Published: 08 Apr 2014

Author’s Introductory Notes:

As usual, I retain all rights, but am more than glad for anyone wishing to offer this story to others at no charge to do so with my gratitude and permission. Josh.

CHAPTER 12a — NBase

My world had become pretty dark over the previous year. But light was at last beginning to roll back that darkness, and at the center of that light was Davey; my refuge, my brother, my friend. Being with Davey was like living in a sunrise, and loving him was how I lived.

Wizened by age and hard experience, we look back on the loves of our teenage years as crushes — naïve, intense, emotional. And yet, few people can love as purely or as deeply as a sixteen year-old boy, especially one who has fallen in love with his life-long, best friend. And when that friend is as deeply in love with him, there is an incredible joy; a joy that can push all the menaces of life back into nearly forgotten recesses of the mind.

And when the intense love of sixteen year old hearts is constantly consummated by sixteen year old bodies, the lovemaking is full of wonder, innocence, fire, and familiarity. Despite all the challenges and pressures of that summer, I will always remember that June and July as idyllic and beautiful. And in spite of the events that would follow, I’m convinced that all along, Davey loved me as deeply as I loved him.

Wednesday, the morning of my birthday, Davey borrowed Maggie’s car and drove me over to the local DPS office to take my driving test. Being fully licensed, he was already legal — something he’d been rubbing my nose in for close to two weeks. So, just to help him keep perspective, I commented on the ‘slowness’ of his driving.

When I passed my test and received my temporary license, I insisted on driving us back.

“You need to move over… to the right… more,” Davey said from the passenger seat, pointing out the windshield.

I drifted more to the right.

“The speed limit… is thirty,” he said. “Thirty!”

I scowled, and then slowed down.

“You gotta leave more space… behind that car ahead.”

I frowned at him. “Cheap revenge!” I said. “You’re just trying to get back at me because I said you drove like an old lady.”

Davey gave me an innocent ‘who-me?’ look.

“You turkey,” I muttered.

“You need both hands… on the… steering wheel,” he said simply.

“That’s it!” I yelled. I turned sharply into the next parking lot, slammed the car in park, unbuckled, let out a rebel yell, and leapt at Davey. I grabbed his crotch with one hand and his ribs with the other.

Davey’s voice broke as he cried out with laughter, sliding down and out of the seat onto the floor. When I finally let him back up, an old lady in a straw hat was curiously watching our car from a few feet away. I giggled, trying to imagine what she must have thought, seeing a bouncing car and hearing our yells.

That night, when we arrived at The Barn Door restaurant, Ed was already there with his family. Chase greeted me loudly, clapping my back and congratulating me while Hunter did the same to Davey.

“I had to tell the kids what was up,” Ed explained, with an apologetic smile. “But I’ve sworn them to secrecy on pain of death.”

Ed’s wife, Debbie, greeted my Mom and Maggie while Kim, Chase’s little sister, hung around Davey.

“Let’s go on in,” Ed said, shooing us ahead. “Dr. Meyers and his wife will be here shortly and he told me what to order for them.

As the others headed inside, I held Ed back and reached into my pocket to pull out a wad of bills. Trying to be inconspicuous, I held it out for him. “Some of my lawn mowing money,” I said. “I robbed the bank. Would it be OK if I just give it to you out here and let you pay for things inside?”

He smiled and pushed my hand back. “Keep your money, Michael,” he said. “I’ve opened a bank account for C-B, and secured some up front ‘good faith’ money from NBase.”

My eyebrows shot up. “We already have money?”

He grinned and patted me on the back. “Yep.”

“Enough for a car yet?”

Ed laughed. “Yeah — definitely enough for a car.”

Once we sat down at the table, Ed took his place at the head, with Davey and me on either side. Hunter sat by Davey and Chase sat by me. I enjoyed watching Davey from across the table. He was lively and happy. If we make much money, I decided, I’ll take Davey out to eat — a lot.

Just before our meals were served, Dr. Meyers and his wife arrived. “I’m sorry we’re late, everybody,” Dr. Meyers began, “but I had to wrap up a last minute staff meeting. I finally just left and told them that I had something too important to miss.”

From down the table, Maggie caught my eye and winked before she addressed the table at large. “I think we should toast our two young executives!” she said. Then she looked at Davey and smiled. “Of whom, we’re very proud.”

Davey beamed back at his mom.

“Here, here!” Ed said, raising his glass of red wine. Everyone lifted their glasses.

I wasn’t sure what we were supposed to do and leaned towards Ed. “How does this work?” I asked quietly. “Do Davey and I toast too?”

Ed bent his head between ours, “If you want, you can just hold your glasses and wait to drink until after you offer a return toast.”

Ed lifted his glass higher. “To Carlson and Bentolli.”

The other adults repeated the toast.

“Do you have a toast?” I whispered across the table to Davey.

He shook his head.

I thought for a second, and then motioned for Davey to lift his glass as I lifted mine. “To all the people at this table,” I said, “who make our lives rich every day – without money.”

“Here, here!” said Ed and Dr. Meyers.

Chase echoed them, and then leaned over the table. “Enough of this business stuff,” he announced, as the waitress set down plates of steak and prime rib. “Less talk and more eatin’!”

The meat was done perfectly, and was absolutely delicious. I savored every bite. Ed was right — The Barn Door was definitely the best steak house in San Antonio.

During desert, Dr. Meyers gave us another reason to keep our success a secret. “I’ve told everybody, including everyone at NBase, that the brilliant Mr. Carlson and Mr. Bentolli are young…,” he said, then chuckled. “I just didn’t tell them how young.”

“How old do they think we are?” I asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Dr. Meyers cut into his last bit of prime rib, and then shrugged. “I let them think whatever they wanted. They all seemed to want to believe that you were recent college graduates.”

I blanched, but chewing my steak.

“What happens,” Ed asked from our end of the table,” if they want to meet our young inventors?”

Dr. Meyers looked from Davey to me. “No way!” he said, and shook his head smiling. “These boys are strictly X9.” He leaned towards us conspiratorially. “That’s what they used to call the hush-hush computer stuff back in the fifties when I first started. Top secret.”

When we got to the embarrassing cake and birthday song part, the waiters and waitresses surrounded the table, placing small cakes in front of both Davey and me. Across the table, Davey’s face glowed in the light of his single candle. He grinned at me, and I caught myself — realizing how dangerously close I was to looking at Davey precisely the way Larice said not to, with unbridled adoration. I gave Davey a quick smile back and then looked away.

Ed paid the bill and was waiting for the receipt when he reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. When he dangled them over the table, we could see that they were car keys. My heart stopped for a moment.

He grinned broadly, “Happy birthday, Davey and Michael, from Carlson-Bentolli Incorporated! You’ll find the brand-new red Camaro in the second row from the street.”

Davey and I sat there, mouths wide open. I looked down the table at Mom. She and Maggie both grinned. “You knew?” I asked.

They nodded. “Not that I’d pick that color,” Mom quickly replied.

“Well?” Ed asked. “Who’s going to drive it first?”

Davey and I looked at each other. “Davey,” I said, sighing. “He’s the one who said he likes Camaros. But you guys can’t watch,” I warned, with a wink at Davey. “He drives like an old lady!”

Ed tossed Davey the keys. Hunter immediately cried, “shotgun!”

“Like hell, you have shotgun,” I shouted, as the four of us, including Chase, dashed for the door. “It’s my car too. I get shotgun!”

It turned out that we really did need the car, since we both had to ‘drive to work’ now — which we did for the first time the very next day, right after swim practice. At the university, we parked as close to Dr. Meyers’ building as possible.

When we walked into his office, a young Hispanic man was sitting with him. He had long, thick, dark hair pulled into a ponytail, wire-rimmed glasses, a wrinkled t-shirt, and faded blue jeans. He was solid in a pleasant sort of way, with a rounded face, and he wore an uncertain smile.

Dr. Meyers stood up, and when he did, the young man did as well. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I’d like you to meet your very first employee, Arturo Rodriguez. Arturo, meet Michael Bentolli and David Carlson.”

I looked questioningly at Dr. Meyers. Frankly, I was nonplussed. Not that I expected to have complete say over our money, and Dr. Meyers sure deserved some say in how it was spent. But the name of our little corporation was Carlson-Bentolli. I didn’t like the surprise.

“Look, Michael,” he explained, “you and Davey did the hard work, designing the sort, and doing the coding up until now. Arturo is just going to help you get it ready for the other platforms we need it for within the next month…”

“I thought we had two months,” I interrupted.

“NBase releases version three in less than sixty days. They need our stuff in a month. That’s why you need Arturo,” he said, nodding again in the young man’s direction. “Coding is not one of Davey’s strengths — no offense, Davey. And, Michael, you’d kill yourself trying to go it alone. You can still concentrate on the initial coding, but at least let Arturo here do the debugging. He can correct all the syntactical errors and can flag procedural bugs for you to rework.”

I looked Arturo over. He certainly looked like a fully qualified Hispanic geek.

Dr. Meyers continued. “Arturo’s working on his Doctorate in Software Engineering at Stanford. He’s brought his wife home for the summer because her family’s here and she’s getting ready to have their first baby.”

He smiled and held out his hand. I took it.

“Good to meet you, Arturo.”

“Michael,” he nodded. Then he shook Davey’s hand.

Dr. Meyers handed me several sheets of paper. “Here are time sheets for Arturo to use.” Then he handed me a second sheaf of papers. “And here’s a copy of the final contract that you, Ed, and your moms all signed to cover buying computer time here at the university. It’s now signed by my superior as well. Pass it on to Ed. He’s keeping a file for you guys. And this is for the file, too,” he said, handing me a final sheaf of papers. “This is Arturo’s signed non-disclosure agreement. He’s sworn to keep all your code secret.”

“X9?” I asked, grinning.

Dr. Meyers looked seriously at all of us. “Yes, X9. There are people out there, and companies too, that would love to steal your ideas. And if they do, they’ll steal more than just money. You all have to keep your code secret. Understand?”

We all nodded.

Davey and Arturo drifted out the door, but Dr. Meyers held me back. “Michael,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry. I guess I got a bit ahead of myself, hiring Arturo. I could tell by the look on your face you didn’t like the idea. It’s your money — it was wrong of me to hire him without checking with you first. I just wanted to make sure we meet the deadline. And Arturo is damn good.”

I nodded gratefully. “Yes, sir. I appreciate that.”

“It won’t happen again,” he assured me. “And Michael,” he said, seriously. “I’m not trying to put pressure on you boys to be some kind of golden goose for me. I’ve worked with both of you for months now and I’ve seen how brilliant you each can be. In my gut, I just feel that if we do this right, the two of you will produce ideas and intellectual properties that will make you very successful. I want to help with that.” His eyes twinkled. “I’ve seen guys make sudden fortunes in the computer industry before — sometime I’ll have to tell you how DEC started — anyway, I think you and Davey can do that.”

“A fortune, huh?” I asked.

He put his hand on my back and walked me to the door. “Well, you guys may never make billions, but I think,” he said, grinning, “that with help, you might make a very good living. I honestly do think you two have a chance to be successful. It may be selfish of me, but I want to be in on it.”

“You going to help us with the coding, then?” I asked with a smile.

“Not with coding, Michael.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to muddy the waters on ownership of the code.”

I nodded. “Thanks for being careful for us,” I said. I watched his face. “You really do think we can do well at this, don’t you, Dr. Meyers?”

He smiled and patted my back. “You’re about to take a tiger by the tail,” he said. “I just hope you’re ready for all the work required when success comes along… Speaking of work, let’s get back to it.”

I pulled out all the stops for our Saturday night dinner, which featured a spiral cut, glazed ham. I used lawnmower money to buy it, because I needed to sweeten up Mom.

“What do you mean, you can’t go on vacation with me?” Mom asked, obviously displeased.

I finished putting down the platter and looked up. “You know we’re under a deadline, Mom,” I said. “We’ve got to have everything ready by mid July.”

She scowled at me.

“Mom, we’re talking a lot of money here!” I pointed out. “And they’ve already advanced us some of it.”

She continued frowning at me, obviously considering alternatives. “You’re much too young to already be a workaholic, Michael,” she said, then sighed. “I need a break — I’m still going. You do what you have to do.”

Davey and Maggie had been watching in silence. I glanced at them. “I have good news, though, for all of us,” I said, as I took Mom’s hand. “Last fall, I promised Davey that we’d take a trip to the beach once we had our drivers licenses… with yours and Maggie’s permission, of course.”

Mom raised an eyebrow.

“Just wait a second,” I pleaded. “Hear me out.” I squeezed Mom’s hand. “Once we’ve finished the coding, Ed says he can set up a vacation at a resort at South Padre — for all of us; you, Maggie, and Davey and me. He can organize rooms, fishing trips — the works.”

Maggie glanced at Mom. “You know, Gloria,” she said thoughtfully, “I still have a week’s vacation I haven’t planned.”

A smile played at the edges of Mom’s mouth. “And I have a second week’s vacation I haven’t planned yet.” Then she frowned. “But I’m not sure about fishing. I may prefer to stay on the beach.”

“I might like to fish,” Maggie said with a grin in my direction. “I liked it as a girl.”

As we drifted into a discussion of beaches and fishing, I watched our Moms come alive in a way I hadn’t seen in some time. As they became more excited, Davey and I grinned happily at each other — partly because it’d be the first time in all the years we’d been friends that our two families would vacation together.

Yeah, I thought, grinning at Davey while our moms happily chatted away._ I can definitely get used to having some money for a change._

Later, Maggie and I finished drying the dishes while Mom and Davey went out onto the porch. I could tell Maggie had something on her mind, but I waited for her to tell me what it was.

Finally, when we were almost done, she put down her towel and leaned back against the counter. “Michael,” she said, “when you split the NBase money evenly with Davey, you said it was because both of you worked up the sort. I took your word for it. But now it… well, it sounds to me like you’re doing all the work.”

I began to protest, but she raised her hand. “That’s not right, Michael,” she insisted. “Davey shouldn’t be getting half the money if he’s not actually doing half the work.”

I smiled and patted her arm. “It’s fine, Maggie. The money was for the idea — the sort. And half of that really was Davey. I don’t mind doing a little extra work to get everything else ready by the deadline. It’s sort of fun… kind of like homework, only with a big reward at the end.”

She looked at me skeptically.

I smiled, trying to coax one from her. “Come on, Maggie — you know we’re all family. Davey and I are brothers. We’re about to start a family business, that’s all.” I hugged her and kissed her forehead.

She frowned up at me, still not completely convinced Finally she shrugged. “Alright. Thank you. But you make him help.”

I picked up the last plate to dry. “Davey pulls his weight, you know.”

Maggie cocked her head. “Oh?”

I hung up my towel and tilted the dish drainer toward the sink while I thought how to answer. Then I turned to her. “Maggie, Davey looks at things differently than we do. He sees things we don’t see… he has ideas we don’t have… he sees numbers and shapes and relationships. And even though he doesn’t communicate well, that doesn’t mean that he can’t come up with brilliant ideas. There were three different things he suggested for the sort, and they were incredible — even Dr. Meyers said so. I couldn’t have done that myself. And now that I’ve started introducing him to encryption, Davey’s catching on to some things a lot better than I did.”

She bit her lip, thinking. “I’m going to ask you something, and I want an honest answer, alright?”

“Sure,” I said, nodding.

She looked down at the floor. “Dr. Kazan has wanted speech therapy for Davey for some time. I just haven’t been able to afford it, and my insurance won’t cover it. What I want an honest answer to is this — does Davey have enough money for speech therapy?”

I shrugged. “Davey’s money is Davey’s money. We need to save as much as we can for expenses and as seed money if we really want to start a company, but half of the money is still his. How expensive is a speech therapist?” Then I caught myself. “No,” I said. “Don’t answer that. There really isn’t any question is there? Let’s just do it. I’ll talk to Ed about how best to pay for it.”

Maggie’s eyes started to water and stepping up, she put a hand on my cheek. She opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment, Davey leaned into the kitchen.

“Go away,” I told him. “We’re talking about you.”

“Your ears should be burning!” added Maggie, wiping her eyes.

Davey grinned and walked up, putting an arm over each of our shoulders. With his face between ours, he nodded. “OK. Talk about… me.”

I winked at Maggie. “So, ah… you were saying that Davey was left here by an alien space ship?”

“Absolutely,” she nodded. “They left him and said to feed him, clothe him, and tickle him every day.”

Davey’s grin grew bigger and he began to back away. I took a single threatening step towards him and he backed out of the kitchen, then leapt for the front door. He beat me out of the house and took off down the street. I chased hard after him and for three blocks he widened the gap.

We ran like the wind, sprinting flat out. We flew past mailboxes, parked cars, and houses, flying down the pavement much faster than we ever did on our jogs. And then, slowly, I began to catch up. Davey was tiring. He tried dodging me at the end, but I still managed to tag his butt. “Gotcha!” I called. We stumbled a few steps, exhausted, and then we both bent over, hands on knees, panting hard.

Unfortunately, we were still full from feasting on ham at supper, and mine was trying hard to come back up. Davey’s mouth dropped open and he clutched his stomach. With a thin wail, he bent over and retched, vomiting all over the sidewalk. As soon as the smell hit me, I lost all control and retched too.

So much for the fancy supper, I thought, trying not to look at the two hours worth of cooking splattered over the sidewalk.

We just looked at each other, all bent over, catching our breath. Davey began to chuckle. And we both tried to laugh; the whole thing seemed so ridiculous.

It was a couple of minutes before we could stand up. He looked at me and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. I did the same.

“Want a kiss?” I asked between breaths.

Davey groaned and looked away.

“What? You aliens don’t like kissing?”

He looked up at me with that grin.

“Oh, no you don’t – I was joking.” I said, holding my hands up defensively as I backed away. “You wouldn’t dare!”

I shouldn’t have said that either.

He charged, but I held him off by keeping my hands on his shoulders. But then I tripped, and he landed on top of me. Davey quickly pinned my hands, and grinning wickedly, bent down to plant a kiss on my lips, but I turned my face away. He bent over that way, trying to follow.

I turned my head again in the other direction as his lips smeared my cheek.

“Help! Aliens!” I screamed, laughing.

And that’s when Davey cheated, digging his fingers into my ribs. I grabbed for his hands and was in the middle of a really loud howl when he managed to get his mouth over my open one, planting what had to be the foulest kiss on me that I was ever likely to get.

It was pretty awful. We both groaned and we both spat to the side.

Davey grinned down at me in triumph. I laughed. And he kissed me again! Only this time, the foulness didn’t matter. The fact that we might be seen in the dark didn’t seem to matter, either.

We both shuddered convulsively at the end of that kiss.

“We need to shower,” I said, gagging at the smell. “Inside and out.”

Looking up at him in the darkness, I could see the smile in his eyes.

“Shower at my house,” he said quietly. “Sleep over with… me.”

“Is this an alien abduction?” I asked with a chuckle.

Davey cocked his head.

“Never mind — yes,” I said. “That sounds good to me.”

He let me up and we both brushed off. “I can’t believe you did that,” I said, grinning. “Wait till I tell your mama what you did!”

Our laughter echoed down the street as we turned towards our houses, each with an arm over the other’s shoulder. A warm Texas breeze gusted through the trees, making it easier to breathe. And I tried to think of someone, anyone, I could tell about Davey’s alien kiss.

Over the next couple of weeks, we developed our own routine. In the mornings around 9AM, Davey and I went to the summer swim team practice sessions, and then we came back to my house for lunch. In the afternoons, we drove to the university and worked as late as we could.

After a couple of days, it became clear to Dr. Meyers and myself that Davey’s forte was sudden insight and off-the-wall solutions; transcribing code from one operating system to another wasn’t his strength. And so, Davey began dropping me off by myself, and then picking me up later on.

I wrote computer code all afternoon, and sometimes well into the evening. When I stayed really late, Arturo brought me home. I was working so hard that at night I even dreamed about programming.

Mom took off the last week in June to vacation at her parents, and Davey spent every night with me. It all seemed incredibly domestic —going off to work during the day, and then coming home to my lover in the evenings.

Somehow, we managed to find ourselves a lot more time for making love, and the more sex we had, the hornier we seemed to become. Certainly the swimming and running put us into peak physical condition; maybe it affected our libido. For whatever reason, we made love a lot, and enjoyed the hell out of it.

Davey started visiting Amy with me, and then later, for me. She’d been phoning with increasing frequency, and as much as I tried to spend time with her and — I still had a hard time believing it — our future child, it was difficult. Davey, on the other hand, decided to make himself the unofficial godfather for little David. The moment that Amy held his hand to her womb and he felt the baby move, Davey was hooked, transfixed by the wonder of a baby. I was glad that Davey went, as I never really felt comfortable around Amy’s dad or brothers.

Mr. Sullivan, however, genuinely liked Davey. So did Mrs. Sullivan. And Davey liked them. He began buying little stuffed toys for the baby, and took Amy out for sodas, or to get something to eat.

And so while I worked on the birth of our company, Davey involved himself in the birth of my baby.

“Michael?” Dr. Meyers called from the computer room door.

“Yes sir?” I said, leaving the computer terminal and walking over to him.

“You still think you’ll be done early with the project?”

“Yes sir,” I said with a nod. “Arturo’s been great. We just need a few more days.”

“Good. We may have a little problem. Come with me.”

I followed him back to his office where he waved me into a seat. Using his speakerphone, he dialed Ed’s office. Ed’s secretary immediately put us through.

“I’ve been informed that the president of NBase wants to meet the boys, Ed,” Dr. Meyers explained.

“Why?”

Dr. Meyers grinned sheepishly. “I think I over-sold them. Now he wants to meet with them, even after I let him know that the boys are still teens.”

“I was afraid of this,” Ed replied. “Did you tell him they’re sixteen years old?”

Dr. Meyers shook his head at the speaker phone. “I just said teens, and left it at that. But he still wants to meet with them. He wants to fly the boys out to California.”

My jaw dropped. California!

“We can’t do that, Harold,” Ed said. “They won’t take us seriously once they see how young the boys are!”

“It’s not that simple, Ed,” Dr. Meyers said with a sigh as he leaned over the speakerphone. “Chang says he’ll fly out here if he has to.”

“Why is he so dead-set on meeting the boys? What does he think we’re up to?”

“Like I said, I oversold them,” Dr. Meyers repeated, apologetically. “In selling the software, I told him the two ‘young men’ who wrote the sort were ‘brilliant visionaries’ with ideas that would revolutionize the industry. I just neglected to tell him how young they were.”

Dr. Meyers looked up at me and mouthed the word, “sorry.”

“Well,” Ed said after a pause, “I guess that was just strong marketing. But dammit, Harold… can’t we put him off?”

Yeah, I thought,_ for maybe five years, when we’re twenty-one_.

“That’d be a bad idea,” Dr. Meyers said, shaking his head. “Look, NBase is already committed to us on the sort. Carlson — Bentolli, Inc. has the signed contract. They really can’t back out without a huge mess. Besides, they want the sort. I’m not worried about that side of things. But I am worried about future business. If NBase turns sour on us, there’s a good chance we won’t get anywhere in the industry.”

I sat watching Dr. Meyer’s eyebrows work up and down as he considered possibilities. Ed was silent.

Dr. Meyers turned and, looking out the window, ran a hand over his brow. “Look, Ed, I’ve gotten to know Raymond Chang pretty well. He’s a decent guy and young himself — early thirties. I’m thinking that the best thing to do is to be honest with him — let him know that the boys are really young, but still brilliant, of course.” He winked at me. “Chang’s seen the CB sort and there’s no denying its excellence. I’ve got complete confidence in Michael and Davey. Let him meet with them. We’ll insist he keep their ages quiet for now.”

There was a pause before Ed spoke. “That might work,” he said. “Involve him like a co-conspirator, Harold. Treat the boys as if they’re some private treasure that you’re going to let him in on. I suppose he wants to see them soon.”

“As soon as possible,” Dr. Meyers said.

“OK. You talk to him. In the meantime, I’ll take the boys to my hair stylist and see if he can make them look older. We’ll dress them in business suits and see if we can’t impress this Mr. Chang.”

“It’s Dr. Chang,” Dr. Meyers corrected. “And I think he might be smart enough to be impressed.”

The next day, Ed took us to the salon where he had his hair cut. Victor, his stylist, was a pale man in his thirties, with a well-trimmed beard and thick brown, closely cropped hair. The shop was adjacent to one of the finest sports clubs in the city, and was obviously upper class. The floors were granite and all the counters were of dark stone and wood, with brass or gold fixtures. The lobby, where we met Victor, had deep red leather couches and chairs.

Victor looked Davey over first. He pulled Davey’s hair back into a ponytail, which he held to turn Davey’s head this way and that. He stood back, hands on his hips and nodded. “Alright. I know what I’m going to do with this one. We’ll cut the hair shorter. That should make him look a little older.”

Then he turned to me and gave me the same going over. But in my case, his survey was punctuated with exasperated grunts. He lifted my hair up from either side of my head. “I can’t cut his hair too short, not with a long neck like this.” He shrugged and turned to Ed. “But I’ll do what I can.”

There are two people you do not want to hear cursing while they work on you — your dentist and your barber. Victor cursed quite a bit. I did everything I could to avoid looking in the mirror.

When Victor was done with me, he stood me before Ed and Davey. Ed frowned.

Davey smiled. “You look like… Chachi,” he said, starting to giggle.

Ed turned to Davey. “From Happy Days on TV?” And then he looked back at me. “Yeah, you’re right, Davey — a lot taller, but he does look a little like Chachi.” Then he frowned at Victor. “Problem is, Victor, he looks like Chachi did when he_ first started_ on _Happy Days _years ago.”

Victor turned me around and looked me over. “How old are you, kid?”

“Sixteen.”

“Ha!” Victor said, then looked at Ed. “I happen to know how old Scott Baio was when he began playing Chachi – sixteen!”

Victor insisted there wasn’t anything else he could do. So, while complaining that Victor never made him look younger when he got a hair cut, Ed paid the bill.

Davey stood grinning at me. “Chachi!” he said, pointing.

“I do not look like Chachi,” I said, glaring.

Two days later, Davey stood in front of the three-way mirror in a hastily altered, dark navy business suit. I stood next to him in a deep charcoal design with pinstripes. They may not have been custom-tailored, but with the alterations, they looked it. The fabrics were rich and the suits were elegantly cut, and they cost several hundred dollars each. But Ed was insistent that we make the right impression for our meeting. I had to admit, the colors were perfect for both of us.

But the effect wasn’t only from the color. Davey, in a suit and with that haircut, was breathtaking. It did make him look a little older and he was remarkably handsome. His Scandinavian heritage was beginning to assert itself in the line of his jaw and the planes of his face. There was no question, I decided. He was getting even better looking as he was getting older.

I leaned close. “I want to tear off your clothes,” I whispered. “You’re beautiful.”

He looked me over from head to toe, then put his mouth to my ear. “You look like…” he started to say.

“Don’t say Chachi,” I warned.

He shook his head, smiling. “Lots cuter.”

Ed arranged the conference call to California from his and Dr. Meyers’ offices simultaneously. Davey and I sat with Dr. Meyers.

After introductions were made, Dr. Meyers explained the problem. “We can’t send the boys after all, Raymond. None of us can break away from our current projects to bring them.”

There was a long pause before we heard Dr. Chang’s voice. “Michael, Davey… just how old are you boys, again?”

I looked at Dr. Meyers and he nodded. “Ah… sixteen, sir.” I said.

“Hmmm. And you boys designed the CB sort entirely by yourselves?”

“Yes, sir. Absolutely.”

There was another pause. “Harold, are you telling me you can’t find an adult to bring them out here? A parent or guardian, or maybe a family friend?”

Dr. Meyers shook his head. “Both their moms work and have already planned their vacations in August. Neither can get away. I’m the head of my department at the school and have a couple of classes going on this fall to prepare for, plus I have to interview three new instructors next week.”

“And I can’t break away,” Ed said. “We’ve got some major labor negotiations going on in town for the next three weeks.”

The silence at the other end this time went on for too long. Dr. Chang had to be thinking that Davey and I were practically still in diapers and that Ed and Dr. Meyers really weren’t committed to Carlson-Bentolli at all.

I bit my lower lip in frustration. We are about to screw this up, I thought. And I sure as hell was not going to let that happen!

I cleared my throat. “Dr. Chang, this is Michael. We’ll still come. We’re sixteen, not twelve. And we’re geeks. We’ll build our own airplane if we have to.” I watched Dr. Meyer’s eyebrows rise.

“It’s important for us to meet,” I continued. “We need to show you that we are as capable as you thought we were before you found out how old we were. It’s important for you and for us, because… Dr. Chang, we have other ideas, other plans that can benefit NBase even more than our sort will.”

Now Dr. Meyers’ eyes went really wide. I winked at him.

“What kind of ideas?” Raymond Chang asked. “What kind of plans?”

I thought Dr. Meyers was going to have a heart attack. He turned red and jumped to his feet, waving frantically at me to say no more.

I smiled reassuringly. “Innovative ideas, Dr. Chang. I read all the industry trade magazines around here and I know what I’m talking about. But we’re not ready to make them public yet.”

There was a bemused chuckle from the other end of the phone line. “You’re right, Michael. It is important that we meet.” Relieved, Dr. Meyers collapsed back into his chair.

Dr. Chang continued. “And we need to meet sooner rather than later. You boys have school in the fall?”

“Yes, sir.”

Then I heard Ed’s voice. “Dr. Chang, the boys are certainly capable of traveling on their own. But they can’t stay by themselves out there.”

“Look, it’s not a problem,” Dr. Chang said, unconcerned. “I’ll have one of my people look after them, like a chaperon. If you like, we’ll even make sure they get a side-trip over to Disneyland for a day. It’s not far away from our offices in Anaheim.”

Davey looked at me, grinning.

“Davey? Michael?” the voice of Dr. Chang asked.

“Yes, sir?” we replied together.

“I was a bit of a child prodigy myself,” Chang explained. “I’m not worried about your ages. In fact, I’m looking forward to meeting you. But I think we need to keep your identity a little secret.”

Dr. Meyers grinned.

We heard Dr. Chang, clear his throat. “I’m not sure my board of directors would understand our decision to pay a half-million dollars over three years to a couple of sixteen year-olds… We’ll just tell our people that you are Carlson and Bentolli’s younger brothers, so you may have to dumb down a bit in public, but we’ll make it fun. I promise.”

Davey gave me a thumbs-up. I nodded.

“Tell you what,” Chang continued. “I’ll have my secretary make reservations for first class seats on a flight out here Monday. We’ll keep the boys a couple of days and then shoot them back to you, safe, and dedicated to NBase for life.” He laughed. “We’ll fax over some parental releases, medical releases… whatever our legal people say need to be signed.”

Davey turned to me grinning from ear to ear. “Disneyland!” he whispered. “California!”

California, I thought — Brandon. I sat back in my chair, my mind immediately filled with memories of him.

Dr. Meyers finished the conversation for us, and Ed immediately called back afterwards.

“Well done, Michael,” Ed said through the speakerphone. “For a moment there, I thought everything was going to go south. I had my calendar open trying to figure out how I could possibly break away, but you saved the day. You might have just as good a head for business negotiations as you do for computers.”

“Thanks,” I said, trying not to let thoughts of Brandon distract me.

Dr. Meyers frowned. “I’m not sure I like it,” he said. “The boys will have to stay on their toes.” He looked sternly at Davey and me. “Don’t give away anything — no ideas. No secrets about how the sort works. No suggestions on how to improve their products… period.”

He rubbed his jaw, thinking. “They may have already tried to reverse-engineer the complied code. Since they’re paying for it, they might feel like they own it. But no sense giving away anything!”

“Dr. Meyers is right,” Ed said over the phone. “You handled the conversation with Chang very well, Michael, but you’ll both need to be very careful. Don’t give away anything. Tell them you have to talk it over with your business advisers first.”

“I’m not worried about that side of things,” I said. “We’ve got a bigger problem to worry about.”

“Yes?” Ed said.

I sighed. “I’m worried about how you’re going to talk Maggie and my mom into letting us go.”

Ed laughed. Dr. Meyers was still frowning. And as it turned out, we almost had more trouble talking Dr. Meyers into letting us go than we did with our moms.

The biggest dilemma for me was what to do about Brandon. I really, really wanted to see him, but I knew Davey probably wouldn’t like that. And yet, I couldn’t possibly go to California and not let Brandon know.

In the end, I told Davey what I was going to do and why, and I called Brandon to tell him that we would be out there, but only for a couple of days, and that we would not be able to see him.

“I didn’t want you to find out someday that we’d been out to LA and we hadn’t let you know about it.”

“Damn, Michael! Anaheim is only 25 miles from where we are living in the Valley. Talk to Davey — see if he’ll let us meet. He can come, too! Maybe do dinner or something. We’ll keep it all honest and above board.” His voice was almost pleading.

A slight frown was beginning to develop on Davey’s face as he watched me on the phone.

“We’ll see, Brandon,” I said carefully. “They’re probably going to keep us busy at the office. And we’re going to have a chaperon.”

“Damn it, Bent,” he muttered. “I wish you wanted to see me as much as I want to see you.”

“I do, Bran. That’s, uh… part of the problem.”

“Part of what?” whispered Davey.

“Nothing!” I whispered back, thankful that he couldn’t hear Brandon’s side of the conversation.

“And to be honest,” I continued, “there’s one other thing.”

“What?”

“Well, Davey and I have never traveled together like this. We’ve never gone to the beach like you and I did. We’ve never gone camping together like he did with Geoff the Creep. But this is something that we can do together that neither of us has ever done with anyone else, you know? I’m really excited, Brandon. It’s gonna be a special time for Davey and me. I don’t want to mess it up for anything.” I winked at Davey.

There was the briefest of pauses. “Not even for an old friend?”

“Don’t be like that, Bran. You know we both love you. But this trip is for Davey and me.”

“OK, Bent,” he said, reluctantly. “Davey’s your boyfriend. I really do hope you guys have a great time. Honest.”

We said our goodbyes, and I hung up.

Davey put his forehead to mine. “Thanks,” he said, and then hugged me.

I worked through the weekend, trying to get the software as ready as possible for Arturo to work on while I was gone. Not only did I work late on Saturday, I worked all day Sunday, then through Sunday night, and all the way up to the last possible minute on Monday morning. I was so exhausted I could barely see straight, but Arturo and Dr. Meyers were pleased with the results.

Davey helped me pack and drove us to the airport. I dragged myself onto the plane, but was unable to sleep much on the flight. After all, it was Davey’s first-ever plane trip and only my second. Not only that — we were traveling together, just the two of us. It was too damned exciting to sleep.

And so, on Monday, July the eleventh, Davey and I arrived in California both exhausted and excited — or rather, I was exhausted, and Davey was excited. Coming off the plane at LAX, we saw a young lady holding a small cardboard sign that said, “Carlson — Bentolli.”

She saw us coming and grinned. “Mr. Carlson? Mr. Bentolli?”

Davey and I looked at each other and Davey giggled. “I’m Michael,” I said. “And this is Davey.”

She held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Martha, from NBase corporate communications. It’s very nice to meet you Michael,” she said, shaking my hand first. She had a good grip. “And you too, Davey,” she added.

She turned. “Follow me, gentlemen. After we get your luggage, I’m going to check you into your hotel and then treat you to supper. I know you two will need to adjust to the two-hour time change, so after we eat, we’ll just go back to the hotel. You can sleep, and then tomorrow morning, I’ll take you over to the NBase campus.”

We struggled to keep up with Martha. She was a fast walker.

“I know your secret,” she said, talking back over her shoulder. “Dr. Chang told me that you two are the geniuses behind the CB sort. Only a couple of other people know that. To everybody else, you’re the younger brothers of Carlson and Bentolli. Very hush-hush.”

“Top secret,” added Davey.

She rounded a corner and we hurried after her up another passageway. “We weren’t sure what to do with you guys,” she continued talking over her shoulder. “You aren’t kids, so I know you don’t want a baby sitter, but I also can’t exactly leave you alone. We have a nice hotel room for you, and I have a room down the hall, so technically, there’s an adult with you. But you won’t see me unless you want to. I promise, I won’t cramp your style.” She smiled back at us. “Just don’t burn the place down or get arrested, OK?”

“Sure,” I said and Davey echoed his agreement, running a few steps to catch up.

“You’ll spend tomorrow at Nbase” she continued, “getting the tour and meeting Dr. Chang. Then on Wednesday, I have the difficult job of taking you to Disneyland. We can decide about Thursday later. Friday, I’ll put you two back on the plane for home.”

Davey and I grinned at each other. This was going to be so cool!

We reached baggage claim and as we waited, Martha leaned toward me. “Did anyone ever tell you that you look a little like that kid on Happy Days?”

I punched Davey’s arm when he laughed.

The Anaheim Mariott was lavish, with a lobby made entirely of marble, glass, and chrome. The large swimming pool and courtyard were clearly visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows as we approached the front desk. Both Davey and I checked out the swimsuit-clad male bodies lying by the pool outside, though we tried hard not to gawk. Davey almost walked into a column when two Speedo-clad body builder types strolled by the window — I just hoped Martha hadn’t noticed his wide-eyed appreciative look.

“We’re definitely not in Texas anymore,” I whispered to Davey.

Our hotel room was a surprise. It was a two-bedroom suite with a Jacuzzi in the large bathroom, and a king-sized bed in each of the bedrooms.

Martha tipped the bell hop and turned to us. “You boys ready for something to eat?” she asked.

I yawned, and fell back into a chair, almost too tired to eat.

Martha smiled down at me. “So you really worked through the night?”

I nodded.

“We could skip the restaurant,” she suggested, “and order from room service. Would you like that?”

“Room service!” echoed Davey.

That night, Davey and I found out that fish did not always have to be fried, and that Chenin Blanc was an excellent white wine to go with seafood. Martha, however, only let us have one glass each.

After supper, she glanced at her watch. “I know it’s getting late, but if you want, I can drive you around to see some sights. Or you guys can just get some sleep and rest up for tomorrow.”

Davey looked at me and smiled. “Sleep,” he said.

I nodded my agreement, just hoping to be able to make it to the bed. The glass of wine had been the last straw – I was ready to collapse completely. But I knew Davey was excited about us being in a hotel room together, and that he would want to make love first. I just wanted Martha to leave so I could take care of Davey and get to bed.

No sooner had Martha left for her room than he began frantically undressing me, laughing hard in the process. Somehow, I managed to get his clothes off, too, and he maneuvered us on to our sides on the bed for a sixty-nine.

I rested my head on Davey’s thrust-forward lower leg, took a deep breath of his aroma, and closed my mouth over his cock. In seconds, I was asleep.

I was only vaguely aware of Davey lifting and dragging me over to the other side of the bed where he had pulled back the covers. I felt the soft press of his lips to my cheeks before he pulled the bedcovers up over me.

And then it was morning. I awoke to find myself facing Davey across the pillow. Our legs were entwined and our morning erections lay over one another. Davey was sound asleep, his mouth hanging open, his almost-white hair all disheveled. Early morning light came in through the window, and a glance at the clock told me it was barely 6AM. We still had hours to go before our meeting.

A surge of affection came over me. I found myself taking a deep breath and marveling at the love he stirred in me. I wanted to let Davey rest, but I also wanted to have him in my arms and make love to him.

I put my hand on his butt and pulled our privates even closer together. Davey’s mouth closed and he smiled, eyes closed. I gently kissed his lips, and he put his arms around me, nestling his face into my neck.

Moving my hand up from his butt, I rubbed the middle of his back and kissed the top of his head. “Sorry about last night, Old Man. I guess I was more tired than I thought.”

“You owe me,” Davey murmured into my neck.

“Yep. I admit it — I owe you. Anything you want.”

Davey looked up from my neck, his blue eyes dancing. “I want… YOU!” he shouted, and pushed me onto my back. He rolled onto me and pressed his mouth to mine. We both had morning breath, but I didn’t give a damn.

It was still early, California time, when we went back to sleep after making love. The next time I woke up, I was on my back and Davey had a leg over my middle. His cock pressed against my hip and he had propped his head on his elbow next to my shoulder. He was drawing designs on my chest with his fingertip.

“Having fun?” I asked, then yawned and stretched.

“Ummm,” Davey said, running his palm over my tightened belly.

When I relaxed, he licked his fingertip and ran it in circles on my right nipple. “You’ve got baby… chest hairs,” he said, pulling at a couple of darker hairs that had made their first appearance.

“Sorry,” I said. “I can pluck them.”

“No,” Davey said simply. “I like ’em.” Then he drew his finger down the middle of my chest and belly, circled my navel, and continued on down to my pubic hair. He moved his leg lower on my body and laid his hand over my privates, fondling them while he bent to kiss me once again. He pressed the heel of his hand down on my upturned cock and rubbed. I groaned and closed my eyes.

“You’re going to start something again,” I warned.

“Uh-huh.”

“Aren’t you hungry for breakfast?”

Davey rolled onto me, dropping his legs to the outside of mine. Putting a hand on each of my shoulders, he pushed up and, looking down at me, he ground his cock on mine. “I am hungry,” he said, looking seriously down into my eyes. “I want to fuck… Chachi.”

I gasped at his joke and reached for his ribs. “We’ll see who fucks who!”

In a blur of limbs and laughter, we ended up falling off the bed, still held together by the sheets and blankets which proceeded to wind around us even more tightly as we rolled. Eventually we could barely move. Our bodies were wrapped together like mummies, our noses almost touching.

“We better stop,” I joked, “before we need someone to come rescue us.”

Davey smiled, and then his smile faded to that hungry look, and we wrapped our arms around each other even more tightly than the wrap-around sheets.

When we finished, he stayed in me, still spooned within the sheets, and began playing with the hairs on the back of my head.

I had a stray thought. “Our waiter last night was gay.”

Davey blew softly, soothingly over the back of my neck. “Yep,” he said, confidently. “Def… definitely gay.”

“Maybe we’re getting gaydar, Davey,” I said. “Remember? Knox told us about that.”

Davey buried his nosed in the back of my hair and took a deep breath. Then he pulled my hair back from my ear. “The waiter,” he said, confidentially, “brushed against me…when he set up our table.”

I looked back over my shoulder at him. “You know,” I said. “I bet we see lots of gay guys out here.”

Davey let his cock slip from inside me and began squirming out of the sheets. “Want to go… swimming?” he asked.

I laughed. “You just want to go to the pool to test our gaydar. But nobody’s going to be out there this early.” I looked at the clock. “Damn, it’s too late to get breakfast like Martha said to do.”

Davey padded into the bathroom and the sound of his heavy piss stream followed. The sound caused me to realize how badly I needed to go, but I was thinking about gaydar. As I stood up to follow him, I repeated my thought. “I bet we see lots of gays out here. I mean, it is California.”

I replaced him at the toilet while he washed his hands and looked for his toothbrush. “Of course,” I said, feeling relief as my own piss stream started, “we can’t just point at guys and say, ‘Do you think he’s gay?'”

“Uh-uh.”

“We need a code. How about if we say, HG? For like, you know, He’s Gay? So like if you see somebody you think is gay, you can just nod at him and say, ‘HG,’ alright? But whisper it — OK?”

Davey grinned with a mouth full of toothpaste. “OK. Top secret.”

“Cool,” I said, watching my reflection in the full-length mirror by the john as I shook off my cock and flushed the toilet.

Davey saw where I was looking, nodded at me in the mirror, and said, “HG.”

I slapped his bare ass and joined him at the sink.

After we cleaned up, I called the front desk and they put me in touch with the concierge, who in turn sent a junior manager to help us fix our ties. I kept meaning to ask Ed to teach us before we left, but kept forgetting with so much else to do.

The junior manager laughed and said no one in California wore ties. But Ed seemed to think the business suits were important. So the manager helped us with the ties. When the junior manager left, Davey raised his eyebrows. “HG?”

I looked in the mirror at the way the tie was knotted, and shook my head. “I don’t think so.”

We HGed guys to each other as we walked out the lobby that morning, and as we rode in the car to NBase with Martha.

The NBase campus consisted of half a dozen sprawling buildings spread over several acres of landscaped grounds. Though the buildings were all modern brick and glass, the effect from the outside was quiet and pastoral. It was deceptive as to just how large the campus really was.

There was security everywhere. We had to be cleared through a security gate, and again at the front desk as they issued us special VIP visitor passes. And once we were past the front desk, we entered an atmosphere unlike any I’d experienced before.

Even though most of the people were dressed casually, there was an unmistakable air of professionalism. People worked intently at desks or terminals, individually or in groups, and others hurried quickly from one place to another. And all of the equipment was state-of-the-art. It made our gear back at Dr. Meyers’ lab look downright antiquated.

We stopped at the doorway to a long hall. It was almost completely blocked by a security desk and turnstiles. Martha winked at us. “The Sanctum Sanctorum,” she said. “You’ve been cleared to see where we do our developing.”

The guard passed us into the hall and Martha led us into the first of many rooms. This one had tall windows along the right side, and the cubicles had low dividers, which gave the room an open feel.

We walked quickly from cubicle to cubicle. Martha didn’t explain what anyone was doing, so I tried to guess from what I saw on worksheets or, on the VT-100 computer terminal in front of each worker.

In one cubical, an older man with gray hair and dark bushy eyebrows was working down a list of figures.

“Converting from hex?” I asked.

He looked up at me from over his glasses, looked me up and down, and nodded with a tolerant smile. Probably thinks I’m just a kid getting a quick tour, I decided.

“Don’t you guys have a little conversion program for that?” I asked. A university student had written the one we used back in San Antonio.

He frowned at me, annoyed. “Been meaning to write one,” he mumbled. “Just no time.”

Davey came up alongside and looked down at the paper. He smiled at the gray-haired man, took a pencil from the desk, and quickly filled in the remaining two dozen or so conversions.

As they watched, both Martha and the gray-haired man looked increasingly impressed. Then, sensing someone looking over my shoulder, I turned to find a slim, middle-aged woman watching us. Her most prominent features were two piercingly dark eyes framed by close-cropped dark brown hair.

When I turned, she quickly replaced a slight frown with a careful smile and held out her hand. “Ruth Jamison,” she said. “Financial VP. You must be Michael Bentolli.”

I studied her as we shook hands. She didn’t like me — I could sense it. But my first reaction was that I might like her. She used her eyes the same way Grandpa Bentolli used his; to look into people.

I smiled. “Yes, ma’am, I am. I’m very pleased to meet you.” I held her gaze.

She leaned back slightly and studied me more intently.

I turned and pulled Davey over. “This is my… uh, my associate, Davey… uh, David Carlson.”

Ms. Jamison nodded and shook Davey’s hand. Then she dismissed Martha. “I’ll take them from here, Martha. You can pick them up after lunch.”

She turned back to me and held up some papers with her left hand. “Dr. Chang meant to have you both sign non-disclosure agreements before getting a tour.” She smiled. “It’s not really that important, but I do need you to sign them.” She held the papers and a pen out to me.

I shook my head. “Dr. Chang never told us anything about signing any forms.”

“Oh, I assure you,” she said. “He was supposed to…”

I smiled. I had her. Dr. Chang obviously didn’t think it was important enough to remember even if Ruth Jamison obviously did. And she was right. But I wasn’t going to sign anything. Her smile faded just slightly.

“Ms. Jamison,” I said, apologetically, “I know you’re just doing your job, but we’re just teenagers. We aren’t going to sign anything without checking it out with our Moms.”

I think I was too transparent. A smile broke across her face. “Somehow,” she said, with amusement, “I imagine your mom checks more with you on such things.”

I grinned.

She laughed and lowered the papers. “Well, to be honest, I’m not sure how binding the signature of a minor is under Californian law anyway.” She smiled at me. “I like you, Mr. Bentolli. But I’m not sure I should trust you in our development rooms.”

I spread my hands deprecatingly. “I understand, Ms. Jamison. But I promise you, I won’t steal any of your ideas. Neither will Davey.”

She looked appreciatively at Davey. “You have quite a brain there, Mr. Carlson.” Then she turned back to me. “Why don’t we finish touring the building?”

We followed her as she walked from desk to desk. At one, she asked if I knew what a young lady was working on.

“Quadratic equations,” I answered.

“Care to try one?” she asked smiling.

It was a test; I knew it instantly. I smiled back and stepped up beside the young lady. I did first one, then a second, and was soon on a third.

Ms. Jamison nodded approvingly. “Can you guess what Ella is working on?” she asked.

I picked up the paper and looked it over, then shrugged. “My guess is that you’re trying to build in some optimizing intelligence to your software. This equation looks designed to calculate the impact of disk cluster size on seek time and the next equation deals with search time.”

Ella’s mouth dropped and Ms. Jamison raised her eyebrows.

“The problem with this third equation,” I said, about to disregard Dr. Meyer’s instruction to not offer help, “is that you need to factor in disk sector size.”

Ella grabbed the paper from me and looked it over, her brow deeply furrowed. Ms. Jamison broke out in a laugh.

I smiled. “Care to move on?”

She clapped my back and turned us toward the next booth. “I’ll be damned,” was all she said.

We were starving by mid-morning when Ruth finally treated us to a snack in the cafeteria. “So, Michael,” she asked, while we ate. “What’s your overall impression so far of NBase?”

“What’s yours?” I asked, “of us?”

“Of you?” she said, smiling. “Very favorable. But I think you know that. You are two special young men.”

Davey gave me an “if-only-she-knew” smile and I frowned at him.

“So,” she asked again, “ah… your overall impression of NBase?”

I nodded. “I’m impressed,” I said. “I like all the energy, all the technology. I like the people, too.” I hesitated.

She looked at me piercingly. “But?”

I took a drink and shrugged. “I’m just a teenager, Ms. Jamison. I don’t know much.”

“Come on, Michael,” she said. “There’s something you aren’t telling me.”

I looked her right back in the eye. “Have you shown me everything you have in development?”

She nodded slowly. “Pretty much. Why?”

It was hard to decide just how open I should be with her. I liked her. And the NBase people were nice. I almost felt like I was on the NBase team. But if I told them what I really thought, it might put a formidable competitor right in the path I was hoping C-B could take.

Suddenly, an image of Dr. Meyers’ face came back to me. He was frantically waving his hands, back in his office.

I casually shrugged and took another bite of my sandwich. And Ruth asked no more questions.

After the break, we toured accounting, shipping & receiving, tape dubbing, tape and disk duplication, and all the other departments a software company needed. The tour ended at an impressive boardroom, where a large, polished wooden table was set up at one end for lunch.

Martha joined us along with three men. The Asian man obviously in charge was Dr. Chang. If I hadn’t known he was in his thirties, I would have guessed twenties — early twenties. He was nicely built and had an air of energy and good health.

As soon as he entered the room, Davey leaned close. “HG?”

I stared at him a moment before I remembered our new code for ‘He’s Gay’. “You wish,” I whispered back.

Davey nodded enthusiastically and poked me in the arm.

Dr. Chang smiled at us and came over. “You guys getting the royal tour?” he asked.

We both nodded. I held out my hand. “I’m Michael Bentolli.”

When introductions ended, we sat down to lunch. Raymond Chang was friendly and outgoing. He had no concept of trade secrets, though. I would never say this to Dr. Meyers, but in one hour with Dr. Chang, I learned as much about the future of computing and data storage as I had after spending weeks with him. That wasn’t to say Dr. Meyers wasn’t as knowledgeable; it’s just that his information wasn’t nearly as current.

Dr. Chang was dead wrong about one thing, though. I was certain of it, but didn’t try to argue — he was convinced that home computing and PCs weren’t going to go anywhere. IBM had released their first home computer two years earlier, and I was certain it signaled the start of something really big. The cost of PC computing power was a fraction of that on mainframes and minicomputers. Businesses were noticing that. But Chang was sure that the PC wouldn’t make a dent on the business market. And he thought the new Apple Macintosh was a toy.

Dr. Meyers would have been proud of Davey and me. We talked only about the things Dr. Chang already knew and I offered no suggestions. I detected a few little tests during our conversation, and said enough to let them all know that Davey and I knew our stuff, but only just enough to make our point. The whole time, Ruth Jamison kept a close eye on me, and I felt like she knew every time I held back.

At the end of the meal, they excused themselves and left Davey and me in Martha’s company for a few minutes.

When they returned, the mood was serious. Dr. Chang sat down between Davey and me. “Gentlemen,” he said, smiling. “My people have been impressed with you, and with your sort. We studied it and once we understood some of the things it did… well that’s when I called to invite you two to come out here — the sort is brilliant.”

He smiled. “You boys clearly know what you’re doing. And we have a proposition for you.” He put a hand on each of our shoulders and smiled widely. “We would like to hire you guys. We’ll pay all your expenses to move you and your families out here. We’ll find you a good school, or do like they do with child stars and hire you tutors. And we’ll pay you well… very well.”

My jaw dropped, then I caught myself. For just a second, I was incredibly flattered – but only for a second. Perhaps I did have good business instincts because, I suddenly thought I understood what was behind the offer — they were trying to hire us so that they could gain control of our ideas!

“We have our own company,” I answered. “But we want to do business with you. That’s why we’re here.”

“And that’s why we wanted you out here,” Dr. Chang patted my back. “Setting up your own company was a clever way to sell your sort, Michael, but in the long run, working for a solid corporation for a steady income is not something to pass up lightly, especially considering the future you would have with us.”

My unease must have been obvious, because Dr. Chang quickly offered an alternative. “Tell you what; for now, we could simply fly you out for the rest of the summer and have you brainstorm with our staff. You can bring your moms out with you for a vacation. There’s lots to do and see out here. We’ll get you rental cars and pay all your expenses. On top of that, we’ll pay you ten thousand dollars.”

He leaned back smiling as if we were supposed to be wowed. But I figured our ideas were worth a lot more than that; and he must have thought so too.

“Ten thousand, each,” he emphasized.

I forced a smile. “That’s really generous, Dr. Chang, but we have our own ideas that we’re already working on.”

“Call me Raymond,” he insisted. “And bring your ideas! We can make them work for you.”

That was certainly transparent enough, I thought.

Ruth Jamison watched me closely. She certainly couldn’t be thinking that we’d go for this. I hesitated, trying to think how to decline the offer without offending Dr. Chang. There was an uncomfortable silence.

“OK,” he said. “Make it twenty thousand each.”

Davey gasped and his jaw dropped. He looked across Dr. Chang towards me and grinned, nodding.

But I shook my head. “That’s a really generous offer, uh… Raymond. But we need to check with our business advisers first,” I said.

Davey gave me an ‘oh-yeah’ look and nodded. “And our moms,” he added.

Ruth Jamison suppressed a smile.

“Sure,” Dr. Chang said, with a forced smile. “Sure. In fact…” he waved in a couple of office clerks carrying boxes. “We have some gifts for you and your moms.”

In the boxes were NBase ball caps, T-shirts, pens, and mugs. Dr Chang smiled and shook our hands as he left the room, but he looked pensive. It was clear that Dr. Chang was used to having his way. I hoped that I hadn’t sabotaged our relationship with NBase.

Ruth Jamison put a hand on my shoulder. “How old are you, again, Michael?”

“Sixteen.”

She chuckled. “Alexander the Great was sixteen when he led his first military action — successful action, I might add.” She squeezed my shoulder. “I have to tell you, I’m awfully impressed with you boys. We’re looking forward to seeing great things from you two.”

“Thank you, Ms. Jamison,” I replied. Davey and I watched her leave the room. I leaned to Davey. “Alexander the Great was gay,” I said with a wink.

“Did he look like Chachi?” Davey asked with a grin.

Before I could reply, Ruth came back into the room holding out business cards. “I meant to give you each one of these,” she said. “Call me if I can help with anything.”

Then Ruth pulled Martha aside, giving her instructions for the afternoon.

“I like her, Davey,” I whispered.

“Only because,” Davey said in a stage whisper, “she didn’t say… you look like… Chachi!”

Ruth turned back to us, open-mouthed. “That’s who you reminded me of! Fonzie’s cousin on Happy Days, right?”

I scowled at Davey. “You’re going to pay for that!”

He giggled, delightedly.

Right after lunch, we changed from our business suits and Martha drove us down the freeway to Universal Studios. And that night, she treated us to real Japanese food at Yamashiro’s in the nearby foothills. They almost refused to let us in because we didn’t have ties, but Martha convinced them that as ‘kids’ we shouldn’t need them.

Davey’s goal for the evening, however, was the courtyard swimming pool and we finally made it there after supper, even though it was almost 9PM. The reason Davey wanted to hit the pool wasn’t to swim, though.

He pulled two lounge chairs together for us to sit in, adjacent to the pool area entrance. Then he had us lean back in our speedos sans towels and spread our legs in a shameless display of our wares. And so we sat and waited.

And what we got was girls.

Despite the fact that Davey ‘HG-ed’ me every time a young guy went past, it was the girls who flirted, girls and older women.

I had to admit that the quality of the female wildlife was good in Southern California. Back in San Antonio, the general rule was that the size of the female swimsuit tended to decrease as the size of the female increased. That was not the case at the hotel pool where every female was shapely and none left a single curve to the imagination.

Davey and I were watching a teenage couple playing in the deep end when a lady at least the age of our moms slowly walked past. She still had a good figure, and showed off everything she had in skimpy bikini. She stopped right in front of us and bent over to pick up something that ‘fell.’ After giving us an ample view, she stood back up and boldly stared at our speedo-encased packages.

I crossed my legs. She smiled, actually licked her lips, and walked to a chair where she could keep an eye on us.

“Mickey,” Davey whispered. “We’re definitely not… in Texas… any more.”

We ignored the lady and just enjoyed watching the guys who came and went. One guy in his twenties pulled up a chair next to ours and struck up a conversation. He was trim, and good looking, and friendly; he explained that he was studying over at Cal State Fullerton, and his folks were staying at the hotel for the week. When the guy jumped in the pool to cool off, Davey leaned over.

“HG?” he asked in a low voice.

“You need to ask?”

The guy kept smiling back at us as he swam.

“You tired yet?” I asked. I checked my watch, it was already 10PM.

“Uh-huh.”

The guy looked really disappointed when we left, but gave us a friendly wave. In the room, Davey and I took a shower together. We sprouted erections, but we were exhausted, and were no longer in the mood by the time we dried off.

So we turned on the TV and lay naked across the bed to watch it — Davey on his stomach with a pillow under his head, and I lay behind him, using his back as my pillow.

We watched an episode of Remington Steele – not a great show, but the guy in it wasn’t bad looking. I threw my leg over the back of Davey’s legs and snuggled on to him, fighting to stay awake.

“Mickey?” Davey said softly during a commercial.

“Yeah?”

“I was real proud of you… today.”

“You were?” I asked, crawling up his back to put my face closer to his. My balls and soft cock settled comfortably on his butt.

He smiled. “Yeah… at NBase. You did… good.”

I wrapped my arms under his chest and I lay the side of my head down on the back of his neck. “It scared me, Davey. When Dr. Chang offered us jobs. I just didn’t trust him, but I didn’t want to mess things up.”

“You made him… want us more,” he said.

“Thanks, ‘Old Man’,” I said. Then I chuckled. “But don’t forget — you’re the one who blew them away with those hex conversions.”

“Yeah,” Davey said. “I like blowing… away.”

I laughed. The commercial ended and I moved my head onto Davey’s pillow. And I wondered if we could do as well with software as I was beginning to think we could. I fell asleep with my leg over his butt and my arm over his back, and I dreamed we had a big software house that sold Davey’s Hex Conversions

Published: 08 Apr 2014

Author’s Introductory Notes:

As usual, I retain all rights, but am more than glad for anyone wishing to offer this story to others at no charge to do so with my gratitude and permission. Josh.

CHAPTER 12b — NBase, cont.

The next morning I woke early again, spooned with Davey. The room was cool and the sheets were soft against my skin. I snuggled even closer to him, my morning erection comfortably lying in his crack.

When I did, Davey stirred and when he felt my cock, he wiggled back against me. Moaning comfortably, he pulled my arms even tighter around him, and we tried to sleep more. But a two-hour time difference is not accommodated to in just one night. We soon woke again.

I kissed the back of his neck. “You ready to order breakfast?” I asked. “Remember, Martha said we could use room service again.”

He loosened one of my arms from around his chest and moved my hand down to his hard cock. “Or,” I said, taking hold of it, “we could skip breakfast and go for something meatier.”

“Sausage,” Davey said with a giggle.

I kissed the back of his neck again and rubbed my cock up and down his crack. He pushed his butt back against me.

Leaning back so that my cock stayed pressed in his crack, I managed to reach some lotion on the nightstand where I’d put it. Kissing his neck again, I rubbed lotion into his butt crack and pressed a finger into his hole. And then, using more lotion, I gently guided myself in.

His muscles gripped me tightly as I slid in and felt his welcome warmth. I pushed in until his firm butt filled my lap and then I reached over his side. With the lotion still left in my hand, I took hold of his cock.

I moved lovingly in him as I first kissed his neck, then behind his ear and onto the nape of his neck. I realized that I enjoyed kissing and using my mouth on his neck almost as much as I enjoyed the sensations at the other end of our bodies.

But then, I knew what Davey liked too. Smoothing lotion over his cockhead, I fondled and stroked him, cupping his body with mine. And slowly, gently, our hips began to move in unison — back and forth, to and fro, like waves on the ocean.

I left off stroking him long enough to rub his balls and massage between his legs, while holding his shoulder with my other hand. I loved his equipment. I loved how he was made. Davey moaned and reached back with a hand to grab my butt. I leaned forward to kiss his cheek and Davey turned his mouth to mine.

When I resumed stroking him, Davey began the whimpering that always signaled that he was about to cum. I pushed all the way in and held it while I stroked his cock, knowing he liked me to be deep inside him when he came. I moved my hand faster, at just the speed and stroke-length he liked, and when he came, his butt clenched my cock like a vise. He spasmed once, twice, then leaned back against me with a final whimper.

As he finished, and I’d gently stroked the last drop of cum from his cock, Davey reached behind, grabbed my butt again, and pulled me with him as he rolled onto his stomach. He knew that one of my favorite ways to finish off was with him on his stomach and me on top. His butt always felt so damn good under me.

I stayed in him and gently kneaded his shoulders and neck with my hands while I ground my hips into him. He purred like a kitten as I massaged him, and his muscles began to relax under me. Meanwhile, my hips picked up the pace, grinding into him at the end of each thrust. When I came, I pushed in deeply, my cock throbbing until I was dry.

After my orgasm ended, I stayed in him and lazily ground myself on his butt, then gave his legs a squeeze between mine. I kissed behind his ear. “Davey?” I whispered. “Do you ever get bored, you know… with the way we make love?”

He let out a long sigh of contentment. “You’re funny… Mickey. You know what I… like. You always make me feel… good. Real good.” He squeezed his butt on my softening cock and I pulled out of him, letting my cock fall between his legs.

“You sure?” I asked, afraid of how he really felt. I was worried because knowing each other the way we did, our lovemaking had fallen into a comfortable pattern. I didn’t like to think about it, but I was nervous that maybe Geoff had shown Davey a lot more sexual variety.

I massaged his shoulder and nuzzled his hair. “Cause if you ever want to do anything different… you know, anything special – I’ll do it. Anything to take care of you, Davey.”

“OK,” he said, squirming comfortably under me.

I slid down just low enough to plant my lips between his shoulder blades and blow a raspberry against his skin. Davey bucked, and I fell off the bed laughing.

As I lay sprawled out on the floor, his bright blue eyes slowly appeared over the edge of the bed. Without seeing his mouth, I could tell he was smiling. I grinned up at him and put my hands behind my head. “You having fun?” I asked.

Davey bounded over the side of the bed and straddled my waist. “Yes!” he said and bounced his bottom on my belly.

“Whoa,” I said grabbing his waist.

He stopped bouncing and grinned down at me. “Are you happy… Mickey?”

“Davey,” I said, rubbing his legs, “if I got any happier, it’d hurt.”

When breakfast came, Davey and I were wearing two of the thick terry cloth bathrobes supplied with the room. The young room-service waiter smiled warmly, first at me and then at Davey, while I looked at the bill and calculated the twenty percent tip Martha said to add.

“HG?” Davey whispered.

“Oh, yeah,” I said. Then I extended the bill to the waiter, and without intending it, my bathrobe fell open. “Uh, can you tell me how to write down the tip?” I asked.

The room service waiter smiled, first at my open robe, then at the bill.

Over breakfast, I told Davey about an encryption security scheme I’d been thinking about. The visit to NBase had spawned a lot of thinking.

Davey patiently tried to follow as I sketched it all out on paper and walked him through what I’d been thinking.

“Do you understand what I want to do here?” I asked.

He nodded.

“Any ideas?”

He shrugged. “I have to… to think about it,” he said. He stared at the paper. I knew it sometimes took him a day or two, but hoped he’d come up with something. I wasn’t satisfied with what I’d created so far.

I could almost see the gears turning in his head. “Just don’t think too hard,” I said, and mussed his hair.

He grinned, and scooped up another bite of scrambled eggs.

Martha had us at the front gates by the time Disneyland opened. She took us through a VIP entrance. Once in, she handed us each a paper wallet. “There’s two hundred dollars for each of you.”

“Money?” Davey asked.

“Spending money,” she explained. “Now do you boys want me to show you around the park, or shall we meet later?”

“We’ll be OK,” I said, looking past her to the Cinderella Castle in the distance. “We can spend the whole day here?” I asked.

“Sure, if you want? When do you want to meet?”

“Tomorrow,” Davey said.

Martha smiled and tugged the bills down on our two black NBase caps. Davey looked cool as hell in his, the way his pale hair fanned out from under the cap.

“I’ll tell you what,” she said conspiratorially. “A lot of parents just drop kids your age off for the day. They aren’t supposed to, of course, but they do. I can leave you guys and come back around nine tonight. We can meet right here.”

“Goofy Gate B,” said Davey, reading off a nearby sign.

“Goofy Gate B it is,” she said. She handed us each a business card. “Here are my phone numbers if you want me to come earlier or if you need me for anything. Don’t lose the card, and don’t lose your spending money. You boys have fun, and I’ll see you later.”

Davey and I were already looking at the park maps, and headed off to the tram that took us to the main gate.

“The Happiest Place on Earth,” read the sign at the gate. I looked at Davey and thought, _yeah! _

Disneyland had lush, geometric, and finely manicured landscaping, much more formal than was common in Texas. In fact, I had seen great landscaping everywhere we’d been in Southern California, and I noticed that Davey seemed to take an interest in it.

As we made our way through Fantasyland, he stopped next to a bed layered with flowering plants rising back to a well-trimmed hedge. His eye traveled over the various plants.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” I asked.

He nodded. “When we get home… Mickey, I want… I want to fix up… my yard.”

“OK. I’ll help you. And you can help me fix up mine. OK? I mean, it’s not like we have to do other people’s yards anymore.”

He looked up at me and grinned. “Yeah!”

When you’re with your best bud, there’s something special about sitting, sides pressed together, on a rollercoaster like Space Mountain; or together in a submarine underwater; or in a tea-cup, squished to the side.

We ran from ride to ride throughout the morning. While on the Jungle Cruise, moving down what looked like the Congo River, we suddenly realized we were starving. The boat guide kept his eyes on us, smiling every time he caught our eye. Davey leaned toward me. “HG,” we said at exactly the same time and collapsed against each other, laughing.

After the ride we looked for food, and that’s when we saw them; two guys our age with shoulder length hair. The taller one was blond, a lanky sort of guy. The shorter one looked to be almost a head shorter than me, but he fascinated me. Besides having thick sun-streaked brown hair, he had very fine, masculine features and a tight, muscular body, almost like a gymnast’s. I was struck by a brief mental image of that smaller body all folded up and wrapped in mine, with my dick deep in that tight butt. My cock stirred, so I hurriedly banished that thought.

They saw us too, and we began drifting toward each other. “HG?” I asked Davey under my breath.

“Yeah. Maybe,” he said. “And cute.”

I put my arm around Davey’s shoulder and put my mouth to his ear. “Nobody’s as cute as you, Old Man. Especially naked.”

Davey laughed and laced his arm over my shoulder as well so that we walked hip to hip. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the shorter guy smiling at us.

We all stopped at the same water fountain together. As Davey bent to drink, the shorter guy came up beside me and we checked each other out. His eyes were just a little large for his face, and a lustrous brown with gold flecks in the irises. He wore a single diamond stud in his left ear.

Hmmm, I thought, trying to remember the code Knox had told us about. A diamond stud in the left ear was a definite sign.

He grinned.

I grinned back. “Hi!” I said.

“Hi!” he answered. The other boy — the tall, lanky one who was even taller than me — smiled at me, too.

“My name’s Michael,” I said, extending my hand.

The shorter one was closer and took it. “I’m Tyler.”

He smiled and I admired his even, white teeth. I gave Tyler a warm handshake and held it just a little longer than I needed to. His smile spread even wider over his face.

Tyler had a good grip. Up close, I could see his hair was clean and all feathery, perfectly styled, almost like a male model. For his size, Tyler had wide shoulders and narrow hips. His hands were large and his jeans molded tightly over his well-rounded butt and full package.

“This is my friend Davey,” I said as Davey came up beside me. And then I extended my hand to the second guy. He shook it warmly and said, “Blair.” Blair’s hair was more golden blond than Davey’s and not as wispy-fine. Though his features weren’t as handsome as Tyler’s, he had a nice smile, and he was well built. He too, had a diamond stud in his left ear.

“You, ah, from around here?” Blair asked.

“No,” I said. “We’re from San Antonio.”

“Texas, hmmm?” asked Tyler, wiping off his mouth from the water fountain. “Are all Texas guys as hot as you two?”

My eyebrows shot up.

Davey smiled at me and mouthed, “HG.”

I mentally put the gaydar away. We’d hooked up. We all knew it. Tyler grinned and moved closer to me and Blair moved closer to Davey. They were locals and volunteered to be our guides.

First, we looked for food, and found an empty table for four at a Main Street stand that sold different types of gourmet hot dogs. We were busily stuffing our faces when suddenly Davey’s eyes opened wide and he looked at me, surprised. I wondered if Blair had goosed him. But Davey grabbed a couple of napkins and asked if any of us had a pencil.

A tourist lady with a large canvas bag sat behind us, and I asked if she had a pencil or pen that we could borrow. She did.

Quickly, Davey sketched on a napkin. “The encryption key,” he said, shoving the napkin toward me. “How’s this?”

On the napkin he’d drawn a portion of the scheme I’d described over breakfast that morning. However, in the middle, he had added two boxes, each with a ‘128’ written inside. What was significant was how he worked them into the flow and what they implied.

“Damn Davey,” I said thoughtfully. “It might require larger addressing, but it’d sure be bulletproof… and still be fast.”

That’s when I remembered our new friends. I looked up from the napkin to find them both staring at us.

Tyler glanced up at our NBase caps. “Are you guys like… uh, smart, or something?” he asked.

“Or something,” I laughed nervously. Taking a final look at the napkin, I began tearing it into little pieces.

Tyler frowned.

“Look guys,” I quickly said. “It’s no big deal, OK? I mean, we’re just like you guys. We’re just good at some computer stuff.”

They looked at us, skeptically. “They sure don’t look like nerds to me,” Blair said to Tyler.

Maybe we don’t have as much in common with these guys as we hoped, I thought. I finished tearing the napkin and pushed the pieces into a little pile. “Look, you guys don’t have to hang around with us if you don’t want to,” I said, a little annoyed. “Since we’re nerds and all.”

Tyler turned to Blair. “I don’t know,” he said. “Do you think they’ll mind hanging around with a couple of gays?”

“Cute gays,” Davey corrected.

“Cute nerds,” Blair said, smiling at Davey.

“And well-hung,” Tyler pointed out.

“Definitely,” Blair agreed.

My face reddened. “How do you know that?” I asked.

They both gave me a “you’ve-got-to-be-kidding” look.

Tyler turned back to Blair. “They probably have good personalities.”

“Computer geeks? Ya think?” Blair asked.

“Well they really don’t look like geeks,” Tyler said. “One of them looks like what’s-his-name.”

“You mean he looks like…” Davey began, before I firmly clapped my hand over his mouth.

They both laughed as I pulled Davey’s head almost down into my lap, holding my hand firmly over his mouth.

Tyler grinned at me. “Guess you hear that a lot — that you look like Scott Baio.”

I let Davey go. “Only since I got this stupid haircut,” I said with a sigh.

They both studied the cut. Tyler, sitting next to me, reached a hand up either side of my head and smoothed my hair back. When he did, his face came close to mine, and I felt his warm breath. He glanced over my face and then his eyes settled on mine. “Yeah,” he said. “I can see how the haircut would kinda do it.” My heart beat faster.

Davey and Blair watched while Tyler held my gaze. Then Blair turned to Davey and smoothed his hair back just as Tyler had done mine. He looked into Davey’s eyes and shrugged. “I just felt like doin’ it, too.” They both chuckled while Tyler still held me with his eyes, his hands holding back my hair.

His face came even closer and I worried that people would stare. “You’re actually better-lookin’ than that TV guy, you know,” he said quietly. “Thinner face, more elegant features, hotter body, and man, those lips…” Our noses almost touched, and I held my breath.

The lady behind us made a grumbling noise and Tyler let go of my hair. Sitting back up, he gave me a wink. We handed the lady back her pen, then took off in the direction of the Haunted Mansion.

The guys weren’t at all subtle when we hit the rides. They paired us up — me with Tyler and Blair with Davey. We didn’t resist; I enjoyed being with Tyler. He was always smiling, just like Davey… well, maybe more of a grinner. I had never thought much about liking smaller guys, but somehow, I found his size damn hot.

His mouth was inviting to watch, and his leg was firm and warm where it rested against mine. At first, he just let his hand fall on my thigh a few times during the rides. When I didn’t object, he worked up to copping a feel on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Davey and Blair were right in front of us, but it was hard to tell if Blair was giving Davey the same treatment.

When I hit the john, Tyler was right beside me, at the next urinal. He was trying hard to see what I had, so I turned slightly towards him. He smiled and turned towards me. He was semi-hard and looked very well packaged for a little guy. Damn, I thought. It’s weird how Davey likes big muscular guys, and yet I like ’em smaller… well, at least this particular smaller one – Tyler’.

It was late afternoon when Tyler pulled us aside out of foot traffic. “Hey, you guys wanna go get some food? We can pick up burgers and take them back to Blair’s house. He lives close by and his folks are out of town. We can eat… hang around for a bit. And then we can bring you guys back to meet your chaperon tonight by nine.”

I looked at Davey and he nodded encouragingly.

“Sure,” I said.

Tyler led us towards the exit gate that led to the parking lot, and Davey leaned close. “You said this morning… you wanted to try… something different… special,” he whispered in my ear, chuckling.

“I didn’t say I wanted that,” I whispered back. “I said if you wanted it.”

Davey nodded towards Tyler ahead of us and leaned close again. “I think you… want it.”

I swatted his butt.

We were all stamped on the way out. Tyler was parked close to the gate, and we were at Carl Jr’s in no time.

I was in the front seat with Tyler, and turned sideways so I could see Davey and Blair in the back. “Let me pay for it,” I offered. “Davey and I have some extra spending money for today.”

Tyler smiled and patted the inside of my thigh. “Sure, dude. Go for it!” He left his hand on my thigh. I liked Tyler. But it suddenly seemed a real possibility that this could lead to sex. I’d only had sex with Davey since the Geoff thing and only with him and Brandon before that. When I pulled out my money, I nervously shifted my leg from under his hand, wondering what we might have gotten ourselves into.

My pulse was racing, my face was hot, and my cock had been rock-hard for half the afternoon. But coming down to it, I wasn’t sure I wanted to have sex with him. I loved Davey.

But the more I thought about it — friends like Knox and Brandon had told me to give Davey some breathing room. And Davey himself had said he would want sex with other guys. I felt like I had no choice.

We arrived at Blair’s folk’s house, which was a lavish ranch-style estate. Tyler saw my expression and laughed. “Blair’s family’s definitely got it made,” he said. “Wait’ll you see the pool in the back.”

As we ate in Blair’s kitchen, our conversation split into two pairs. Davey and Blair were chatting away when Tyler winked at me.

“C’mon, dude,” Tyler said, nodding with his chin. “I wanna show you something.”

I followed him out of the large kitchen and down a hall to a master bedroom that included a king-sized bed. The whole length of one side of the room was a closet with mirrored doors, while the opposite side of the room had large, glass sliding doors that opened out onto a private garden.

I followed Tyler in. “Cool, huh?” he asked, stepping up beside me.

I nodded. “Yeah. Don’t tell me this is Blair’s room.”

Tyler laughed and put his arm around my waist. “Nah, this is his folk’s room. But Blair and I sometimes get it on in here. We kinda like the mirrors.”

He turned his head toward me and I could feel his eyes on my neck.

“So,” I asked, a little nervously. “Are you and Blair, like, uh… boyfriends?”

He gently pulled me sideways to him and I felt his hardness against the side of my thigh. “More like fuck-buddies.” His hand dropped to my butt. “We get it on with other dudes, too. At least ones that are cool… like you and Davey.”

I looked down at him. His eyes were hungry and he reached up to kiss me. Moving in front of me, he put both arms around the small of my back and pulled me belly to belly with him.

My body began to respond, but I was uneasy. He pulled me harder to him and I could feel my cock harden against his belly. Suddenly, I felt a wave of panic. I needed to see Davey. I just had to see Davey!

I broke away. “Sorry,” I said, and I had trouble catching my breath. “I just… ”

I half-stumbled from the room and headed back to the kitchen. Davey wasn’t there. Where was he? I hurried into the next room, which was the den. There, Davey and Blair were looking out through a sliding glass door onto the back yard. Davey turned to look at me.

“Hi,” I said, trying to regain my composure, “cool house — huh, Davey?” I tried to calm down; to catch my breath. Davey looked at my hands. I looked down to find them shaking and quickly stuffed them into my pockets.

Davey hurried over and put his arms around my shoulders. I shuddered, and he squeezed me tightly. Tyler came into the room, looking perplexed and a bit irritated.

“I’m… I’m really sorry,” I said. “I’m not sure why, but I…” I was taken aback by how I’d reacted, how I felt. I didn’t know what to say.

I looked from Tyler to Blair. Both their faces showed a little alarm, like they were wondering just what kind of kook they’d brought home.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “I’ve just had a lot going on.” There was a sudden catch in my throat. I was so damned embarrassed.

Davey looked at Blair. “Mickey hasn’t been… the same since he got… beat up… real bad.”

They still looked perplexed.

And then I just needed to say it. I just needed to explain. I liked these guys, and I wanted them to like us. They were gay; maybe they could understand. I took a deep breath, and shuddered as I let it out. “I was… sorta… raped,” I said. “By a guy we knew at school. I guess I’m still having a little trouble getting over things.” I could feel my face reddening, and I let my head hang.

Tyler came up and took my hand. His forehead furrowed in concern. “Damn!” he exclaimed. “I’m really sorry, dude. Pretty bad, huh?”

“Sorta,” I said. “But, look — I’m alright. I’ll be fine. I’m not sure what happened just now.” I patted Davey’s arms around my shoulders. “But I feel fine. I just… as long as Davey is around, you know?” And for some reason, I desperately needed Davey with me just then.

Tyler nodded. Blair stepped up beside us and squeezed my shoulder. “Hey, dude,” he said softly. “Ya sure you’re OK?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

Blair nodded towards Tyler. “Tyler gives great massages. I bet he can help you relax and feel good again.”

I glanced at Tyler and he smiled. “I’m good,” he said. “My brother is a masseur at a fancy health club. He taught me. Let me do you — no strings, OK?”

Davey released me and patted my butt. “Do it… Mickey.”

I looked at Tyler’s tight young body. It’d be nice to be rubbed down by him. “OK,” I said, and looked around. “Where?”

“Well, it’s better on a bed than the floor. C’mon.”

The four of us headed back toward Blair’s parents’ room. I took Davey’s hand, feeling like a jerk for getting so worked up, but I still gripped his hand tightly and fought the nervousness in my gut.

While I stood next to the bed, Tyler grabbed a towel from the john and threw it to me. Then he came over and pulled off my NBase cap. “Get undressed, dude. Can’t have clothes in the way.”

While I peeled off my shirt and jeans, Tyler and Blair slid down the bed covers and laid towels down over the bed to protect the sheets. They both looked over my body as I wrapped the towel around my waist and then pulled off my underwear.

“Damn,” Tyler said, approvingly. “You do weights?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Davey and I work out together.”

“Told ya,” snickered Blair.

I grinned. “Me and Davey are on a summer swim team, too.”

“Computer geeks, you’re not,” Tyler said. “Very hot. Okay, assume the position.”

I nodded and lay down on my stomach. Then I watched in the mirrors as Blair left the room and Tyler stripped down to his bikini briefs. He was tanned and tightly built, his leg hairs were all golden from the sun, and veins stood out on his forearms and neck. There was a sharp line down the center of his chest and stomach, and he had some nice definition — nothing as pronounced as Brandon’s, but definitely solid muscle.

He saw me watching him, and smiled.

Blair came back with a bottle of oil and handed it to Tyler. “Davey and I use to give each other rubdowns after running,” I said, to break the silence and ease my nerves.

“I bet you did,” Tyler said, reaching down to rub one of my calves. “I’d give you a rub down any day.”

“Mmmmm,” I murmured at the feel of his strong hands on my legs. We’d been walking around the theme park for most of the day, and I hadn’t realized how tired my legs were.

“Hey,” Blair suggested, “maybe Davey can do me while you do Michael. That way, you can show Davey what to do for Michael back home. OK?”

Tyler and Davey both glanced over at me and I nodded.

“Cool,” Tyler said.

I watched in the mirror as Davey and Blair undressed. I could tell Davey was already semi-hard under his boxers. Blair pulled off his underwear with a flourish, revealing that he was rock-hard and longer than average. He lay down face down beside me on the bed, naked, and gave me a wink as his face settled level with mine.

In the mirror, I saw Tyler look at his and Davey’s briefs. “This is gonna get a little oily,” he warned. “Better finish stripping.” They both pulled off their underwear, and both were hard. Tyler’s cock was as fat as Davey’s and longer. The foreskin was back, but he was definitely uncut.

Other than JO’s with Chase, Brandon was the only guy other than Davey whose cock I’d ever touched. I sure wanted to touch Tyler’s. By now, I was fully aroused and had to straighten my own cock underneath me.

Tyler tugged on my towel and I lifted my hips to let him slide it away. He climbed up to straddle my butt, then sat down so that his loose balls filled the hollow just under my ass and he laid his cock down in my crack. My nervousness began to evaporate. I liked the feel of Tyler on me.

“Of course,” he said, “a professional masseur never gets on the table with the client — well, not unless they’re invited,” he added with a laugh.

Davey climbed up on Blair and Blair sighed. Tyler paused for a moment and poured a little oil into Davey’s hands, and then into his own.

“That’s a cool necklace, Mickey,” Tyler observed, rubbing the oil around in his hands to warm it. “We should take you guys over to the mall. They’ve got some really cool jewelry for guys – necklaces and stuff.”

“I like this one,” I murmured. “It was a special gift.” I looked over at Davey who looked damned hot sitting there with his thick cock lying on Blair’s butt. “And it’s Michael,” I corrected. “Davey’s the only one who calls me Mickey.”

“It’s a rule,” Davey said and grinned at me. He wriggled his eyebrows and rubbed his dick up and down Blair’s crack. In the mirror, I caught Tyler’s eye. He smiled and nodded.

“That’s cool,” Tyler said, placing his hands on my back.

I sighed as Tyler began to work my muscles. But Tyler didn’t just massage; he started in with relaxation techniques. Using a soft and soothing voice, he began to give Blair and me instructions.

He told us to close our eyes and just listen to his voice. And then, using both his voice and his hands, he began to relax us, body part by body part.

He moved his hands to my neck. “OK — now let’s relax your neck. Feel the muscles in your neck. Concentrate on just feeling your neck muscles… feel my hands on your neck muscles… feel the muscles. Now, concentrate on relaxing those muscles. Let it all go. Reeee-laxxxxx. That’s good. Just relax your neck… relax your neck.”

His voice and hands were soothing. I felt all the stress of the last few days — my programming work back in Texas, the negotiations with Chang, my thoughts about Brandon — all begin to slip away. His fingers dug deeper into my muscles.

“That’s good, Michael,” he said. “Now, concentrate on feeling your shoulder muscles…”

Occasionally giving additional instructions to Davey about where and how to massage, Tyler worked his way down my neck and shoulders, and then my right arm, then the left. He worked down my back, butt, thighs, and calves. I lost all track of time. As he finished with my feet, he told me to relax my eyelids and mouth to complete the effect on my whole body.

Then he and Davey let us relax a few moments. I heard a kiss and peeked to see Tyler kissing Davey as they stroked each other at the foot of the bed. I’d gone all soft from being so relaxed, but began to stiffen again. I wanted to touch Tyler’s cock, too.

Tyler gave Davey’s butt a parting rub and then turned back to Blair and me. “OK, guys — roll onto your backs.”

We did, and I looked over to see Blair’s cock long and proud up his belly like mine. Blair reached out and took my hand. Our fingers intertwined.

Tyler and Davey began working back up our bodies starting with our feet. They laboriously worked up our legs and hips, straddling our legs as they worked higher. Tyler had us close our eyes and relax as his fingers danced lightly around my pubes and over my lower belly. He avoided touching my erection directly, but I sucked in my breath as he occasionally let his fingers stray close to the area. I wanted him to touch me there, but kept quiet.

As he moved higher, he used more pressure until he rubbed my pecs with real force. Then he ran his forefingers lightly around my nipples until they became hard and erect. I squirmed with pleasure under him as he rubbed my nipple tips back and forth between his fingers. “That’s one of Blair’s favorites,” he whispered.

He slid forward until our scrotums pressed comfortably together and the underside of his cock rested on the underside of mine. I gasped faintly, at the pleasure of it.

Finally, Tyler’s cock was within reach, and I couldn’t resist — I took hold of it. Even after all the times I’d held Davey’s cock, and Brandon’s, it was still exciting to hold Tyler’s. It was thick and had an upward curve, and it was rock hard. I held his cock against my longer one. He was beautiful, sitting naked on me. Despite his relaxation techniques, my heart began to race.

He smiled down at me when he felt my hand take his cock. “Close your eyes,” he said. “And relax. Take deep breaths, and just feel.”

I smiled. “Oh. I’m definitely feeling.”

“Shush,” he said as he ran his hands onto my shoulders, and then gently rubbed my upper chest. He leaned forward so that his belly pressed our cocks together, and he ran his hands under the back of my head — rubbing, caressing, kneading the muscles.

I could feel his breath on my face and smell its sweetness as Tyler laid his chest down on mine, the light film of oil pressing between our skin. He ran his fingers into my hair and massaged my scalp. I felt his lips touch down softly on mine, and he kissed me gently, letting his lips linger as he worked his fingers deeper.

He rubbed my scalp firmly with both hands, and then sucked in my upper lip, massaging it between his own lips. He did the same with my lower lip. Then he ran his tongue around in a circle over my mouth as he began to grind his pelvis on mine.

I ground back.

Taking his hands from my scalp he ran his arms under my shoulders. His mouth opened wider and his tongue descended into my mouth and we began to grind harder against each other.

Wrapping my arms over his back, I snuck open my eyes. Tyler’s were closed. To the side, I saw Davey and Blair doing the same as us. Tyler moaned and I closed my eyes, sliding my hands down to his butt.

Tyler moved his mouth to my ear. “Let me fuck you,” he whispered.

“Do you have a condom?” I asked.

“No problem.”

Tyler climbed up off me, and left the room, cock wagging. I turned to watch Davey and Blair frotting. They were really getting into it. For a brief moment, I felt a pang of jealousy because frotting was something that both Davey and I loved to do… together.

Blair had pulled his legs up, planting his feet on the bed so he could leverage his hips up to meet Davey’s thrusts. His long legs were muscular and smooth. Around their kissing faces, their hair was mixed all white and gold. Watching Davey making love to Blair wasn’t easy, partly because they looked so hot.

But then Tyler came in, deftly rolling the condom down his dick with one hand while carrying a box of condoms with the other. He stroked himself at the foot of the bed and I felt a drop of precum ooze out of my cock.

I spread my legs and he climbed up on his knees between them. Davey turned to watch as Tyler moved forward.

Reaching into the box, Tyler fished out a condom and tossed it to Davey. Davey knelt up between Blair’s legs and quickly rolled it on. Blair reached over and took my hand again. We looked at each other and he smiled.

His voice seemed loud after all the silence and soft moans. “Davey is one hot dude,” he said grinning.

“Yeah,” I agreed, looking at Davey, who was moving up between Blair’s legs with an intense look. Davey glanced at me and smiled distractedly, then returned his concentration to Blair.

“But you’re damned hot too,” Blair said, throatily.

Tyler pushed my legs up and I turned back to watch. His eyes locked on mine as he found my hole and pushed in. I sucked in my breath. The oil on his hands had done a good job of lubing the condom, and he slid in easily.

He dropped his body down on mine and I would have wrapped my arms over him, but Blair gripped my hand harder as Davey entered him. So our hands stayed linked, and I threw only my free arm over Tyler’s back.

Tyler spread his legs under the back of my thighs to help me keep mine up and wide. He grabbed hold of my shoulders and kissed slowly and thoroughly all over my neck and throat as he began to pump firmly in and out of me.

I was still pretty relaxed from the massage and enjoyed letting him do most of the work. The press of his belly against my cock each time he pulled back from his thrust was pleasant and stimulating. I moved my hand to the small of his back to pull him tighter as I began to press my cock up against him, matching his movements.

Blair’s fingers tightened and danced around in my other hand as Tyler’s leaned forward to kiss. I lifted my head and he stretched forward so we our lips could meet. With the height difference, it was a little bit of a strain and we didn’t hold the kiss long. His lips left mine and he buried his face into my neck and chest, groaning.

Before long, his thrusts became faster, his breathing more forced. Sweat started to mix with oil between our bodies, and I tightened my gut to pull my butt up to meet his every thrust. Suddenly, Tyler pumped frantically and cried out. I clamped down on him with my insides until he slowed.

Then Tyler collapsed onto me and rested while his breathing slowly returned to normal. I gripped Blair’s hand, watching as Davey fucked him with long, firm strokes. Davey’s slim body, bending at the waist each time he thrust his pelvis forward, was all fluid and hot. If he looks that hot fucking me, I thought, I definitely want a mirror back home!

Davey began to whimper, and then he arched his back and froze, buried deep in Blair. His butt and leg muscles tensed as he came, over and over again.

Meanwhile, Tyler pulled out, and slid down my body, taking my painfully hard cock into his mouth, and still, I held Blair’s hand. Davey pulled out of Blair and slid down his body just as Tyler had mine. I watched Blair’s eyes momentarily close as Davey’s mouth descended on his cock.

Then Blair looked at me, his eyes seeking mine, and we slid closer until we could press our lips together. His mouth was warm. It was funny, but I recognized Davey’s taste in his mouth.

Tyler climbed up against me on my other side. I looked back at him, and found him holding a condom in front of my face. “Your turn, dude,” he said, smiling quietly.

I took the condom and rolled it on while Tyler got onto his back and spread his legs invitingly. Crawling up between them, I held them high with a hand to the back of each of his thighs and found his entrance with my cock. With a small grunt, I pushed in slowly.

His face grimaced momentarily, and then his eyes opened and he smiled at me. He moved his hips in little circles as I pushed in, sliding himself down onto me. When I was all the way in, Tyler made the circles bigger, and it felt great.

I grabbed him by the hips and rose up on my knees, holding his bottom against me and grinding into him so that his butt stretched the skin of my cock back tightly. Tyler smiled and put his hands behind his head, looking almost relaxed. But then his smile turned sassy and he rolled his hips with me, matching the timing of my thrusts.

I watched the play of his muscles working in his stomach and torso; he was doing me as much as I was doing him.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, grinning. “Fuck me, Texas boy! Let me feel that big dick deep in my hot hole… that’s right. Let me feel that big cock sliding in.”

It almost threw me. Davey and I never talked like that while making love. It didn’t particularly turn me on, but Tyler seemed to enjoy it, and it didn’t turn me off. He watched my eyes while he continued to pour out a stream of verbal encouragement. I couldn’t help smiling; it was almost funny. When he saw the smile, Tyler laughed and held up his arms, open and inviting. I lay down between them and tucked his smaller body in mine. Because of our height difference, I looked directly down into his face and liked the fit.

He took my head into his hands, running his fingers into my hair and pulled my face to his. He was hot and evidently liked getting fucked. His kissing grew wilder, more insistent. Inside my mouth, his tongue was rough on mine. The action was almost hotter at our faces than it was at his butt. We were both moaners.

Then I felt a hand on my butt and looked in the mirror to see Davey on his side watching as Blair positioned himself behind me. Blair rolled on a condom and then moved forward on his knees. I paused for a moment as he held my hips tightly. He looked up at me in the mirror, expectantly, and I nodded. He placed his cock at my hole and tentatively pushed in.

Tyler and I watched in the mirror as Blair settled onto me and kissed the back of my neck, and then as Blair and I began a tandem thrusting. I turned away from watching the mirror to kiss Tyler, whose hungry mouth opened immediately to mine and whose dick had grown hard again beneath me.

It was a pleasurable cocoon — Tyler’s small body wrapped in mine and Blair’s lanky body warm against my back. It was all muscle and heat and pleasure. I supported some of Blair’s weight and Tyler writhed under me, driving himself onto my cock while he kissed me insatiably.

I could barely breathe. “Oh… wow!” I managed to gasp at one point. And I caught Davey watching the three of us with a frown. He glanced at me and clearly looked annoyed.

No wonder, I thought. Davey’s being left out. I looked down at Tyler’s glazed eyes. “No one’s taking care of Davey,” I said, and then caught Davey’s eye. “I’ll suck you, Old Man. Come over here.”

He just shook his head, but stroked himself. His gaze traveled down to where Blair was pumping in and out of me. He still frowned, but his eyes were glued to our joining.

How Davey felt would have worried me more, but the feelings were too intense to ignore. I put my mouth back onto Tyler’s and wrapped his writhing body more tightly in my arms. His butt was doing amazing things to my cock, even as Blair’s cock found all the right spots inside my own ass. I barely had to move between their two bodies.

And suddenly I was almost there. “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah!” were the only words my mind could put together.

Realizing I was close, Tyler went crazy under me. He grabbed my back, and I could feel his fingernails digging in as he literally pumped his butt with me. Blair grunted and sped up his thrusts. The intensity of the double assault was incredible. I cried out as my orgasm began, and continued to cry out as my orgasm lasted much longer than normal — the pressure of the condom over my cock slowing the outflow of a particularly heavy ejaculation.

When I was finally done, I was completely exhausted, dripping in sweat. Tyler pulled my head back down and held me in a kiss while he rubbed his cock up against my belly.

Without missing a beat, Blair got up on his feet so that he was squatting behind me rather than kneeling, and he grabbed my shoulders as he pumped his hips. I broke from kissing Tyler long enough to see Davey frowning at me — frowning, even though he was still stroking. When I caught his eye, he got up from the bed and left.

Was he mad? Was he jealous? I thought he liked messing around!

And then Blair started coming, and my cock pounded Tyler’s hole because of all the bouncing. Blair let out a cry and banged my butt hard as he came.

Tyler’s rubbing against my belly became frantic. He whimpered, and I felt his cum splatter against my stomach.

The two of them slowed, and we collapsed into a panting, sweaty pile of three. I watched the flush begin to fade from Tyler’s face. His eyes opened and saw mine, and he pulled my head down so that his lips were at my ear.

“Feel better now?” he asked in a whisper. Then he kissed my cheek.

I nodded, smiling, dazed.

He swallowed hard. “Damn, Michael,” he said, taking a deep breath. “You Texas boys are really somethin’!”

Blair sighed contentedly and laid his head on the back of my neck. “Thanks, dude. That was… great.”

“Yeah, very hot,” I agreed. “Of course, you guys did all the work.” I grinned down at Tyler and felt my softening cock slip out of him. “Thanks,” I said.

But now I wanted out from between them — I was worried about Davey. As soon as we untangled and cleaned up the mess, I looked for him.

He was standing by the glass door in the den, in his underwear, looking outside as lights were coming on at distant houses down the hill.

I came up beside him, still naked, and let our shoulders touch. “You mad at me, Old Man?” I asked, concerned.

He shrugged.

I put my arm over his shoulder but he pulled away from me.

“Davey, please,” I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

He stood stiffly.

I put my mouth close behind his ear. “Old Man,” I said softly. “You know I love you. No one else.”

Davey turned to me and put his forehead to mine. He put his arms loosely around my shoulders and I put my hands on his hips. We stood that way for a moment, and then Davey kissed me and melted into my arms, burying his face into the side of my neck.

I hugged him hard and rocked him.

“Geez,” I heard Tyler say from behind us. “You guys really are lovers.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly, rubbing my cheek on Davey’s hair. “Always.”

Tyler came up beside us. He reached out and touched my arm. I glanced at him and his look was all soft and tender. He smiled, “Damn,” he said very quietly. “You guys are sorta… sorta beautiful, you know?”

I smiled back and laid the side of my head on the top of Davey’s. Tyler kissed my shoulder. “I’ll go and finish getting dressed with Blair,” he said. “You guys need to take a shower and get dressed, so we can get you back to Disneyland.”

When he was gone, I rubbed the top of Davey’s head with the side of mine. “You know how Martha said Thursday was open for us to do whatever we wanted to do?”

Davey nodded.

“Well, I’m certainly not nervous with these guys anymore,” I said, chuckling. “I was thinking about seeing if she’d let us just hang with them some more — get Tyler and Blair to show us around.”

He started to object, but I shushed him.

“I’m not saying we have sex with them again,” I said in a low voice. “Not if you don’t want to. But it might be more fun with them than with Martha taking us around.”

Davey pulled my body tighter to his.

“Of course,” I said, “You and me can just hang at the hotel pool if you want.”

“It’s OK to ask them,” Davey mumbled into my neck. “But you… stay with Blair… not Tyler.”

I chuckled. “Are you jealous, you doofus?”

He pressed his face into my neck.

I had to laugh. “I got a little jealous too, watching you with Blair.”

“Really?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah, really.” I said into his hair. “You two looked hot as hell. But you don’t need to worry about me, Old Man. I’m not going to fall in love with someone just because I had sex with them.”

As soon as I said that, I was struck by two thoughts. My first thought was that I never expected to sound like I was parroting Chase. The second was that I realized that maybe I just might have that tendency — to fall in love with whomever I had sex with. I liked Tyler. And I really liked sex with him.

Partly to reassure myself, I repeated. “I’m not — I’m really not — going to fall in love with anyone else. Not when I have you.”

Davey leaned back in my arms and looked sadly into my eyes. “Mickey,” he said softly, “they fall in love… with you. Tyler… likes you.”

I smiled. “I sure hope so, after what we just did together — I think Blair likes you too.”

Davey frowned. “But they both made love to you. Blair wanted you.”

“Blair wanted a butt, Davey, and mine was already moving. Besides, he looked real happy when you were doing him,” I said. I didn’t tell Davey that I had no idea why Blair fucked me instead of going for Davey, but I sure didn’t think it was because he wanted me more.

I took Davey by the shoulders. “You don’t ever need to be jealous, Old Man — I love you so much.” Then I lowered my voice. “No one else would ever stand a chance.”

After we showered and dressed, I waited until we were all back in the car to ask. “So, uh, Tyler… are you and Blair busy tomorrow?”

They looked at each other and shrugged. “No,” Tyler said. “We’re just hanging out.”

“Davey and I have a free day. Care to show us around Southern California?”

Both of them grinned. “We’d be glad to show you parts of Southern California,” Tyler said, and wriggled his eyebrows at me.

Later that night, before we fell asleep back in our hotel room, Davey wrapped an arm and leg over me and nuzzled into my neck. “I’m sorry,” he said, “that I got… jealous today.”

I squeezed him. “Me too,” I said. “And I’m sorry that I got all stupid today at Blair’s house. You know… freaking out without you.”

He kissed my neck and snuggled close to me. “You need to… forget what… Geoff did to you. I’ll help. I promise.” He kissed my neck again.

I didn’t tell him that it wasn’t just remembering what Geoff did to me that suddenly made me so nervous. Even more, it was remembering what it was like to lose Davey. A chill momentarily came over me.

Davey squeezed me with both his arm and his leg, gave me a final kiss, and snuggled in for the night.

The next morning, Martha was not exactly happy. “I’m supposed to chaperon you guys,” she said, calling from her room. “I probably shouldn’t have even left you on your own at Disneyland.”

“We’ll be fine — I promise,” I said, trying to reassure her.

“No,” she insisted, and I could almost see her shaking her head. “Dr. Chang would have my head. Your friends can come along, but I drive.”

“Alright,” I acquiesced. “We’ll come get you when they’re here.”

Tyler and Blair knocked on our hotel room door while Davey was still dressing after his shower. Both of them gave me a huge kiss and sandwiched my body between them with morning hugs.

“Damn,” I said, laughing. “You California Dudes sure are horny!” Turning between them, I draped an arm over each of their shoulders. “That reminds me, guys — yesterday, we sort of left Davey out of the fun at the end there. I really wasn’t thinking… it wasn’t nice to Davey, you know?”

Blair smiled apologetically. “Sorry, Michael. I got carried away watchin’ you while you were ridin’ Ty here to the moon. You look damn hot when you’re fuckin’, dude – great butt.”

Tyler patted my back. “We promise,” he said with a grin. “We’ll take good care of Davey today… Michael”. Then he winked. “And we’re gonna take good care of you, too.”

Tyler and Blair were polite to Martha, though clearly her presence changed what they had planned. As we walked out to Martha’s Impala, the two of them discussed where we should go for the day.

“You take the front seat, Michael,” Blair said, then he winked and added in a low voice, “and we’ll take care of Davey in the back seat.”

Surprisingly, they instructed Martha to take us to a mall in nearby Downey. And I did ride in the front with Martha, quickly deciding that my job was to distract her from all the laughter in the back seat. Martha couldn’t see, but there were hands all over Davey’s thighs and crotch. Davey had to hold his hands over his belt to keep them from undoing his pants.

At the mall, Martha agreed to leave us on our own as long as we met back at the food court at twelve-thirty for lunch. After Martha departed, Tyler explained that a lot of gay teens cruised this mall. So Davey and I let them in on our ‘HG’ code.

Tyler shrugged. “Normally, we just say, ‘he’s one,’ or ‘think he is?’ Ya know… that kinda thing. We always know what the other guy means.”

As we walked through the mall, it was obvious that Tyler thought every guy we ran into was — gay, that is. I had to admit, I felt like a lot of men and boys were looking us over. I wonder if I’ve missed noticing this in the malls back home, I mused. I was going to be looking at malls in a whole new light.

It was a cool place. There were a lot of interesting stores, but we wound up hitting mainly clothing stores. Tyler had us buy matching black silk boxers, “to try on later together”, along with towel wraps — basically like a towel, only with snaps so you could wrap it around your waist easily. Seemed silly to me, but sexy.

And then we came upon the ear-piercing booth.

“You guys can’t go back without a diamond stud,” Tyler insisted.

Davey and I looked doubtfully at each other. “Do straight guys wear them much out here?” I asked.

“Sure,” Tyler said and Blair nodded in agreement. “Course, sometimes they wear them in their right ear, but you guys want your left ear pierced.”

I laughed when I realized that both Davey and I were rubbing our left earlobes.

“A left-ear earring doesn’t always mean you’re gay,” Tyler continued, “but other gays will turn on their gaydar for you.”

“Does it hurt… much?” Davey asked, looking apprehensively at the piercing apparatus.

“No,” Blair said, putting a reassuring arm around Davey’s shoulder. “It’s just a pin prick.”

Davey and I looked at each other. I tried to picture him with an ear stud, and found a smile spreading across my face. A smile spread across his as he looked at my ear.

“What the hell,” I said, and we stepped up to the booth.

When Martha saw us an hour later, her mouth dropped. “Oh, no! You didn’t!”

“Don’t you like them?” I asked, only half-teasing. I sort of liked the effect.

“Dr. Chang is going to have my head for sure,” she groaned. “He’s just going to shoot me. And your mothers will kill all of us.”

“Let us worry about our moms,” I assured her. “And we aren’t going to see Dr. Chang again before we leave, right?”

She thought about that. “You’re right.” Then she frowned. “I just hope your moms don’t call Dr. Chang and chew him out. If they do, I’ll lose my job!” She was going white.

“Our moms won’t call,” I promised, patting her arm and hoped I was right.

Martha was quiet while we ate lunch at the food court. Davey sat to my left, studying me. Then he leaned close. “You don’t look like Chachi… any more now… with the ear stud,” he said quietly.

I looked at him suspiciously.

He smiled. “You look like a girl.”

Tyler, sitting on my right, heard and sprayed the soda he was drinking across the table. I didn’t think it was that funny and frowned at him.

Tyler grinned sheepishly. “He’s right,” he said. “You sorta do.”

Making sure that Martha couldn’t see, I moved Tyler’s hand under the table to my crotch. “Are you sure,” I asked, grinning.

“Ah… definitely not a girl,” Tyler smiled, giving me a squeeze.

Martha looked at me suspiciously from across the table, so I moved Tyler’s hand back.

After lunch, Tyler had Martha give us a quick tour of LA, including a drive through Beverly Hills and on to the legendary Sunset Strip. While I gawked at the billboards and all the fancy stores, the three of them kept clowning around in the back seat. I thought Blair was going to go down on Davey at one point. I kinda wished I was sitting back there with them.

Since Tyler and Blair had brought their swimsuits, we asked Martha to take us back to the hotel and the four of us hit the pool late in the afternoon. I told Martha we’d get our own supper there at the hotel, and would see her in the morning. She seemed a bit reluctant to leave us, but after she watched us at the pool for a while, she seemed to relax and disappeared.

There weren’t many people in the pool. A couple of guys in their twenties looked hot, but seemed only friendly — no gay vibes.

We played around for an hour or so, horse fighting, wrestling, getting each other hard underwater, ordering sodas at the pool, and feeling like the idle rich.

Around dusk, a mom with a couple of little kids took over the shallow end steps and the four of us moved farther down the pool, to get a little more privacy. As the water came up to our necks on the rest of us, it was getting above Tyler’s head. He climbed onto Davey’s back, wrapping his legs around Davey’s waist and put his arms over his shoulders. Davey grabbed Tyler’s legs and pulled him tighter and we all huddled toward the side of the pool.

“You guys wanna play hooky and hit a gay nightclub tonight? Tyler asked, his head pressed beside Davey’s.

“We don’t have any fake ID,” I said.

Tyler laughed. “They couldn’t make it fake enough for you, Chachi.”

Davey giggled and I splashed them both.

“Seriously, dude,” Tyler said. “Bodz is a non-alcohol nightclub in West Hollywood. It’s for teenagers — mostly guys. Hot guys. A little music, a little dancing…” He humped Davey’s back, suggestively.

Davey smiled. “Let’s do it, Mickey,” he said.

I wasn’t sure. Davey didn’t always know what he was getting us into. But it did sound like an adventure. “OK,” I agreed.

And so we headed back to the room with pool towels wrapped around our waists. When I turned from closing the door, Blair was right there and pushed me back against the door. He pressed his mouth to mine and pulled away my towel. Then he began pushing down my speedos.

There was a loud crack and Blair’s mouth bumped against mine as he jumped. Behind him, Tyler stood naked, twirling his towel for another pop. “Behave yourself, dude,” he admonished with a grin. “You’ll spoil your appetite.”

Blair stepped back, pulled off his towel and they squared off. I dodged around to where Davey stood naked, drying between his legs with his towel. I took my towel and dried Davey’s back and butt.

While Tyler and Blair feinted and popped at each other, I pushed down my suit with one hand and continued to dry Davey off with the other. It was always hard to resist pressing my crotch against Davey’s butt and I gave into the temptation. Davey turned, smiling, and we kissed. Then we wrapped our arms around each other. There was a sudden crack and my butt felt like I’d been stabbed. Wheeling on Tyler, I grabbed up my towel.

“You should know better than to ever snap a competitive swimmer,” I warned, taking a menacing step forward, with Davey by my side.

In seconds, the battle was won. Sheepishly, Tyler and Blair nursed the red spots on their legs and butts and finished dressing. Since Davey and I weren’t sure what to wear, they volunteered to help us choose clothes. I thought they’d pick dressy stuff. Instead, they dressed us in casual pants and snug t-shirts.

“You guys are definitely gonna be hot tonight,” Tyler said encouragingly, while fingering my neck chain.

In the parking lot, Tyler took my hand and Blair took Davey’s as we walked to the car. “There’s gonna be a lotta guys there tonight,” Tyler said as he held the door open for me. “But you two just remember that you’re our dates.”

From the outside, Bodz looked like a large, metal barn — one with a heartbeat so loud, we could feel it pulsing from the parking lot. At the door, Tyler and Blair insisted on paying the cover charge for all of us, reminding us that we were their dates. Inside, the main floor was open all the way to the back. It was hard to tell how high the ceiling was, because it was painted black, and brilliantly colored laser lights darted from side to side, while mirror balls spun momentary flashes around the room.

The whole place throbbed with music and an odor of acrid smoke tinged the air. Great looking guys our age and older, tall and short, sat at tables or stood along the wall and at the soda fountain at the rear. The dance floor teamed with bodies, all writhing to the beat. Several hot guys had their shirts off.

Davey leaned close to me and said in awe, “HG!”

I leaned back toward him, and also a bit in awe, said, “H-H-H-H-H…”

It was a different world – so many gay kids in one place and at one time. I was surprised to see a few women there, too.

“Girls?” I asked Blair.

He shrugged. “It’s West Hollywood,” he explained, shouting over the din. “Anything goes.”

Davey took my hand and stayed close as we followed Tyler and Blair. They found us a table in a back corner. Davey held on to my hand as we sat down. Faces from around the room peered at us.

I leaned close to Tyler and yelled over the music. “It feels like everyone is staring at us.”

He laughed and nodded. “Fresh meat — you’re new here.”

Davey scooted over, almost into my lap. It was all a bit overwhelming for two boys from San Antonio who’d barely even been to a dance party before.

Blair grabbed Davey’s other hand. “C’mon. Let’s dance,” he yelled.

Davey shook his head and said something to Blair I couldn’t hear. Then he turned to me. “It’s real dancing… Mickey. I want to dance… with you.”

I grinned and squeezed his hand. We got up and headed for the dance floor, pressing ourselves together as we walked, a little intimidated. The whole building pounded with the beat of “Born to Be Alive,” and I felt my pulse quicken to the beat.

Once out there, Davey and I were a little slow to get going. But we watched the other dancers and began to imitate them. We moved closer together and I put my hands on his hips. He put his hands on mine, we pulled our crotches together, and began moving our hips in a circular rhythm.

Our eyes were on our middles until we got going, and then Davey looked up at me and smiled. Our movements became hotter, more fluid, more sensuous. Maybe it was all the running and swimming that enabled our bodies to respond so well, but soon, we were drawing the attention of other dancers.

I began to feel more relaxed and I could tell that Davey was too. “You feel ‘born to be alive’ to me,” I said loudly to him.

“Born to be a-live!” he sang.

We laughed together. Our faces drew closer as we danced, and our crotches hardened as they bumped and ground together. I saw another couple of dancers kiss, and moved my arms to Davey’s shoulders. I kissed him while our tightly joined hips made circles together. From close by, I heard someone cheer and wondered if it was for our kiss.

“Born to Be Alive” began to fade in the distance as a slower number began, and several couples embraced to dance more closely. We put our arms around each other and eased our bodies together. I felt his breath on my neck and the press of his cheek to mine. I could smell his hair, and felt his cock press against my own. I loved him with my body, moving to the music, and he loved me with his.

When the music paused, we kissed and put our foreheads together. And then Tyler was at our side, applauding. A couple of others joined in. I felt my face redden with embarrassment.

“Have you cum in your pants yet, guys?” he asked. “‘Cause I think you’ve made almost everybody else cum in theirs.”

“Hot, Dudes!” added Blair, who suddenly appeared alongside him.

The music began pounding again, and partly from the press of the crowd, partly because it seemed the thing to do, the four of us moved close to dance together. It was almost a four-way, standing frott, the way we danced. Blair was content to press his crotch to my butt for an entire tune. At another point, Tyler backed up to me. I reached around and put my hands flat on his tight belly, one below the belt, one above, and I felt his body writhe under my hands while his butt made me incredibly hard.

When we finally took a break and returned to a table, several of their friends stopped by, showing obvious interest in Davey and me. But then a newcomer arrived.

Even over the music and the crowd, his high voice carried from the door. “Oh gawd!” was what I made out first. Heads turned, and bodies parted like the sea before him as Jake headed toward us.

“Oh, no,” I thought I heard Tyler say. He looked at Blair. “It’s Jake,” they said simultaneously. Then Tyler yelled in my direction. “I hope you’re ready for the queen of West Hollywood.”

And then he stood in front of us, an average height, but nicely built Hispanic teen in a skin-tight, light blue tank top. Around his neck was a thin leather band from which a small medallion hung. I would have said his face was pretty, except that it was far more interesting than that. His eyes were decorated with mascara and danced mischievously, there were flecks of glitter on his cheeks, and his smile was more like a smirk, as if he already knew everything about everybody.

“Hi, Tyler!” he said in a honeyed voice, loud enough for all of West LA to hear. And then he looked at me. “Whoa, honey! I heard you robbed the cradle, but damn! What cradle did you rob? He’s beauuuutiful!”

I was ready to crawl under the table, but he’d turned to Davey. “Omigod! There’s two of them! Oh damn, he’s beautiful, too!”

“They’re sixteen, Jake,” Tyler yelled back angrily. “I didn’t rob any cradle.”

Jake came around the table, grabbing a chair on the way, and sat down between Davey and me. He held out his hand to me. “I’m Jake, and whatever your name is baby, I’m callin’ you mine.”

“Michael,” I said, laughing. “And this is my boyfriend, Davey,” making a point to emphasize that we were attached.

“Hi Michael,” he said in a honeyed voice. Then he shook Davey’s hand. “Davey, I just love three-ways… don’t you?”

Davey half-smiled, not sure what to make of Jake.

Jake turned back to me, “Did Tyler tell you I’m the best fuck on the West Coast? Probably not… cause he wants to keep you for himself!” He put his arm around my shoulder. “He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Now me, honey — I can really show ya….”

“Dammit, Jake,” Tyler yelled from my other side. “Get lost if you’re gonna be an asshole.”

Jake pushed out his bottom lip and grabbed my hand. “Come on, lover. Let’s dance.”

“I’m with him,” I said, nodding to Davey. “We’re together. Sorry.”

Jake grabbed Davey’s hand, too. He pulled us both up to our feet and led us out to the dance floor. Once there, he put his hands behind his head and began moving his hips more hotly than I’d ever seen a girl do.

“C’mon,” he said. “Shake that thang!”

I looked at Davey and smiled. We shrugged at the same time and began to dance.

“C’mon, baby!” he begged me. “You can do better than that,” he yelled to Davey.

Davey giggled, then made a couple of butt-wagging turns.

“There you go!” Jake squealed. “Now you’re gettin’ it!”

He choreographed us. First, Jake backed in to me, then he backed into Davey, then he humped my hip, then he had Davey hump my hip while he humped Davey’s butt. When he had Davey behind me, synchronizing his crotch with my butt, Jake came around in front of me. I put my arms around him and he put his arms around my neck, leaned back in my arms, and ground his full package against mine. He grinned at me seductively, and then made an “O” of his mouth.

I had to laugh, even though he was making me hard as hell again.

Tyler and Blair joined us and soon we were all moving together. The tunes played on for a good twenty minutes.

After awhile, there were all sorts of guys rubbing against me, and Davey, too. It was hot, literally, and I began to feel tired and uncomfortable. I grabbed Davey and we headed back to look for a table.

“Party poopers!” called Jake from behind him.

We threaded our way through the crowd and made it to one of the outside walls. There was still no table in sight. Tyler came up beside me. “Upstairs,” he said, pointing up.

Blair came along and we followed Tyler up a staircase at the back of the room. The second floor had a snack bar and more tables on a mezzanine that looked down on the dance floor below. In a dark back corner was a smaller dance floor, where a few couples danced more intimately. It was quieter up here, though the floor still throbbed with the beat from below.

We found a small table. Davey sat again on my right, Tyler to my left.

“Sorry about Jake,” Tyler said. “He comes on kinda strong sometimes, but he’s a decent guy.”

“That’s OK,” I said. “I sorta liked him.”

Davey turned to talk to Blair, and Tyler slipped his hand under the table and grabbed the inside of my thigh. He leaned close.

“You and Davey are hot dancers,” he said and squeezed my leg.

I grinned. “That’s funny, because we’ve hardly ever danced before.”

Tyler leaned his chin on the palm of his other hand and stared into my eyes. “That’s amazing,” he said. You must be naturals.”

“There you are!” Jake’s voice came loudly from behind. “We were just getting started!” He came around the table and sat opposite me. As he set his drink on the table, he made a point of looking under it. Tyler pulled his hand back from my leg and Jake grinned.

“So where you boys from, Michael?” Jake asked, leaning forward on his elbows, and smiling warmly.

“San Antonio,” I said.

“Texas?” Jake asked, his mouth dropping. “No!”

I nodded.

“Gawd! I’m from San Antonio! My family moved here two years ago.” He reached across the table and took my hand. “Tell me what’s changed,” he said, and then looked down at my hand. “Mmmm, nice hand! Strong.” He squeezed my hand in both of his. “I love LA, but I miss my San Antonio. My grandparents and all my cousins are back there. Where do you guys live?”

“Down by Trinity,” I said.

“Ooooh, in those fancy houses?” he asked, rubbing my hand between his.

“No — we’re sort of on the poor side of Trinity,” I said, grinning and tried to pull my hand back.

He laughed and held my hand tighter. “One of my best friends lived somewhere in that area. He moved out here last year. In fact,” he said, looking around, “he’s supposed to be here tonight. We can have a San Antonio table. Sing San Antonio Rose.”

Tyler pushed his chair back and squeezed my forearm. “I’m gonna get something to drink. You want a Coke or something?”

I freed my hand from Jake’s and looked at my watch. “I think we ought to head back pretty soon. Davey and I have a flight in the morning and we’re still on Central time.”

“Oh no,” Jake said from across the table. “You gotta stay long enough to meet my friend. He misses San Antonio, too.” Then Jake leaned closer. “He’s really cute. He’s a hunky redhead.”

Alarms went off in my head. “Redhead?” I asked, disbelieving.

Davey broke off talking with Blair and turned to listen.

Jake nodded. “Luscious, dark red. Built like a brick shithouse. And he’s got the sexiest name — Brandon Fox.”

My mouth dropped and I tuned to look at Davey. His eyes widened in disbelief.

Jake caught our looks, and he gasped. “My Gawd! Michael… Wait are you the Michael? Dude! Are you the one who blew him off and broke that precious guy’s heart?”

I waved my hand defensively. “I didn’t blow him off,” I insisted. “It’s not like that.” I looked at Tyler, whose expression changed slightly. “It wasn’t like that at all.”

“You just _can’t _leave now, honey,” Jake insisted. “Does Brandon know you’re here tonight?”

Davey frowned at me, and I looked at him helplessly. “No, Davey! Honest — I had nothing to do with this!” I turned back to Jake. “We didn’t even know we were coming here till this afternoon.”

Davey’s frown did not go away.

“You didn’t even call to meet him?” cried Jake. “When you’re here all the way from San Antonio? And people tell me I’m a bitch – you’re one cold motherfucker.”

“No, no.” I protested. “I didn’t get a chance to call today… Look, I talked to Brandon before we came out here and we both agreed we wouldn’t see each other.”

Davey’s face softened as he saw I was telling the truth, and he wrapped my arm possessively in both of his. Jake didn’t miss the gesture. He looked at Davey and nodded with a sly smile, as if he understood everything.

Tyler shook his head. “You sure have an interesting life,” he said.

Jake took my hand again, only this time there was no smile on his face, and the campy tone of his voice disappeared. “Michael, it’d break Brandon’s heart if you were here and didn’t at least say hi. He may already be downstairs. Can’t you wait? Let me see if I can find him, OK?”

I looked at Davey and he leaned forward to put his cheek against mine. “It’s OK,” he said quietly.

I nodded at Jake.

“Just give me a sec,” Jake said, getting up from the table.

I didn’t know whether to hope Brandon would show up or not. “Davey,” I said. “We don’t have to stay.”

He shook his head and repeated. “It’s OK.”

We sat quietly, each nursing our sodas, and tried to enjoy the music.

Several minutes later, Tyler leaned back in his chair. “Jake probably got sidetracked and is dancing with ten guys at once by now,” he said. “You wanna split?”

“Nope,” Blair said, looking past Tyler’s shoulder. “Here he is.”

We all turned to look. Walking towards us with Jake was Brandon.

I stood up. So did Davey.

The closer Brandon got, the angrier he looked. Davey stepped next to me and protectively put his arm around my waist.

Brandon stopped in front of us, his fists balled up. For a moment, I didn’t know whether he was going to hug me or hit me. I don’t think he knew either.

“No time to see me because of business, huh?” His mouth began to twist and his eyes started to fill with tears. “And which one of these fuck-ups is your ‘chaperon’?”

“C’mon Brandon,” I said, reaching for his shoulder. He shoved my hand away.

“Look,” I said, finally becoming annoyed at being the ‘bad guy’ in all of this. “I’m sorry! I didn’t even know we were coming here ’till the last minute. And, we snuck away from our chaperon.”

“Not even a phone call,” he said. A tear ran down his cheek. “Fuck you, Bent,” he yelled, and turning on his heel, he walked away.

I watched him leave and sensed Davey watching me, so I tried to hide my hurt and disappointment. But then Davey surprised me. He grabbed me by the arm and turned me to face him. He looked serious. “Wait,” he said, and then chased after Brandon who was descending the stairs.

Stunned, I took a step forward. Jake caught me by the shoulder.

“Don’t,” he said.

“But Davey…”

“Relax, Michael,” he said. “I think Davey’s going to speak up for you. Let them work it out.”

He sat me back down, but I kept watching the stairs. Some night this is turning out to be, I thought. Jake slid a drink over. I was grateful for anything wet by this point. It was Coke, watered-down by melted ice, but drinkable.

There was no sign of either Brandon, or Davey at the stairs.

“You alright?” Tyler asked, concerned.

I shrugged.

“Give ’em another minute,” Jake said. “From what Brandon told me, you guys were…”

“Yeah?” I said, distracted.

Jake scooted closer to me in Davey’s chair. “Brandon’s an amazing dude,” he said, as he too, turned to watch the stairs.

“So is Davey,” I said.

Jake put his hand on my shoulder and rubbed. “Brandon thinks you are, too.”

“Thanks, Jake,” I said with a grateful smile.

“They’ll work it out,” Jake said. “You’ll see.”

Tyler patted my other shoulder. “Wanna dance? Take your mind off ’em till they come back”

I shook my head and watched the stairs, wondering what was taking so long.

“I will,” Blair said from behind us, and the two of them left.

Jake sat with me a moment, but I wasn’t good company. “I’m gonna go teach those two how a gay boy dances, honey,” he said, all campy again. “I’ll be back.” And he headed back toward the dance floor.

I couldn’t stand it. After a moment, I went to the stairs and walked down. I searched the entire first floor, including the johns and still couldn’t find Davey or Brandon. I finally went out to the parking lot, and that’s where I found them. They were leaning back against a car, talking. Just talking.

I debated going out to them, but in the end, I returned to our table upstairs and waited.

Jake saw me and came over. “Did you find them?”

I nodded.

“I knew that’s where you went. Everything cool?”

I shrugged.

But then he smiled and looked past me towards the stairs. “Yeah,” he said. “I think so.”

I turned to look. Walking towards us was Brandon — arm-in-arm, with Davey! And they were smiling!

As they came close, Davey stepped next to me again and put his arm around my waist, possessively.

Brandon stopped in front of me and we were suddenly back to where we’d been a half-hour before. Only this time, Brandon was smiling. He glanced at Davey. “We’re sorta workin’ things out now,” he said. “We’re cool — right, Davey?”

I glanced at Davey, too, and he gave me a reassuring smile.

When I turned back to Brandon, he grinned as he looked me up and down. “Damn, it’s good to see you,” he said, and looking at Davey, “Both of you.”

Davey pulled me tighter to his side, which only made it easier for Brandon to hug us both at one time. It wasn’t the kind of hug I wanted to give Brandon. And Davey was pretty rigid.

Brandon stepped back and looked at the two of us keeping an arm on each of our shoulders. He shook his head, looking for words. “Damn!” was all he said. He turned to Davey. “OK to give him a real hug?”

Davey nodded.

Brandon took me into his arms. “I have permission,” he said, grinning, and we hugged each other hard. Behind me Jake clapped his hands in approval, and Brandon swung me back and forth in his embrace. “Damn, I’ve missed ya, Bent,” he whispered in my ear.

“I’m sorry, Bran. Everything happened so fast since we got here, and, well… oh, hell, Bran… I’ve missed you so much, too!”

Tears streamed unexpectedly down my face. I hoped Davey wouldn’t be mad. I was just so glad to be in Brandon’s arms.

When Davey did see my wet face, he wasn’t mad. Instead, he reached out and patted my shoulder. Brandon finally let me out of the bear hug and took me by the shoulders. He saw my face and smiled. “If you hadn’t cried, I think I woulda hit ya,” he said, laughing softly and quickly wiped his own eyes.

Blair and Tyler returned and Jake joined them at the table. The three watched us as Brandon pulled Davey and me together into another group hug.

He held us tightly, before he kissed Davey’s cheek and I heard him whisper, “Thank you.”

Then, with an arm over each of our shoulders, Brandon looked down to where Jake and Tyler and Blair sat at the table. “I gave these two guys my virginity,” Brandon said, smiling. “And I’ll be forever grateful.”

“Whoa, honey!” cried Jake, back in his queen persona. “What I’d give for some pictures of that!”

Everyone laughed, relieved that the air had cleared. Tyler and Blair went to dance, while Davey, Brandon, and I all huddled at the table. Jake was not going to be left out of the San Antonio group and worked his chair in between Brandon and me, and smiling, began rubbing both of our thighs while he listened.

Davey took my hand and held it on top of the table for everyone to see.

We talked about San Antonio and LA… about friends and lovers, about our hopes and dreams. In only moments, it was as if Brandon had never been away.

It seemed like only a short time, but an hour and two sodas later, Brandon stood up. “I haven’t forgotten, Bent, that this is a special time for you guys,” he said. “I’m just glad I got to see you at all.” Then he turned to Davey. “Can I have just one dance with each of you?”

Davey nodded and Brandon came around to get him. I watched them push through to the upstairs dance floor.

Jake, who’d been mostly quiet the whole time, grabbed my hand and grinned. “That means, you’re mine, Bent!” Then he laughed. “What a name! Are you — bent, that is?” he laughed.

I couldn’t resist teasing. “Someday, maybe you’ll find out.”

His smile turned sly again. “Maybe someday I will.”

He led me out onto the upstairs dance floor. Everyone on this dance floor was in an embrace, dancing slowly, whatever the beat. That included Brandon and Davey. Brandon looked like he was holding Davey with true affection, and Davey looked to be loosening up.

Jake on the other hand, held me with pure sexual aggression. He put his arms around my neck, leaned back in my arms, and ground his full package against mine, with a smile.

And when we were both obviously hard, he leaned back up, and put his lips to mine. Carefully, he reached between our bodies and shoved his hand into my pants. “Just checking,” he said softly in my ear. He grabbed my cock. “No, not bent.” He gave a soft laugh, and let me go. “But you sure are hung, boy. Definitely from Texas.”

Then he put both arms around my neck again and pressed his cheek to mine. “I like you, Bent,” he said softly, dropping the mannerisms. “You’re sort of an intense guy.” Then he chuckled. “Opposites attract, you know.”

He clung to me as we danced, and though I held my arms loosely about him, the feel of his body on mine and the press of his cheek to mine were surprisingly intimate and tender. He surprised me.

When the song was close to ending, he hugged my neck more tightly. “Can I call you sometime,” he asked, “if I ever find my way back to San Antonio?”

I smiled. “Sure, but if my mom answers, be cool. Don’t go ‘Gawd, is that hot fuck Michael there?'”

Jake laughed loudly and leaned back in my arms to look at me. “Oh, honey, you know you’d love it!” he said, loud enough for everybody to hear.

I gave him a bone-breaking squeeze, in every sense of the word, and he yelped. “Behave” I teased, “or you’ll be the one who’s bent.”

He squealed again, and the song ended.

Then it was my turn to dance with Brandon. Almost as if on cue, Donna Summer’s “Last Dance” began. As we stepped together, Jake swept Davey up in his arms. I wouldn’t need to worry about Davey watching and being jealous; Jake was going to be quite distracting.

I smiled at Bran. He smiled back and pulled me into an embrace. We pulled ourselves close, then hugged so hard we could barely move our feet in time to the music.

“You’ve gotten taller, even more handsome,” I said, loud enough to be heard over the music.

“You’ve gotten taller,” Brandon replied, “But that haircut makes you look almost younger. It makes you look like that guy…”

“Please don’t say it,” I wailed. “Everybody’s been telling me I look like Chachi from that stupid show Happy Days!”

He chuckled. “It’s just the haircut… Damn, it’s good to hold ya, Michael. I wish Davey weren’t so fuckin’ jealous. I’d like to give you one good toe-curling kiss.”

“Maybe, before we go.” I nuzzled his neck. “You know why Davey’s jealous, don’t you?” I asked quietly.

“Because he worships you. I don’t blame him,” Brandon said.

“He’s jealous,” I corrected, “because he knows I still love you, Bran. I always will.”

“Yeah, I got that when we talked outside,” Brandon said, “But he really loves you Bent. He came after me for your sake.”

“I sorta figured that.”

“He even apologized to me,” Brandon said. “So I did something I should’ve done a long time ago; I asked him to forgive me for seducing his boyfriend.”

“You didn’t exactly seduce me,” I corrected and rested my forehead against his cheek.

“Oh?” Brandon asked with a chuckle. “You’re still kinda naïve for a smart guy – I seduced you Bent. You were tryin’ to stay faithful to Davey, but I wanted you. If it hadn’t been the night my dad and I fought, it would’ve been some other time, but it still would’ve happened. I’d fallen in love with you Bent, and I wanted you. I knew exactly what I was doin’.”

I rubbed the back of his neck. “You knew I liked you too, Bran, or we would’ve never done anything… So what did Davey say?”

Brandon shrugged. “He forgave me,” he said. “But I think he’s still kinda nervous with me around. Even though I made sure he understood that what you feel for me doesn’t hold a candle to what you feel for him. We all know that.”

I tightened my hug. “It’s still a pretty bright candle,” I said quietly. I squeezed him hard and rested my head on his shoulder.

Brandon rubbed my back. “You stay true to ol’ Davey. You two were born for each other.”

“Oh, I’d never leave Davey,” I said. “I just miss you.”

The music began to wind down. “Remember what you told me, Bent,” he said. “Some of what was between us, really needs to be just between you two now. Some things belong only to the guy you really love.”

The tune ended and I smiled up at him. “Where do you dumb jocks get so smart?”

His face turned slightly sad and his voice grew more serious. “From loving someone.”

Back at the table, Brandon urged us to go. “It’s almost midnight,” he admonished. “You two better head home from the ball before you both turn into pumpkins. Have a good last night at the hotel,” he said grinning.

Jake insisted on getting our phone numbers, and it took a few minutes to find Tyler and Blair, but then we were ready to leave.

Brandon hugged and kissed Davey first. And then me. We kissed a long time, but it was not a passionate kiss; just a very loving one. I glanced over at Davey, my eyes shining, but he smiled back at me and nodded.

We were all quiet as we climbed into the car for the trip back to the hotel. Blair drove and Davey sat in front with him. Tyler and I sat on opposite ends of the back seat.

As we made our way onto the freeway towards Anaheim, Tyler cleared his throat. “Well so whadya think of your first gay nightclub?”

“Really cool,” I said. “I sure liked dancing.”

“Me, too,” Davey said from the front seat.

Blair pulled into the fast lane, and then, through the space between the two front seats, I saw his arm reach toward Davey. Davey suddenly smiled and turned to face Blair. Then Davey’s head slid down in the seat as he pushed his bottom toward Blair. I heard a belt being undone and Blair’s hand looked to be busy.

Tyler moved over beside me and smiled. “You OK?” he asked.

“Yeah. I really am.”

Then we kissed. By the time we reached the hotel, we both had our pants down to mid-thigh and were stroking each other.

Forty-five minutes later, back in our hotel room, Tyler was on his back, his smaller body wrapped in mine once again. And though I had just finished, I stayed hard and deep in him. My dick had been too hard, too often that day to go down easy.

On the other side of the bed, Davey was still doing Blair doggy-style, and from the noises, both of them seemed to be totally enjoying it.

My face was directly over Tyler’s and my shoulders held up his legs. We were still tight at his butt and if felt damn good. He looked up at me, all dreamy-eyed.

“We’re a good fit, like this,” I said and kissed him lightly. Then I moved my hips a little, enjoying that after-cum deep-in-the-cock itch a guy gets sometimes.

Tyler nodded. “Real good fit.” He reached up and pulled my head down. We kissed and I moved in him, testing the hardness of my erection. Still hard, I was getting the urge again.

I smiled down at him and slowly slid the full length of my cock out, then back in. Tyler sighed and held me by my hair. “If I come to San Antonio sometime, can we do this again?” he whispered.

“You forget… I already have a boyfriend,” I said and kissed his smooth cheek.

He smiled. “Yeah, but I’m your ‘fuck buddy’. I’ll bring Blair for Davey.”

I ground into him and smiled. “That might work. I’ll talk to Davey about it.” I lowered my lips to his ear. “You mind going again? I mean, you feel sooooo good.”

He nodded and gave me a strangely bittersweet smile as he moved his hips.

It was after 2:00 by the time they left. I filled the Jacuzzi with really warm bath water, turned on the bubbles, and slid in to soak. The temperature was just right. I let out a long, exhausted sigh of relief. Davey came into the bathroom, stripped, and slipped into the other end of the tub. He put his legs over mine and I absently rubbed his feet while I relaxed.

Davey closed his eyes and moved his feet to my lap as I rubbed them. “You OK?” I asked.

Eyes closed, he nodded, enjoying the foot massage.

“Thanks, Davey. For what you did with Brandon… bringing him back and all.”

He nodded, frowning slightly.

I concentrated on rubbing his foot.

And suddenly, I felt dead tired. Things had happened so quickly the last couple of days, I’d had little time to think. Now that I wanted to think, I was too tired. But something wasn’t sitting right in my mind. And it wasn’t Brandon.

Bodz not only showed us that there were plenty of gays around, but gays on the prowl. How hard would it be to hang on to Davey now? That question frightened me because I knew how much I enjoyed the sex with Tyler, and I remembered the feel of Jake’s body against mine. Had we opened a door we should have left closed?

What was it Brandon said? Some things only belong to the guy you really love.

But did Davey feel that way. Brandon had also told me once to give Davey room. So had Knox. I almost lost Davey once, trying too hard to hang onto him.

Davey’s eyes were still closed and it looked like he was going to sleep.

“You really do like doing other guys, don’t you?”

Davey shrugged without opening his eyes. “Yeah.”

“Davey,” I said tentatively. “We can fool around with other guys when you want, but I’m always fine with just us. OK?”

Davey smiled and sighed as I rubbed on the sole of his foot.

“Davey,” I said quietly, “I don’t ever want us to become just… just, you know — ‘fuck buddies.’ You know, like Blair and Tyler.” I tried to smile, but I was so tired I felt more like crying. I guess he heard it in my voice.

Davey’s eyes partly opened and he looked at me. I wouldn’t meet his gaze and looked down to where my hands were working on his foot. But Davey knew me too well. He sat up, pulling his foot from my grip, and straddling my middle, he took my face in his hands. He looked into my eyes, and wouldn’t let me look away when I felt tears start to form. He smiled. “Doofus,” he said quietly.

He stroked my hair back, then pulled me around so that he was sitting with his back at the end of the tub and I sat with my back to his chest, butt down between his legs. He wrapped one arm over my shoulder and the other around my chest and locked his hands together, pulling me back against him. I laid my head back on his shoulder.

Davey rubbed his cheek against my hair for some time before he spoke. “Mickey?”

“Yeah?”

“What are we going to do?”

By now, Davey and I often knew what the other was thinking. We could make those little shortcuts in conversation that lovers can take. I knew what his question meant; I’d started him thinking.

“About making it with other guys?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “What do you want to do?”

He squeezed me tighter. “I don’t know.”

I turned my head and looked at the smooth skin of his cheek. “I’d still trade the whole world for you,” I said.

He looked down at me touched his lips lightly to mine. We kissed, several small, loving nibbles to the lips. I put my hand up to caress the back of his head.

“Promise me something,” he said, brushing my lips with his as he spoke.

“What?” I asked softly, my lips brushing his.

“Promise me you won’t… fall in love with… any other… alien.”

He grinned, and I chuckled.

“I promise you, absolutely, positively, I won’t fall in love with any other aliens. Maybe I won’t even kiss ’em.” Then I lowered my voice confidentially. “They don’t taste good, Davey. At least that one time I kissed an alien.”

Our smiles met in another soft kiss and then he held me tightly. “Mickey,” he whispered. “I… I…”

“Yeah,” I whispered back. “Me too. It almost doesn’t fit into words anymore does it?”

“Never has… for me,” Davey answered quietly.

We dried each other off and crawled right into bed, back to back, butt to butt. And then we pulled the blankets tightly across our shoulders, which pulled us even more snuggly together. I smiled before I fell asleep.

Martha called on the phone early the next morning.

“You can’t let her see those earrings,” Martha pleaded, after telling me that Ms. Jamison had decided to pick us up to take us to the airport.

“We can’t hide them, Martha,” I said. “And we’re supposed to leave them in until our ears heal right.”

I heard her groan over the phone.

“Look,” I said. “She’s cool. I’ll just explain that we did it after sneaking away from you for a few minutes.”

There was a louder groan. “That’s almost worse,” she said. “I was supposed to keep an eye on you.”

Ruth Jamison frowned at the ear studs alright, and glared at Martha, who seemed to shrink before our eyes. Ruth said nothing and remained excruciatingly quiet while Martha checked us all out of the hotel.

Martha was dismissed with an “I’ll talk to you later,” and left as the doorman loaded our bags into Ruth’s car.

Ruth was silent for some time as she drove us to the airport. The traffic was horrendous all the way out to LAX. We all stared out the windows.

Finally, Ruth looked at me and let out a long sigh.

“It’s not that bad, Ms. Jamison,” I began.

She frowned at me. “Are you telling me your mom won’t be upset?” she asked, skeptically.

“Well, nothing I can’t handle,” I said, optimistically.

She shook her head. “You are only sixteen.”

“Alexander the Great,” I reminded her.

She frowned at me. “I don’t think he wore an earring.” She turned her eyes back to the road. “At least you didn’t get two earrings — you’d look like a girl.”

I turned to glare at Davey in the back seat before he could say anything. But he wasn’t smiling. He gave me an “are we in trouble?” look.

“We’ll be OK,” I said, for both Davey and Ms. Jamison’s sake.

After check-in, Ruth sat with us at the gate. She frowned at my ear again. “I’ve got to get over that earring thing,” she said. “I was going to have a serious discussion with you this morning, but it’s hard to take you seriously with a diamond in your ear.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, hanging my head. Then I put my hand over the offending ear. “Can we talk now?”

She glared at my hand, then at me, and tried to resist smiling. “Put your hand down.”

I did.

She sighed, and finally quit frowning. “The other day, Michael,” she said, “you wouldn’t tell me everything you thought about NBase. And it’s been bothering me. I really want to know. And I have a reason, Michael. Trust me — I’m not trying to steal your ideas. Just tell me what it was you were holding back the other day.”

She was sitting to my left on the row of seats, and Davey was sitting to my right. He touched my shoulder and I turned to him. He leaned forward to whisper. “It’s okay, Mickey,” he said, and then nodded.

Though Davey’s instincts about people weren’t always right, I was inclined to trust Ruth.

I turned back to her and took a breath. “OK, I said. “At NBase, you’re tweaking code,” I said. “You’re adding bells and whistles to software that’s already obsolete, or soon will be, and you’re trying to improve the performance of something that’s already limited by its design.”

She cocked her arm over the back of the seat and thought about what I said. “Software that’s already obsolete…” She repeated, and then raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got something in mind. You’re working on something!”

“Maybe,” I shrugged.

“A new database design?” she asked, perceptively.

“If we are,” I said, “we didn’t get any ideas from what we saw your people working on.”

Ruth waved away my concern. “Look, Michael,” she said. “I had a reason for asking what I did, I think I can help.”

She lowered her voice. “I know people. There are investors out there who I think would be interested in putting up some venture capital for you guys. Do you know what that is?”

I nodded. Ed had told us about it. “Start-up money.”

“Right,” she said. “To be honest, NBase would be willing to provide you with quite a bit of venture capital, but it would come with a lot of strings. I already know you well enough to know you wouldn’t like those strings. But these other people I know — If they’re interested, they could put up quite a bit of funding without those types of strings. Do you think you’d be interested?”

I had been thinking about how long it would take Davey and me working alone, or even with Arturo, to get some of our ideas working. But I didn’t want to spend all our money hiring someone to help. “Yes, ma’am. I think we would be interested. But I really do need to talk to a couple of people.”

Ruth nodded. “Talk to them. And if you decide you’re interested, call me. You still have my card?”

“Yes.”

“And Michael,” she said, looking me in the eye. “I may want to attach one string myself.”

I waited to see what that would be.

“I might want a key position in your new company. With the right funding, I could really help you get it going.”

That was a surprise. “But you’re a vice-president at NBase,” I said, startled.

“And I got there with good instincts,” she said, simply. “But right now, all my instincts tell me that your star is about to rise. And I’m not so sure about NBase’s.”

We talked for several more minutes. It was easy to imagine things going really well and being able to hire Ruth Jamison, and Dr. Meyers, and someone else I would want to hire even more – Ed. But it was too early for any kind of promises other than ‘that we would think about it’.

After she left, I turned to Davey. “I’m not sure what I just did was very smart,” I told him. “When we get back, we may have a race to win.”

Davey smiled broadly.

“Why are you smiling like that?” I asked.

“Because,” he said, “you’re happy.”

I thought about it. I thought about how excited I was beginning to feel about Carlson-Bentolli and our ideas. “Yeah, I am happy. I really am.” I smiled at him and leaned closer. “I sure want to kiss you.”

I meant it teasingly, but should have known not to. Davey grinned and looked around at the gate lobby full of people. Then put his hand behind my head and gave me a good kiss, full on the lips.

“Shit! You doofus!” I said, feeling my face go blazingly hot. I tried to keep my eyes averted, but felt like everyone must be staring. Davey laughed.

I had to smile. “Damn, Davey,” I whispered. “I sure love you! But you’re going to pay for this when we get home.”

I leaned back and tried to casually glance around, avoiding anyone’s eyes. Surprisingly, no one seemed to be looking, except for one guy in his twenties who had a big grin.

On the flight home, Davey and I put a blanket over our two first-class seats, and under it, I took his hand in mine. His hand felt strong, male.

We had reclined our seats and Davey put a small airline pillow on my shoulder, before laying his head down on it. As he slept, I thought about software ideas and wondered how much venture capital Ruth could find. And I thought about Tyler. And I thought about sex. And I thought about Brandon. And I wondered if Davey would be interested in us doing Hudson together. And then I wondered if Davey and I could make it with it just being him and me making love. I really wanted it to be just him and me.

As I sat musing, I absent-mindedly twiddled my new ear stud. I imagined different ways our moms might react. Though I couldn’t think of any positive scenarios, I couldn’t help but smile. Something downright perverse in me was looking forward to seeing our mom’s expressions.

I laid my head on top of Davey’s, and took a deep breath. I loved the smell of his hair. It was so much shorter now. I wanted him to grow it back out so that his hair could form a curtain around our faces like it used to when he bent down to kiss me.

As I began to fall asleep, I marveled that every time I thought I couldn’t love Davey any more… I did.