Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 22:47:55 -0700 (PDT) From: vealskye Subject: JT Part 3 Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not real. I made them up. Some of them are gay. Some of them might have sex. If you are not allowed to read this type of material, or if you will be offended by it, leave now. JT, Part 3 Jess was sitting in front of his computer, again. No one that knew him would be surprised. But then, not many people knew him. At least not well. He had only a few friends he would consider close, and many of them were only online. Jess knew he looked the stereotypical nerd. From the glasses, to the short stature, to the halting personality, he was a nerd. In the worst sense of the word. He snorted to himself, "there is a good sense?" He had been sitting in front of the computer for hours now. His information tech classes at the college required him to study, a lot. It wasn't really the classes that required the study, though. He could pass those easily enough. He just wanted to pass his certification exams the first time, every time. He couldn't afford to retake them, and his parents certainly weren't going to help him. Not now. But then, he had finished studying some time ago. He sighed and pushed away from the computer. None of his friends were online tonight. Even his regular cyber buddies were gone. Deciding he was better off going to bed, he shut down his chat programs and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed. He made the mistake of glancing in the mirror hanging on the bathroom door. Horrified yet again by what he saw, he quickly turned off the lights and headed to bed. Crying himself to sleep, his thoughts came back to the image in the mirror. Why? Why did he have to be so... deformed? Chapter 7 Josh looked like a deer in headlights as Jenna finished her speech. He was stunned. In other circumstances his expression might have had me giggling myself. But I knew that would be the wrong thing to do; he could think I was laughing at him. I couldn't quite help a grin as I enjoyed his wonderment. "She got married?" "Yes, it was a beautiful ceremony. They had it outside though! Vermont in February? Can you imagine?" She was trying to downplay the gay angle and concentrate on the normality of the situation. Or abnormality. I was beginning to think that her cousin was a bit ... eccentric Vermont in February indeed! "I ... She ... Married? She got Married?" He was whispering again. I couldn't tell if it was to protect his bruised face or to keep someone from overhearing the conversation. Perhaps his instincts were kicking in because we didn't get to finish that conversation just then. We were interrupted by the doctor and a nurse entering the room, the nurse pushing a wheelchair. Introductions were made all around while the nurse was busy going through the drawers and cabinets looking for her patient's belongings. I guess she did not realize he had been left with only the clothes on his back. I wasn't about to enlighten her. The doctor told us that there had been nothing broken but that Josh was going to have a shiner for a while. She signed the papers and told me to make him get plenty of rest the next few days. Then we were walking down the hall to the elevators, the nurse pushing Josh. As the elevator doors closed I wondered if the good doctor remembered me. She had been my grandmother's doctor and had let my aunt and I cry on her shoulder the day my grandmother had passed. Chapter 8 Everything was happening so fast. A few hours before I had been a carefree bachelor. Now I had a son. A teenager no less. "He certainly looks as overwhelmed as I feel," I commented to Jenna as the nurse helped Josh into the car. "Don't worry so much, Tim," she said, "you'll do fine, just love him and let him know it, and everything well work out." "That simple, huh, mother?" I asked, a hint of a grin on my face and sarcasm in my voice. She paused. "No, not really, but things will work out, I am sure of it!" "How can you be so sure, Jenna?" She looked trapped, suddenly, and embarrassed. Then she placed her hand above my heart, looked into my eyes, and said, "Just believe me, I know what I am talking about. You and that boy will be ok!" I believed her. Chapter 9 We had driven for nearly an hour in total silence. Neither of us really knowing what to say, I guess. He spent most of the time looking out the window, lost in thought. The silence was finally broken, not by either of us, but by his stomach. "Ya hungry or somethin', kid?" "Yeah." "Think we should stop and get something to eat then?" "No, I think I will just chew on some of this leather from your seat!" He said it totally deadpan. "I think not. It would only screw up your teeth and then I'd have to pay the orthodontist to fix `em!" "Ortho-what?" "Or -- tho -- don -- tist. Mouth doctor, dude." "I ain't gonna go to no dentist!" "Well of course you are. Orthodontist. Ophthalmologist. Probably the proctologist too. You've always been full of it." He didn't say anything to that, and I was still trying to figure out if he had gotten the joke or was just refusing to comment because he couldn't think of an appropriate comeback, as I took the next exit to find us something to eat. I realized then that I was hungry myself. I hadn't had anything since breakfast and it was mid-afternoon now. As we sat in the restaurant, eating our burgers, I watched Josh as he kept casting glances at a nearby booth. I finally turned to look. The table was occupied by a letter jacket and his girlfriend. I wondered if she had left her pompoms in the car or if she was hiding them next to her in the booth. I was sure she could find something to cheer about in the local fast-food joint. I didn't say anything until we were back in the car and he had to adjust himself after he buckled up. "Having a problem there dude?" "Wha? Huh?" "Guess you thought JockBoy was a cutie, huh?" He finally got it, and I knew the side of his face that wasn't turning black was now scarlet. "It's ok to check the guys out ya know." He looked at me. "Really, Josh. You are gay. It is kind of natural for you to look at another guy, don't you think?" "I . . . guess." Confusion was written all over his face. I think he thought I was making fun of him, but couldn't quite decide for sure. "If he had been a few years older I would have been looking too. But he was too young for me." "You think so?" "Well yeah, JT. He was some high school aged jock. I am old enough to be his father! Well, maybe, if I had fucked his mother when I first started puberty! Ick." "Hey!" "What, Josh?" "You said the f-word! You aren't supposed to do that! You were gonna wash my mouth out with soap for saying it. If I can't say it then you can't either!" "Laying down the law, are you?" He didn't back down. I could tell he wasn't sure where this was going, whether or not I was going to be mad. It was my first test. "Yeah!" only a slight quiver in his voice. "Ok then." Silence. A few seconds later he said, "Okay then? What does that mean?" "It means that if you want to say fuck then you can fucking say fuck for all I fucking care. Just don't be fucking around until after we have had a talk about sex." More silence. I knew he was blushing again. "What do you want to know?" It was my turn to be confused. "About what?" "Well you said I couldn't be fucking around until we had a talk about sex -- what do you want to know?" Laughing, I shouted, "You shit!" We did make it home that evening. We were both tired and Josh was hurting so we turned in early. As I drifted off to sleep I was wondering what might be going through his mind as he spent his first night in his new home. End of part three. Comments or suggestions to vealskye@yahoo.com