Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 14:11:37 -0800 (PST) From: Brew Maxwell Subject: My Adventures with Nick, Part Six Disclaimer: This story is fiction, and any resemblance to real persons is purely coincidental. It contains graphic descriptions of sex between and among young adult men, and anyone who finds this subject matter objectionable, or who is not of legal age in his or her political jurisdiction to read such material, must leave immediately. This story is being posted to the Nifty Archive for the amusement and entertainment or readers. It may not be posted or reprinted in any other medium without the written consent of its author. Comments are always welcome. My Adventures with Nick, Part Six We slept for about an hour, and this time I woke up before Nick did. I just lay still, watching him breathe. I could see stubble on his chest and stomach where the hair he had shaved off was starting to grow back in. It looked like a fairly healthy crop, to me, but it was a slightly lighter brown than his hair or beard. Like everything about Nick, his pattern of body hair was sexy. Nick woke up around three. "I could use a cup of coffee," he said. "You want one?" I decided to join him this time. Nick got up and went across the room to the coffee maker he had brought up that morning. In a few minutes the room smelled of the fresh brew. Nick came back to bed and turned on his butt plug on its lowest setting. I turned on mine, and the sensation was quite nice. It wasn't as powerful as it had been earlier in the day, of course, but it was enough to make my cock stir. "If you keep it on low," Nick said, "it'll take a good bit longer to make you come. I love getting hard this way. It'll be really intense when you come, too." "I'm not sure I can stand too many more like before," I said, more to make conversation than because I meant it. "Bullshit." We both laughed. "A cum-puppy like you can't get enough, and you know it." More laughter. We drank our coffee and smoked cigarettes lying in bed. Our cocks were getting harder by the minute, but there wasn't the rush to full-blown erections that we usually experienced. "Okay, so what are you thinking," Nick asked. "What? Oh, I was just thinking about you. We're going to graduate in five weeks, and I don't know what you're planning to do next year. Or this summer, for that matter." "Three days after graduation I'm going to Europe. I'm going to be there eight weeks, just touring around." "Wow! That sounds like fun." I was genuinely enthusiastic. My mother travelled so much on business that she never wanted to go anywhere just for fun, so I hadn't really been many places. "Who are you going with," I asked, assuming he would be part of a tour or some kind of group. "Nobody. Just me. I'm going to get a car from a friend of my dad's in Spain who has a Hertz franchise, and I'm going to go where I want to go and do what I want to do. I'll drop the car off at a Hertz place when I'm through with it. I'll be in Spain and France for a good bit of the time, probably, so I can practice my languages." Colton Academy required everybody to take foreign language every year. I wasn't taking one because I hadn't been taking one in Minneapolis, so I had an extra study hall. Everybody else was, though. "Which language, French or Spanish?" "Both," he said. "I've taken both for six years." "Are you any good," I asked. "Yeah, I'm pretty good with both of them. I spent four weeks in both countries last summer staying with families the school set up, and I got really good then. I've probably lost some of it, but I think a couple of weeks in each country ought to get me back on track. I'm good at languages. It's sort of a talent I have, I guess." "Christ, I've had to struggle with every word of French I've learned. We didn't have to take as much at my old school as you guys do." Nick lit another cigarette. Then he said, "So what are you doing this summer?" "Not much. I'm thinking about taking a couple of college courses, maybe. I don't know." "Why? You ought to be doing something that's an adventure. Hey, why don't you come with me?" "God, I'd love to. I've never been to Europe, but I've always wanted to go." "What do you think your mom would say?" Nick was really warming to the idea. "Let's call her and see what she says. You know how to get in touch with her, don't you?" "Yeah, but . . . ." "But what? Get the number. Come on. Get it." "Nick, it's not as easy as that. How do we know I could even get a plane ticket? And how much would it cost? That's something she'll definitely want to know." "Give me the fuckin' phone," he said. I couldn't tell if there was annoyance in his voice or not. He dialed directory assistance for New Orleans and got the number of a travel agent. He called the number, but I didn't expect anybody to answer at this time on a Saturday afternoon. But they did. I found out later the agency is in a shopping mall and that they keep mall hours. After Nick identified himself and reminded the agent of his own travel plans, he asked if there was any way there could be a second person included in his party. The agent probably had to do some quick computer hunting, but the answer was "yes." Nick ordered a second set of tickets and gave her his American Express card number to secure the reservations. That part was taken care of. "Shit," he said after he had hung up. "You're going to need a passport." I smiled. "No problem there. I got one last fall when I thought I would be going with my mom to Argentina. That trip fell through, though, and I got to see my dad for Christmas instead." "Okay, so let's call your mom. Tell her you won an all-expense paid trip or something. It won't be a lie. I'll pay for everything if money's a problem. The contest was to see who could make me come the hardest today, and you won. So you won't even be lying." I laughed at Nick's sincerity. "Money won't be a problem. She's banked every dime of child support my dad has sent her, and it's for me to use for my education. This is very much a part of my education." I was really starting to get excited at the prospect of going to Europe with Nick. "Plus, she makes a shitload of money." "Well, call her, man. Dial the fucking phone." This all seemed very quick, but I couldn't think of a single reason for not doing it. I could argue the need to improve my French, to see the great sites of Europe, to learn to take care of myself. You name it. I was ready. I dialed my mom's number in Brazil. I wasn't sure she'd answer, of course, but I hadn't lost anything if she didn't. She picked up the phone on the third ring, and Nick clicked on the speaker phone. "Mom, it's Brad," I said. "Brad! Darling, what's the matter? Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm fine. How's Brazil?" "It's fine. I'm working almost nonstop, but it's okay. Why did you call?" That's my mom. Cut to the chase. "I didn't go to Atlanta. Instead I went with a friend from school to his family's place in the country. In Mississippi." "Well, that's nice. Are you boys enjoying yourselves?" Nick started laughing, trying to smother it so my mom wouldn't hear. "Yeah, we're having a great time. You should see this place. It's beautiful. Anyway, Nick and I--that's his name, Nick--we got to talking about what we're doing this summer after graduation, and he said he was going to Europe for eight weeks to improve his French and Spanish." Nick grabbed my cock at that point, and I slapped his hand away gently. "He asked me if I wanted to go with him, and I do. What do you think?" "Who would be going?" "It would just be us, but he's been before and knows people in both Spain and France. I figure I could improve my French. They always told me at Deerfield that I should visit a French-speaking country, if I wanted to get good at it. Plus, you know better than I do that travel is very educational." "Brad, this is rather sudden. What makes you think you could even get airline tickets? I mean, sometimes I have to book flights months in advance." "Nick checked, and that won't be a problem. I could pay for the trip out of the money Dad sends." "The money's not a problem; you know that. When would you have to know for sure?" Nick wrote something on a notepad and shoved it in front of me. "By tomorrow at noon" it said. "By tomorrow at noon. Is that too quick?" "Listen, give me the number where I can reach you. I want to think about this. I'll call you back by noon tomorrow. What time is it there now?" "Three twenty," I said. "Okay, sweetheart. I'll get back in touch with you. I love you." "I love you, too, Mom. And Mom, please." "Goodbye," she said, and hung up. "Well, what do you think," Nick wanted to know. "She didn't say 'no,' which I think means she'll probably say 'yes.' She's a pretty decisive lady, especially on the 'no's.'" The gray day was finally beginning to lighten. It had stopped raining while we were asleep, and I could tell that it was already getting warmer. The cold front that brought the rain went out as quickly as it had come in. I had started getting hard before I called my mom, but talking to her and having Nick grab my cock in the middle of our conversation dampened my sexual enthusiasm. Nick was hard, though. He noticed my flagging dick and turned up the vibrator another notch. It worked, and in a few minutes I was rock hard again. He turned it down to its lowest setting. "Let's go outside," he said. "The rain's stopped, and I think it's warm enough. Besides, I have other jackets you could wear." I thought he meant we would put some clothes on, but he didn't. He meant jackets, not clothes. He dug a brown leather aviator jacket out of his closet for me to wear, and we went outside. Being outside presented an interesting set of sensations. I was warm, really, with the jacket and all, but I could feel the slight chill in the air on my legs. My cock was still very hard, so that part of me was warm, too. We had put on shoes, so my feet were okay. Really strange. We walked across the patio to the pavillion. Nick wanted to get something. It turned out to be a frisbee he wanted. He took the cock jewelry off and put in into the pocket of his jacket, and I took off the nipple ring, which stung more than it felt good at that point. We tossed the frisbee around for awhile, and then the heat of our movements, coupled with the rising temperature, made us want to take our jackets off, too. Then Nick unsnapped the cock ring from the butt plug he was wearing. I didn't know it came as two separate pieces, but I did the same. "I want to show you something," Nick said. He led me to a part of the garden that had a sudden drop-off of maybe forty feet. The land was hilly anyway, and this was apparently a place where the elevation dropped rather suddenly. "It's a bitch to cut this grass," he said, "but it's fun the slide down when it's wet like this." Nick took the lead. He moved back maybe twenty feet and ran full force toward the spot where the land dropped. When he got there, he flopped down on his ass and slid to the botton of the the elevation on his butt. He let out a loud whoop on his way down. When he reached the bottom, he called up for me to do the same. Not being the super-physical type like Nick, I was a little hesitant to follow him. I walked to the edge of the mini-cliff and looked down. It looked like a long way to me, higher than any water slide I'd ever seen. "Come on. Don't be such a pussy," Nick shouted. "You'll like it." What could I do? I was scared, but my buddy wanted me to try. So I did. I went back about half as far as he had gone, and I ran at about half his speed. I hit the ground with a thud, and then gravity took over. I slid on the wet grass as fast as I had ever moved in my life, outside a plane. The impact sent the butt plug in my ass at least an inch deeper, and it must have touched some magic spot inside me. The feeling was indescribable. I had already had a few involuntary twitches telling me I was nearing orgasm, but on the ride down I lost control. Halfway through my fifteen-second descent I started to come. Like the other orgasms I had had this weekend, this one was unique. My ass burned a little from the friction, but that only added to the pleasure. When I got to the bottom, I was spread-eagle on my back, and cum was shooting out of me in giant wads. Nick greeted me with laughter. "So how was it," he asked, barely able to talk around his hilarity. "Pretty fucking cool," I said, laughing too. Then I noticed the cum on Nick. "For both of us, it looks like." "Yeah, buddy, pretty fucking cool." We were both still hard. Nick put his arms around me and kicked my feet out from under me before I realized what he was doing. In a second he had the plugs out of me and himself, and he shoved his cock up my ass. It wasn't rape, because I welcomed him with every cell in my anus, but it was a little bit of a surprise. We fucked like mountain goats right there in the open field of the lower garden. I came again a little before Nick did, and we changed places. This time I plowed his ass for a good, long time. When we were finished, we rolled apart onto the wet grass. In a second or two the still-cool temperature got to us. We jumped up, gathered the stray butt plugs, which were still humming away, and ran up the hill to get warm. We picked up our jackets and ran into the warmth of the pavillion. I thought the building would be warm enough, but my teeth chattered and I shivered all over. I, the Yankee. Nick picked me up in a cradle grasp and took me toward the locker room and a hot shower. After a few minutes I settled down, and we washed each other gently. After our shower Nick asked me if I wanted a rubdown. I said I did, so he led me to a mat that was on the floor near the shower stall. He had me lie down, and he started working my shoulders and back with his fingers. It felt really good, but before too long, the rubdown became another form of sex play. Nick was all over me with his arms and legs and torso. He used some kind of oil, and we both got very slippery. He turned me over after a few minutes, and the two of us rubbed our whole bodies against each other. We were both hard, of course, and in a few minutes we both came. It wasn't as spectacular an orgasm as I had had at other times, but it was different from the others in some ways. We hopped back in the shower to wash the cum off, and this time we didn't do anything else. We wrapped up in towels and went back into the house. "Matt's going to be here in a little while," Nick said. "Would you feel more comfortable meeting him with clothes on or off?" "On," I said, so we both dressed. At ten minutes after five, Matt appeared. Nick and I were sedately sitting in the morning room when we heard him open the front door of the house and leap across the foyer to turn off the alarm system. He called out Nick's name, and Nick called back where we were. Matt looked remarkably like his younger brother. In fact, except for minor differences in size (Nick was slightly taller and a little more muscular), they could have been twins. Matt's hair was longer, but it was the same color as Nick's, and they combed it the same way. Like Nick, he was gorgeous. "Hi, guys!" Matt said. "What's up?" "Matt, this is Brad Macmillan. Brad, this is my brother Matt." Nick made the introductions. Matt and I shook hands, and he flashed a grin that was almost pure Nick, except for a degree of devilment that Nick's grin lacked. Matt looked me squarely in the face until I averted my eyes. Matt said, "I could use a drink. You got anything?" Nick got up and fixed drinks for each of us. He also brought cheese, crackers, cashew nuts, and some sliced sausage back into the room. Matt put some music on, sat on one of the leather sofas, and lit a cigarette. "So what have you guys been doing," Matt asked. "Just kinda hanging out," Nick said. "Tony and a friend of his came over last night and ate with us. Otherwise it's been pretty quiet." "Where was Bob," Matt asked. "His mother's in the hospital, so he's up in Jackson with her," Nick explained. "So you've just been hanging out?" "Well, yeah, pretty much," I said. Matt had a kind of leer in his voice that made me a little uncomfortable and slightly embarrassed. "So nothing's come up around here, so to speak," Matt asked, by now a devislish grin creasing his face. "Er, . . ." I didn't know where to go with this. "Cut the shit, Matt. We've been fucking our brains out, and you know it. Don't give him a rough time." Nick, my hero. "I'm just kidding you guys. Just bustin' your balls, as Chubby would say. Chubby's a good friend of ours that we think might have one or two Mafia connections." "I met Chubby at the pool hall the other day," I said. "I suspected there might be a little Mafia action going on around that place." "That's bullshit, Matt, and you know it. Chubby wouldn't do anything illegal, and he wouldn't let Mafia guys hang out in his place." Nick was a little put out with us, I thought. "Yeah, man, you're right," Matt said. He winked at me so Nick couldn't see him. I already liked this guy. Nick lit a cigarette, and I did too. For a minute the three of us sat there smoking and nursing our drinks. In a minute Matt said, "I brought something I want y'all to see. It's a video starring The Kid here." He motioned toward Nick. "What are you talking about," Nick asked. "You know those tapes I made that weekend with you and the guys from the stable? I edited them into a porno tape. It's pretty good, if I do say so myself." "What the hell are you going to do with it? Sell it?" Nick's voice had a kind of urgency in it. "Don't worry, Nick. It's just for personal consumption. Let's go up to my room and watch it. You want to," Matt asked. We took the snacks, the booze, ice, and ourselves up to Matt's room. We got comfortable on the sofa in his sitting room, and he popped the tape in the TV-VCR. These people had more electronic gear around that place than I had ever seen in one house before. They obviously could afford anything they wanted. The video came on with credits and everything. Nick was in every scene. I watched his face as he watched the movie. At first he was a little embarrassed by what was going on on the screen, but in a few minutes he relaxed and seemed to enjoy it. Matt broke the silence. "Goddamn, bro, you sure do make me horny. I've got to do something about this fucking hard-on." I was seated between the Marshall boys. With that last statement, Matt grabbed my hand and put it to his crotch. When Nick saw what he had done, he grabbed my other hand and put it on his crotch. Matt leaned over, licked my ear, and whispered for me to rub. So I rubbed both of them. Nick leaned over and started unbuttoning my shirt. I wiggled forward for him to take it off me, and he went to work on my right nipple. Matt put his hand in my crotch and started rubbing me the way I was rubbing them. All three of us had hard-ons before any of this started, but our excitement grew with each stroke. Matt moved his hand away, took off his shirt, and then went back to my crotch. Nick did the same. Next came the jeans, first Nick's, then Matt's, and finally mine. I hadn't bothered to put on underwear earlier, and neither Marshall was wearing any. Matt got up first and moved me onto the back of the sofa. He got between my legs and started sucking my cock. Nick stood on the sofa, and, by turning my head to the right, I was able to get his cock into my mouth. After a few minutes of this, we got on the floor on our sides and formed a daisy chain: I sucked Matt, he sucked Nick, and Nick sucked me. Nick put one, then two, fingers up my ass and finger-fucked me. I did the same to Matt, and he followed suit with Nick. Nick started a rhythm that we all picked up in a second. I thought about what we must have looked like and almost started laughing. I lasted much longer than I had ever lasted before, and the Marshall boys probably could have gone on forever. The inevitable happened, though, and I felt the loose wetness inside myself that meant an orgasm. Despite the fact that I had already come many times that day, I shot a big load for Nick to swallow. Matt produced a prodigious output, and I suppose Nick gave his usual pint of cum. We writhed in mutual pleasure for what seemed like a long time, and then we slumped into one another, tired and satisfied. "Brad, you're pretty good on the old rod. Who taught you how to do that," Matt asked. "I did," Nick said. "Who the fuck did you think?" "What did you do, take his cherry, or something?" "That's right," Nick said proudly. "I fuckin' did." "Awesome, little brother," Matt said. "'Little brother' my ass, Stump," Nick said as he shook his cock in Matt's face. This was getting a little personal for me, considering Matt's cock was slightly larger than mine. "All right, Snake, you win that one, but remember, It's not . . ." Nick joined in, "the size of the tool but how you use it that counts." All three of us laughed. Both boys were obviously enjoying teasing one another. Then Matt leaned over Nick and gave him a deep, wet kiss. This startled me, and I was a little embarrassed by this display of fraternal affection. Matt said, "I love you, boy." Nick responded with "I love you too. Stump." Again, laughter. Nick got the drinks, the snacks, and the cigarettes, and we stayed seated on the floor. Matt said, "So Brad, tell me about yourself." "Like what," I asked. "The usual stuff. Where you're from, what you like to do. That shit." "I was born in Chicago. Both of my parents were in graduate school at the University of Chicago, and I think I was quite a surprise. I've lived most of my life in Minneapolis, though, and I moved south less than a month ago. My folks are divorced. My dad lives in Arizona, and my mom travels a lot. She's a computer consultant and does a lot of business in South America. She's in Brazil right now, in fact." "Did Nick here really take your cherry?" "Well, yeah. He did." "So when did you realize you were gay?" Matt grinned with this question, winked at me, and looked at Nick. Nick started to go into his "categories" discourse, then realized what Matt was doing. "Fuck you" was all he said. Again, we laughed. There was silence for a while. I thought about Matt's question. Despite Nick's theories and diatribes about categories and such, I still felt that I had to know about the sexual part of myself. I hadn't thought of it in a while, but knowing about myself was still the focus of my weekend. Did Matt see something in me that I couldn't see in myself? By then, being gay would be just fine with me, if I really were. Oh, there would be complications, of course. My parents would be cool about it, I was sure, but what would that mean for my future? I decided not to dwell on the question just then. In a minute Matt started again. "So continue with the biography. You go to Colton, now, right?" "Yeah." "What are you going to do next year?" "That's a very good question," I said. "I've been accepted at the University of Minnesota, the University of Arizona, Georgetown, Tulane, and Dartmouth. My dad wants me at Arizona, my mom wants me at Tulane, and I favor Minnesota because I'll know so many people there. Shit, I don't know." "Well, I vote for Tulane," Matt said. "That's where I go. I couldn't get Shit-for-Brains here to even apply to the fuckin' school, though. Everybody in our family has gone to that school, but Nick wanted to go to UNO. That's it. Fuckin' UNO." "What's UNO," I asked. "The University of New Orleans?" "Right," Nick said. "They'll honor all of my AP credit, and I'll start as a second-semester sophomore. Tulane wouldn't give me dick for all the work I've done in AP." "How much AP credit do you have," I asked. I had completely forgotten about the AP exams we'd have to take in a month or so. "I've gotten 5's in English, American History, Biology, Chemistry, Calculus, Spanish, French, and the two Governments, and 4's in Art History and computers. I'll get another 5 in English this year, I think, and probably a 4 or 5 in European History, the second calculus, the two Econ's, and Physics. I'd be a fool not to take that credit." I was impressed at his record, and I had to agree about the college. I didn't know anything about the University of New Orleans, but I liked the name, and I liked their AP credit policy. "Besides," Nick continued, "a lot of the people I know go there. And--bottom line--Tulane is clear across town, and UNO isn't. I won't have to leave home an hour before class to get there on time." "Well, I still think Brad ought to go to Tulane," Matt said. "Don't get me wrong, Brad," Nick said, "Tulane is a great school. I'm just not interested, that's all. Go there, if you want to." I hadn't even considered UNO when I started applying to colleges because I didn't know it existed. Nick's apparent commitment to the place made me wonder about it, though. Especially if it were close to where we lived. Matt got up and made us another round of drinks. We continued sitting on the floor, drinking, eating the snacks, smoking, and talking. It was mostly small talk. Matt told about his interest in computers, photography, drawing, painting, sports, boys, girls. He was a regular "Renaissance Man." Before we realized it, it was 7 o'clock, and all of us were hungry. "I thawed a chicken for tonight," Nick said. "Yeah, and in a hour or two it'll be ready to eat," Matt said. "Let's forget the chicken and order pizza." That sounded good to me. Matt called Pizza Hut, the only place that delivered in the vacinity, and we got fresh drinks to wait on the pizza man. He came in forty-five minutes or so, and Matt went downstairs buck naked to get the food. When he came back with the pizzas, we asked him how the guy reacted, and Matt said he didn't think he noticed. I had a decent buzz from the drinks, but the pizza took care of that. We had ordered three mediums, and we each ate almost a whole one. I felt bloated when we were finished and a bit sleepy. Nick suggested we go into his room where the fire was, and he put more logs on the coals to bring the fire back to life. It lulled us all for a while, and it was really quite warm in the room since the temperature outside had gone up. Matt made more drinks. I had already had quite a bit more to drink than I was accustomed to, but I didn't want to throw a wet blanket on things by refusing. Besides, I really like the bourbon and 7-Up they were making for me. In front of the fire, naked with two guys I really, _really_ liked, I felt as secure and accepted as I had ever felt in my life. Nick put on some music, and we all recovered from the pizza. Matt was the first one to stir. "I came here looking for cock," he said. "Anybody got one?" We all laughed, but I knew what he meant. I had grown half-hard lying on the floor with them, and I was ready for some more action, too. "This boy's almost ready," Matt said, meaning me. "Wake up, fuck-head," he said to Nick. "I'm awake, dingleberry," Nick said. I laughed. Matt said, "Don't encourage that sort of thing, Brad. He doesn't even know what the word means. He's just heard me use it, and he wants to imitate the big boys." It seemed that Matt was forming a tease-alliance with me against Nick. I was Matt's equal, and Nick was the "little brother." I knew Nick was sometimes quite literal where irony was concerned, so I looked forward to what would develop. "Oh, yeah, smart-ass. So what does it mean, anyhow?" Nick had a kind of defiant tone, but Matt and I could tell he wasn't sure what the word meant. "You tell me. You used it." "Do you know what it means, Brad," Nick asked. "As a matter of fact, I do." I really did know, at least the Minneapolis meaning. "All right, you shits, tell me." Nick was getting a little miffed. "Do you really want to know," Matt asked. "Yeah. Tell me, goddamn it." Matt moved over to Nick and raised his legs back toward his shoulders. He stuck his finger into the general area of Nick's asshole, and started rubbing it. He dropped Nick's legs, and they hit the floor with a thud. "Sorry, Nick, but you wouldn't understand," Matt said, grinning broadly. "What the fuck do you mean, shit-ass? I'll understand." Nick was really caught up in this thing, and Matt and I just laughed. "No, you won't," Matt said. "You don't have what it takes to understand." Nick was getting a little angry at this point. "Don't tell me that, you cunt-cheese. I'll fuckin' understand." "Well, see, Nick, a dingleberry. . . . Tell him, Brad." "Nick, men have hair around their assholes. A dingleberry is a little ball of shit that clings to the hair. Of men." Matt and I were laughing hard, by this point. "Really?" "Yeah, dude," I said. "See you don't have any hair, so you can't really understand. Only men with hairy assholes can really understand." "You guys," Nick said. He was pissed. Matt and I were hysterical. "I'd have more fuckin' hair on my ass than either of you bastards if this prick hadn't made me shave it." Matt and I laughed so hard we collapsed onto the floor. Nick was really taking all of this seriously, and it was funny as hell. "Come here, bubba," Matt said. He put an arm around Nick's head and hugged him tight. "We're just funnin' you, man. We know you're a stud. Don't get pissed at the only two people in the world who care about you." Matt and I laughed harder. "You're teasing me, right?" "No, that's what _dingleberry_ means, all right. It's just that you took it so seriously. Come on, Nick. You know it's funny," I said. He flashed a big grin. "You guys aren't gangin' up on me, are you?" "Would we do that," Matt asked. "You would in a fuckin' heartbeat. I know that. I don't know about my buddy, though." He made me feel a little guilty with that. He seemed really vulnerable at that moment, much more than I would have imagined. I was beginning to feel some real conflict. Nick was my fantasy man, everything I had ever imagined, and I thought I loved him. But Matt was, too. Which guy would it be? Would I drive a wedge between two brothers who were much closer than any brothers I had ever known before? What was going on here? "It's just fun, Nick," I said. "Buddy." That seemed to satisfy him. "You fucks," he said, and all three of us laughed. We stayed by the fire, drinking and smoking, for a good while. The music was hypnotic, and we all got more mellow as the minutes passed. Then the phone rang. "Who the fuck is that," Matt asked. "How the fuck do I know," Nick said. He got up and answered it. It was for me. My mom. "Hi, Mom," I said. "Listen," she said, never one for small talk. "I've been on the phone with your father." Gulp. I knew they talked about important decisions about me, but I didn't expect her to consult him about my summer plans. "Yeah," I said quizzically. "We both think you deserve this trip. It'll be good for you in lots of ways." "You mean I can go," I asked. "Yes, Brad. You can go. Figure out how much money you'll need, and get all the details lined up for us." "Mom, . . . ." I didn't know what to say. "Are you excited," she asked. "Oh, Mom, you don't know. Thank you. Thank you. This is wonderful." I kissed the receiver. "Oh, thank you," I said. "You're a good kid, Brad. Your dad and I know that. You're also growing up. It's time for you to have an adventure on your own. We just want you to be careful and have a good time," she said. "Yes, m'am," I said. I never used that expression before I came south, but it seemed just right at that moment. "Is Nick there? May I talk with him?" "Sure. Here he is." I called Nick over. "I can go, buddy. I can go! She wants to talk with you." We weren't on the speaker phone, so I didn't know then what she said to him. He grinned, though, and even blushed a little. When he was finished on the phone and had hung up, I wanted to know what she had said. "She thanked me for asking you," he said. "But she said to beware--you're a real dingleberry." I was so happy at that moment, anything would have been funny. But this was too much. I laughed until tears started down my cheeks. Nick laughed, too, and we hugged. "What the fuck is going on here," Matt wanted to know. When he had calmed down, Nick said, "Brad's mom just said he could go to Europe with me after graduation." "What are you talking about," Matt asked. "Don't give me that shit. I told you and Scott two months ago I was going to Europe for two months after I graduate. I've got it all planned and set up. Don't even start with me." "Yeah, I remember that. I haven't thought about it since you told us, though." "Well, Brad and I are going together. We're going to fuck our way across the Old World." Nick made all of us another drink to celebrate. We toasted "To Europe," and "To us," and "To buddies forever." Kid stuff, really. Matt drank with us, but his mood obviously changed drastically while we were celebrating. Nick noticed, and said, with real solicitude in his voice, "What's the matter, bubba?" "Nothin'," Matt said. "Fuck you. What's the fuckin' matter," Nick demanded. "Nothing, man. I just feel a little left out, that's all. I'll be all right." "So, cheer up, will you," Nick said. "Yeah," Matt said. But he didn't. "Matt, please don't do this. What's the matter, bro.?" "I don't know. Scott's got Cathy, you've got Brad. Who do I have?" After a pause: "Forget it, man. I'm just feelin' sorry for myself, I guess." "Matt, if you're hurtin', I'm hurtin'. You know that. Say what's bothering you," Nick said. "It's kind of personal, okay?" "Personal, my ass! What the fuck's wrong with you?" Nick looked worried. Or concerned, at least. "You and Scott weren't supposed to know about this. I've been seeing a girl--her name is Laurie--that I really liked. I though she was the one, man. Anyway, night before last she told me we were through." "Oh, fuck. Man, I really didn't know." "I know you didn't. I met her at school, and we've been dating for a little more than six months. I was in love, man. Really in love." "She'll come back to you, Matt. I know she will." Nick's tone was as solitious as I'd ever heard it be. "No, man. It's over. She left this morning. She dropped out of school and everything. She's fuckin' gone."