Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 05:23:16 EDT
From: Recklissmind@aol.com
Subject: first-boyfriend chapter 9

Greetings all! I know it's been a while since I've written. Sorry for
that. I guess I just wasn't feeling inspired. And of course, I would never
give you guys crap, at least I hope I haven't so far....  Enjoy. -Ry

*****************

      Zack and I drove down the main road in our town toward my house,
pretty silently. We were both a little nervous about him meeting my
parents.  I was still in shock. Zack made an attempt at breaking the
silence, "What is this?" he asked, pointing toward my car stereo. "Leather,
by Tori Amos.  You like her stuff?" His glance shifted toward the window,
"Well, I like what I've heard, but I guess I've just never gotten into it."
His attempt had failed. We grew silent and stiff again.

     A long silence had gone by, with the exception of the CD playing,
until he made another attempt, this one a little better thought out. "So
tell me what happened when you told your 'rents?" "Would you believe they
took it really well?" I began, "It was not at all what I expected. I
thought my Dad would freak! He took it even better than my Mom though. In
fact he talked to her for me while I was at work. She was in shock for a
little at first, but with a little time she came around." "You're lucky,"
he said, "I'm not sure my parents would take it so well. In fact I'm almost
sure they won't."  "Won't?" I repeated, "As in, you're going to tell them?"
He nodded, his face engaged in a weird look, a mixture of silly and
nervous.

      We walked into my house, and headed toward the kitchen. At first I
was a little bit embarrassed. My house didn't look poor or anything, but it
paled in comparison to his. Soon though, my inhibitions to show him around
were put to rest. He seemed like he was in love with our house. I have to
admit, now that I looked at it, it did have it's charm. My Mom was one for
knickknacks.  I hadn't really appreciated it before, my I liked the way my
house was decorated. We strolled into the kitchen, where my parents were
both busy making supper. Wiping her hands on her apron, my Mom walked right
over toward Zack and embraced him as if they were old friends from way
back. He looked at me from over her shoulder with eyes as big and surprised
as I've ever seen. I couldn't help but chuckle. Usually this sort of thing
would have been embarrassing for me, but for some reason, I was pretty
mellow about it.

      "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Murphy," Zack managed to squeak out, after my
Mom had relinquished her grip on his respiratory system. "Oh please...
Anne."  ANNE? My mother had never let any of my friends call her by her
first name!  This was a little much. Oh no, was she going nutso on me? I
had to think quick... "And this is my Dad." My Dad smiled and winked at me
as if to say, 'good idea.' Zack turned around to face my dad, and
apparently, to his relief, Dad only held one hand out, to shake. "Andy or
Mr. Murphy.  Whatever you're comfortable with," Dad beamed. Zack smiled
back in response. Oh god, they were going to be friends! Did I want them to
be friends? I wasn't quite sure yet.

      We sat down to supper once it was ready. My parents had gone all out.
Steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, fresh green beans, and Mom made her
special cheesecake for dessert. We were usually pretty casual about dinner
on weekends. But hey, I wasn't complaining! As I was expecting, the
parentals started firing questions at him the minute we were settled, which
he fielded rather well.  How did we meet? What did his father do? Stuff
like that. I kept out of it. I figured it was just formality and it was
going to have to be dealt with sooner or later.

      "Well?" Zack probed as we rode down the main road, back to his house.
"How do you think it went?" "I think they liked you, especially Anne!
Where did she get that anyway? She's never told any of my friends to call
her that, or any other thing for that matter. Except for my best friend,
Ethan, and he only got to call her Mom!" He turned his head to me and said
with a big grin on his face, "But that's a good thing, right? I mean, at
least they don't think of me as just another one of your friends, right?"
"I guess so," I had to admit, "it's just that they've never taken me this
seriously before."  "Well I thought THEY were great," he retorted. "Your
Mom came on a little strong at first, but hey, she was nervous too, I
guess."

      I went home and told my parents all about how Zack has been almost
completely independent since he was twelve. They really felt for him.  They
even told me that if he wanted a place to stay while his parents were away,
they'd be much obliged. Of course, they stressed, in separate bedrooms. I
couldn't expect my parents to be OK with me having sex in their
house...while they were there, no less. I wouldn't be too comfortable with
that myself to tell you the truth.

      I lay in bed that night, unable to sleep. I must have laid there 4
hours trying to process everything that had happened this weekend before I
went to sleep. It was almost too much to handle. A new boyfriend, a new
aspect of my life that I now shared with my parents. I had never imagined
I'd have the nerve to tell them this soon. I was glad I did.

      I decided to get online. I needed someone to spill to. I
double-clicked instant messenger, praying Ethan would be on. He was on the
soccer team too, so he would probably know Zack. Ethan was the first one I
told that I was gay. He thought it was fascinating. He had all sorts of
questions about it. I think he was bi-curious, but too afraid to ask me to
help him explore. My buddy list appeared, and to my chagrin, he wasn't
on. If fact no one was. Well, what did I expect, it was like 4:30 in the
morning! I moved the mouse arrow to the "x" on the messenger program, and
was just about to click, when I was almost knocked out of my seat by that
infamous 'opening door' sound. I didn't realize how high I had left the
volume. Once my heart slowed down to about 120 beats per minute, I looked
up to see who it was that nearly caused a coronary... Ethan!

      Chillin: hey man! what are you doing up so late?
      Recklissmind: Ethan! i'm SO happy to see you. you'll never guess what
happened
      Chillin: just tell me and I won't have to...
      Recklissmind: well ya know Zack from JV?
      Chillin: zack....zack....  about 6 feet, dirty blonde hair, a god
among gods....that zack? so what about him?

      Ethan always humored me by telling me which guys he thought were
cute.  Just his way of trying to prove that he accepted me, I guess. He was
a little sarcastic too, but I liked that about him. So I told him the whole
story.  He was in disbelief. He agreed to keep it to himself though.

      That instant, it hit me. So OK, we were going to tell our parents.
Were we going to be completely open about it though? To everybody?? The
entire school??? I knew I could trust Ethan, but beyond that, it was all or
nothing. In a high school setting, as I'm sure you will all agree, it's
next to impossible to tell one person something, and not have the entire
school knowing it the next day.

      Ethan and I said our good-byes. I closed the computer down and laid
back in bed. It was going to be a little easier to go to sleep, now that
I'd told someone. So many things to dream about, so little time left in the
night.

**********

      Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It's a little shorter than
I thought it'd be, but hey, what can ya do? More is on it's way.
Recklissmind@aol.com
      Ryan