believe it. I was screaming like a girl the whole time. How embarrassing."

"Yeah, you were," I said laughing. I stopped when he gave me a stern look. Then he smiled and we both burst out laughing.

"Hey, I wanna thank you for agreeing to hook up with Ethan. I really thought I was gonna lose them both rather than choose one over the other. It still wasn't easy, but it made it a little easier. Look, when you and Ethan told me you were hooking up, I knew that it was in name only. You two already had a bond and a close relationship with each other. That relationship would've continued whether you agreed to hook up or not. But I understand that you guys did this for me, and that you did this for Roland as well. And I really appreciate that."

"He still loves you, you know – a lot. And I know you still love him – a lot. And I may not be in love with you like Roland and Ethan, but I also love you a lot too Alex. I don't know if you realize this, but you're the glue that's keeping this group together right now. Ethan said he doesn't want to do anything to make you and Roland break up or anything and I know he really means it. He's just glad we can all spend time together as a group, like we're doing right now. Well, like we were doing right now. I'm sorry I'm not into roller coasters as much as the rest of you. You didn't have to wait with me. You can still catch up to them if you want. I'll be alright. I'll just wait here."

I looked at him and realized it could've easily been him who I fell in love with instead of Ethan when I met these two beautiful boys. He was the first one to start teasing me in a sexual way. He was the first one to give me a massive lust attack and almost made me pass out the first time I saw his naked body. Mason and I had never had the opportunity to do something together where it was just me and him. It wasn't his fault he didn't like roller coasters. Each person was different. I really wanted him to enjoy this park just as much as the rest of us.

"Hey, are you feeling up to riding the race tracks with me?"

His eyes lighted up. "Yeah, can we?"

"Come on, we'll catch up to Roland and Ethan later on. Right now, it'll just be me and you okay? Let's go have some fun."

"Awesome!" he yelled running off ahead of me. And here I was, having to run to catch up to him again. But I didn't mind as long as I got to see that smile and excitement on his face.

(Later that night in the hotel room)

I was breathing so hard I thought I was gonna hyperventilate. Ethan was breathing just as hard as I was as he lay on his back on the king size bed with his legs open wide and in the air as I plunged and thrust my giant sausage into his hole. Ethan started out with a painful expression on his face, but he had assured me that he was okay and for me to keep going. I had made sure to bring the proper type of lubricant just for this special occasion.

After all these months of passionate sex, I can't believe I'm finally able to give Ethan what I've been wanting to give him and what he's been asking me for – a really hard fuck in the ass. It had been so long since I had sex with Ethan that it almost felt like the first time. Ethan had managed to reawaken the strongest of sexual urges in me. His body looked so hot and sexy and so desirable with that glean of sweat on his forehead and his soaked curly hair. Moby Dick had finally been ensnared by Mr. Wide Receiver

While I was immersed in my own sexual sensations, Ethan was busy sucking on Roland's boner. Roland was facing away from me on all fours with his crotch over Ethan's face. While Ethan was sucking on Roland, Roland was sucking on Mason who was leaning against the bed rest with his legs open passing his fingers over Roland's short hair.

The scene was so euphoric. I looked at these three hot sexy boys and I had to keep pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Even during the planning stages of this little excursion, I had imagined and even expected that we would all indulge in some form of carnal pleasures with each other. But this – this was something beyond my wildest dreams. The level of eroticism that these boys were demonstrating was almost overwhelming.

As soon as we had all walked into our hotel room, I was already feeling horny and I was trying to come up with ways to get the ball rolling with the boys. Apparently, the boys were feeling the same way. Ethan immediately started pulling off Mason's shirt and Roland started pulling off mine. Pretty soon, shoes and pants and underwear started flying up into the air. So, we're totally skipping the foreplay, huh? Okay then.

I was so high in my own lust that I barely noticed Ethan had switched places with Mason. Mason grabbed the tube of lubricant and squeezed some on his pink hole. Then he grabbed my dick and guided it to just the right spot. Just like I had done with Ethan, I started slithering my fat dick into his hole slowly and gently, letting the lubricant do it's thing. This was my first fuck with Mason as well. He looked so sexy with his long sideway bangs covering part of his face while he gave Roland a blow job at the same time that Roland was giving a blow job to Ethan.

There were moments where I remember processing images of Roland fucking Ethan, Ethan fucking Mason, Mason fucking Roland. At some point, the scene just started to blend into disjointed sequences of activity as we all slithered our bodies against each other in passionate sex. There was no regard or preference for whom we all kissed, probed, touched, squeezed, groped, sucked, and fucked.

This was the way group sex was meant to be. This was the partie carree Mason had told me about. All for one and one for all. This had turned into a frenzy of unrestrained lust that we were unleashing on each other's bodies, wanting to stimulate each other just as much as wanting to be stimulated.

Everyone was so confident that this was a completely private affair that none of us even bothered to keep our moaning down. We sounded like a group of toads croaking out of sync after a heavy rain. Even if someone happened to be passing by in the hallway, they would just dismiss it as one of countless of couples having sex in a hotel.

It was only because of sheer exhaustion that we started winding it down. We were all on our knees on the bed in a circle facing each other as we all finished jerking ourselves off. Roland and I had slipped our socks over our boners to catch our jizz. We didn't want to be squirting our juices on the same bed covers we were gonna be sleeping on. Mason and Ethan didn't even bother as they only managed to squeeze out a few driblets of cum. We all just collapsed on the bed trying to catch our breaths.

"We need to do this more often," mumbled Mason with his eyes closed. Everyone started mumbling in agreement.

One by one, we all got up to grab a bottled water and started gulping it down thirstily. Then we went to the toilet to empty our bladders. When the boys came back to the bed, I gathered everyone together. "Guys, I have something I want to give you. Something special."

"There's more?" asked Roland with one raised eyebrow.

"Yes, there's more. But first, I have something for you Roland." I opened up my suitcase and brought out a small bundle that I had gift-wrapped. "This is for you."

Roland grabbed it and started opening it. Then he burst out laughing as he showed everyone what it was.

"What is it?" asked Mason curiously.

"It's a glow worm. Look," Roland said pressing on the worm's stomach to light it up. Roland came and gave me a kiss and a hug. "I love it. Thank you."

I was about to tell him that I had ordered it right before Ethan showed up at the Y, but I decided not to open up old wounds. I reached into my suitcase and brought out the stuffed roly poly toy that Roland had given me. "And thank you for this."

"You brought it. Yay," said Roland excitedly.

I kept staring at Roland and I couldn't believe the stark difference in the way he looked without his long hair. He looked stunningly gorgeous with his new sexy boy hair style. He definitely looked a lot sexier with the boyish look than with the girlish look.

Mason yanked both toys and started humping the glow worm against the back of the roly poly while he kept lighting up the glow worm with his thumb. Then he started imitating me and Roland. "Oh Roland, light me up baby, light me up. Uh … uh! Oh Alex, plug it in, just plug it in. Uh … uh … uuuuh!"

"Hey, stop it you weirdo. You're gonna smear your cooties all over them," Roland said grabbing both toys out of Masons' hands.

"Alright, alright," I said laughing. "Gather round cause I have something for each of you." I reached into my suitcase again and brought out a small jewelry box. I opened up the lid to reveal four crystal puzzle pendants. I placed one around my neck and handed one to each of the boys and asked them to hang them around their necks also. Embedded inside the crystal was a hologram of the male gender symbol (?).

"Alex, this is so cool. Thanks," said Roland.

"Ah, but that's not all. Wait'll you see this. Everyone get close so we can fit them together."

I allowed the three boys to connect their pieces, leaving me as the last one to fit my piece to complete the puzzle. All the arrows of the male symbol were positioned in a way where they were all touching when fitted together. But as soon as I fitted my piece, something started happening.

All four symbols from each of the crystals started disappearing and a new hologram started morphing inside each of the four crystals which when combined, formed the image of our group photo that we had all taken together over a week ago. Each crystal piece fitted so perfectly with each other that the hologram picture looked almost seamless. I was really impressed with the results and this was worth every dollar.

"Woah," they all intoned reverently at the transformation. All three boys were mesmerized by what they were seeing.

"How in the world did they do this?" asked Mason.

"I don't know, but it must be something new cause I've never seen anything like this before. And so, this group picture can not be complete and will not reveal itself unless …" I looked at Ethan.

"… unless all of us are together," finished Ethan looking at me with a knowing smile.

"Unless all of us are together," I repeated.

"So, none of the picture comes out unless all four pieces are connected. That is so cool," said Roland.

"You are the glue Alex," said Mason smiling. "Hey, we should give ourselves a name. Like a group name," Mason said excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah you're right," said Roland joining in. "How about the Inthependants Group?"

"Huh?"

"The Inthependants Group. Get it? In-the-pendants."

"Possible. Not bad," I said with a chuckle.

"Oh, I know. We'll call ourselves the Corn Stalkers," blurted out Mason.

We all started laughing as we pushed Mason's face away playfully. "That doesn't have anything to do with puzzles," said Roland.

"The Interlockers!" shouted Mason. "How 'bout that one?"

"Shut up before I hang you with your puzzle piece," teased Roland.

"I've got your hanging puzzle piece right here," retorted Mason as he wiggled his penis around.

"Wait, that's it. I've got it," said Ethan seriously. "We'll call ourselves the Puzzle Gang."

We all started repeating the words to ourselves and came to a unanimous agreement. From now on, we would now be officially known as the Puzzle Gang.

"Let's make this official then," I said as I stepped over to the small fridge and grabbed the bottle of wine I had ordered and four wine glasses.

"Why Alex," drawled Roland. "You're gonna pry us boys with alcohol? Shouldn't you have done this before you seduced us?"

"Maybe next time I will," I said. Everyone cheered when I was finally able to pop the cork. We all raised our half-full glasses in the air and made a toast.

"To the Puzzle Gang," I said out loud.

"THE PUZZLE GANG," repeated the boys taking a sip of the sweet bubbly spirits.

Roland came over and gave me a wet kiss. Then he put one arm around Mason and gave him an even wetter kiss. Then he looked at Ethan, put his glass down on the night stand, wrapped both arms around him and started Frenching him hard. Ethan reacted in surprise but soon melted himself into Roland. He reached down deep into Roland's ass and squeezed as they both got passionate in an exaggerated playful manner while Mason and I whooped and whistled.

I was astonished at the display. Here are the two same boys who I was expecting to be at each other's throats fighting for my love. The two boys I had come so close to giving up. And now look at them. I couldn't be happier. This group had become more than just friendship. We had become like …

Roland swallowed hard and raised his glass again. "To family."

"To family," we all repeated.

"Group hug guys," said Mason softly.

With all of us still naked and kneeling on the bed, we all put our heads together and wrapped our arms around each other in a solemn embrace as we all took turns yawning. What an incredible day. We still had a whole day of park rides tomorrow so nobody complained about going to bed early.

Half an hour later, I was lying in bed with one arm around Roland and the other arm around Ethan as they both rested their heads on my shoulder and had dozed off. Roland had his glow worm tucked under his arm and I had my roly poly resting on my chest. Mason had wedged himself between Ethan's legs and was resting his head on my stomach staring at my penis and moving it around with his hand.

I looked at each of these boys and marveled at my incredible luck. Roland had completely surprised me with how easily and willingly he had accepted the concept of group sex, especially with Ethan. Any notions of commitments and loyalties and exclusivity and of being monogamous with each other flew out the window during this incredible first sexual encounter of the newly formed Puzzle Gang.

Ethan and I had been confident that we were destined to get back together again someday. Well, it looks like we had managed to find a way. Maybe we weren't totally complete, but we were pretty damn close. And we had done it without even trying, without anyone getting hurt, and without any betrayals.

I had kept my word and remained committed to Roland. But it was Roland who had allowed for this foursome to become more than the sum of its parts. We were all following his lead on this wonderful new journey. Mason had said I was the glue that kept this group together. Well, Roland had just cemented it with an even stronger bond. I may have lost a boyfriend, but in the end, I ended up getting him back, plus two more. I could definitely live with that.

Mason had finally fallen asleep with his fingers loosely wrapped around my balls. Life was good right now. Life was very good.

♫ … Like a bolt out of the blue

Fate steps in and pulls you through

When you wish upon a star

Your dreams come true ♫

Epilogue
Five Years Later

Characters:
Alex, 23yo, Senior Lifeguard
Roland, 18yo, Lifeguard
Ethan, 16 yo, Volunteer at the Y
Mason, 15yo, Volunteer at the Y

(Friday night at the Y)

All the boys were on their stomachs lying on their sleeping bags watching Star Wars: Return of the Jaba on the giant 3D Holoscreen. This group of eight to twelve-year-old's were being monitored with Mason on one side of the gym, Ethan on the other side, and me and Roland were towards the back. The turnout for this Summer's Youth Lock-In at the Y had been larger than usual. Being the senior lifeguard, I had been put in charge of chaperoning this large group overnight and had been given the flexibility of choosing my own assistants.

The boys had just come back from their open swim session and I was still trying to recover from seeing all those naked boys in the shower. As tempting as it was, none of us dared going in and showering with the boys out of fear that one of them might tell their parents. As the movie progressed, two boys came out of the restroom and stepped over to their sleeping bags. I looked at my watch and figured they had been in there about three minutes, which was typical.

Two cute twelve-year-old's came up to me. "Alex, can we go to the bathroom? We need to go."

"Alright, but don't take long. Come right out as soon as you're done." The boys ran off crookedly looking like they really needed to pee. After a long while, I looked at my watch and noticed it had already been over five minutes. I decided to go see what was taking them so long. I quietly sneaked in without making any noise and looked around. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw four legs inside one stall with their shorts and undies down to their ankles.

I quietly walked into the adjoining stall and climbed on the toilet seat. I slowly took a peek over the partition and saw the two boys looking at some holovid beaming out of a cell phone of two older teen boys 69ing each other. As the boys were rubbing on their boners, I could feel mine growing to twice it's size. One of them was nicely tanned with silky straight black hair. The other boy had a lighter complexion with light orange curly hair with his face full of cute freckles.

"AAAAH!" one of them shrieked when he saw me. They both scrambled to pull their shorts up.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" I said sternly trying not to laugh.

"Alex! We aah … we found this," stammered one of the boys.

"Yeah … yeah, we found it right there behind the toilet seat. It was already playing it. I swear," insisted the boy.

I put my hand up for them to stop. "Boys, don't even try it. You expect me to believe that you just walked in here and you just happened to find this phone playing a holovid of two guys having sex. Just fess up. I caught you red-handed."

"But … but …"

"I'm gonna have to tell your parents about this," I said seriously as I took the phone away.

"NOOO!!" they both shouted. "Alex, please don't tell our parents. My dad will skin me alive. Please, we'll do anything."

"Yeah, we'll do anything," repeated the other boy.

Aah, that's what I was waiting to hear – those three magic words.

"I'll give you guys a choice. Would you rather I tell your parents that I caught you boys watching two guys sucking on each other while you boys were jerking it off, or would you rather I tell them you two were fighting in the restroom?"

"Fighting in the restroom," they both said flatly at the same time. "Duh."

"Alright, but as punishment, you boys are gonna have to come in this Sunday morning and help me vacuum the pool."

"Does that mean it's gonna be just the three of us?" asked one of the boys. "I mean, is Roland gonna be there too?"

"Actually, it'll be Roland and my two assistants Mason and Ethan."

The boys looked at each other. "Hey, maybe they'll let us go skinny dipping afterwards," joked the black hair boy with a crooked smile.

"I don't see why not. That's what me and the guys always do after cleaning the pool."

"Really? You mean all four of you swim in the pool totally naked?" asked the boy with the curls with renewed interest.

"We sure do. We have a lot of fun. Hey, you boys aren't shy, are you?"

"Uh uh," they both said. The black hair boy whispered into the other's ear.

"Mmm, he wants to know if you guys do anything else besides swim naked," he said chuckling.

"Well, based on the type of porn you boys were watching, I'm pretty sure we can come up with a few ideas," I said as I simulated anal sex with my fingers.

The boys gasped and gave each other a wide smile. "I think I'm beginning to like his type of punishment," said the boy with the curls on our way out.

After walking out, I casually walked over to Roland and secretly handed him back his cell phone. "Good job, Roll Bug. Your plan worked like a charm. They took the bait and now we're all set for this Sunday with those two cuties." Ethan and Mason were looking in my direction and I gave all of them a thumbs up. They gave me a wide smile and put their thumbs up as well. I took a deep breath and nodded my head approvingly as I really looked forward to another fun day at the Y.

The End