Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 10:16:45 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rob Hoek <storyguy22@yahoo.com>
Subject: Apartment Six (2)

I swam a few more laps, and sun dried my body for a while, then, headed
home. I took a shower, slipped on clean briefs, and fresh shorts and a tank
top. I flipped on the TV, and surfed around, anxiously eyeing the clock the
whole time. Each passing minute seemed an hour long, but finally, it read
straight-up six o'clock. I wrote my Mom a note, telling her I was with
friends, and would be home by eight thirty, and headed out the door, eager
to spend some time with my hunky new neighbor, Ryan!

I skirted the pool area, and jogged up the stairs of Ryan's building, and
rapped on the door of number six. He answered my knock quickly, and flashed
his breath- taking smile, and stepped back, his hand indicating for me to
enter. "Hey Aa, wow, don't you look all yummy!" he greeted me, and I felt
my face get all hot, as I blushed, and replied, "Uh, not really, just some
old stuff." He chuckled, and seriously looked me over, slowly drifting his
eyes over me, top to bottom, and back. His awesome blue eyes fixed on mine,
and he winked, and said, "Maybe so, but I'm not actually talking about your
clothes!" That made my face get even hotter, and I got that tingle thing
going in my balls again, too.

He chuckled softly at my flustered look, and did that thing with his
fingers brushing my hair again, and said, "Yup, no BS about it, you are
seriously cute!" I blushed some more, and my balls heard him, too! He led
me to the sofa, and told me to sit, asked my preference of soda, then went
into the kitchen. My heart was racing in my chest, and I had at least a
half hard-on going, just from the way he looked at me! Jeez, what a hunk
this dude is, I thought to myself, and, he seems to be almost coming on to
me, I hope!

Ryan returned, tall, frosty glasses of soda in hand, and set one on the
table in front of me. He settled onto the sofa, about in the middle, fairly
close to me, and lifted his glass in a toasting gesture. "To new friends,
and new adventures!" he proposed, and I reached for my glass, then lightly
touched it to his, and nodded, mumbling, "Yea, here's to both of those." He
smiled, and we each took a small sip, sealing the toast. He set his drink
on the table, and relaxed back onto the sofa, his arm sliding across the
sofa back, behind me. "So, Aa," he said, "tell me all about you...school,
hobbies, sports, girlfriends, the whole deal!" I blushed some more, and
muttered, "Actually, that's a pretty short story!" He looked at me with
those killer eyes, and smiled, saying, "No way, I'd find that very hard to
believe, Aa, cute as you are!" I blushed brighter, and fidgeted around
some, and Ryan chuckled, and said, softly, `God Aa, you remind me so much
of me at you're age, what are you, like fifteen?" I looked at him, and
grinned, amazed that he would say that, and stoked that he though I was
older than I actually was! "I do?" I asked, "How do I remind you, of you?"
He lifted his hand off the sofa back, and did that thing to my hair again,
causing a small shiver to pass down my spine, and terminate in my balls!

"In several ways, actually, but that natural shyness, mostly, and how it
kind of just telegraphs your feelings." I chuckled, and replied, "Oh right,
I can just picture you being shy, not! He laughed softly, and said, "No,
Dude, seriously, at fifteen I was, like, totally shy, and even did that
sweet blush thing a lot, too!" Oh man, I thought, sweet blush thing, he
said, and, fifteen again, too! I decided to take his word for what he was
saying, and asked, "So ok, then, if that's true, tell me what you did to
get past it, cause I really wish I could figure out how!" He smiled, and
answered, "One day I just decided it was lame to be letting my shyness keep
me from trying new things, and taking a bigger bite out of life, so I just
sort of vowed to ignore it, and grab onto opportunities when they
presented." I looked into his amazing eyes, and saw sincerity looking back,
and said, "Just like that, you just stopped being all shy?" He nodded, and
winked, saying, "Yea, pretty much just like that, and, a little help from
some friends!" I took a deep breath, and muttered, "I so wish!" He smiled,
and touched my hair again, then said, "Well, since we are neighbors now,
and friends, I hope, we can work on it together, if you want...you know,
I'm the been there, done that, guy!" I nodded, and smiled at him, and said,
"Cool, I'd love that, thanks, Ryan!"

We sipped our drinks, and chatted, and before I even realized I was doing
it, I had pretty much told him my life story, extolling the somewhat bland
details of my life, and interests. He listened attentively, making few
comments, until I finally shut up. He ruffled my hair again, which I was
really beginning to like, and commented, "See, I told you that you remind
me, of me, most of what you just said, I could have said too, before I got
up the balls to come out." I stared at him, incredulous that he would say
it, just like that, fixing me with the dazzling smile, as if he had just
told me to "have a nice day!" He chuckled, and did the hair thing again,
then asked, "What..?" I gulped, and squeaked, "Come out?" He nodded,
chuckling softly, and replied, "Uh huh....it's not like announcing a
terminal illness, you know!" I swallowed, my mind racing with things I
wanted to say, and ask, but my voice was gone someplace inside me, probably
down there yelling at my balls to stop zapping me like that! I swallowed
again, and looked at Ryan, then another squeak, "You're, um, gay?" He
grinned, nodding his head, and said softly, "Yup, and unless my radar is
seriously malfunctioning, Aa, so are you!"

A brief silence ensued as he gave me a chance to digest that, and I did,
then said, very softly, "Actually, I'm pretty sure that your right, I just,
well, just never said it to anyone but me, before." He dropped his arm
around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him, and said, "I know, Aa, that's
how I was too, before, I knew what I wanted, needed, but had no idea how to
go there, even told myself it wasn't true, maybe a zillion times!" I
nodded, nervous, but at the same time feeling a pressure escape from my
body, replaced with a sudden desire to blurt it all out, all of the months,
even years, of denial, and shame. I looked at him, and asked, "So then,
how, I mean, how did you, uh, go there, then?" He smiled, and once more
touched my hair, and answered, "That's the part where I had help from a few
friends, actually, friends that knew me better than I knew me, and also
understood." I gazed into his eyes, and squeaked, "Not any of my friends
are like that, they all say they hate "fags", I just don't know anybody who
would get it, not even a little bit! He hugged me tighter, and spoke softly
into my hair, saying, "You do now, Aa, you do, now!"

I did kind of lose it then, and I got all misty-eyed, and started blabbing
it all out, the frustrations, the fears, the desires, pretty much all of it
that had been bottled up inside me forever. Ryan just let me pour it out,
gently stroking my back, and touching my hair, until I had finished, and
suddenly felt a hundred pounds lighter than when I had walked in here! I
got myself together, finally, and looked at him sheepishly, my face tear
streaked, and flushed, and muttered, "You're awesome, Ryan, I can't even
believe how good that felt!" He smiled, and said, softly, "Told you before,
Aa, good feelings is what old Ryan is all about!" I grinned, and nodded,
feeling both embarrassed, and excited, a horny feeling filling my body, and
mumbled, "I'm sure that's totally true!" He cupped my chin in his hand, and
lifted my face up, then leaned toward me, and kissed me, his soft lips
brushing my own, ever so briefly, and leaving me wanting more, much more!
He sat up then, and picked up my glass, handing it to me. He picked up his
own, then, and raised it again, saying, "Here's to good friends, and even
better feeling, Aa, lots of good feelings!" I smiled, nodded my head, and
tapped his raised glass, saying softly, "Hope so!"

(To Be Continued)
Storyguy22@yahoo.com