Date: Tue, 4 Nov 2003 08:59:11 -0800 (PST) From: Jason Calme Subject: Boy Bands - Chasing Matt Chapter 16 This story is about male/male relationships and contains graphic descriptions of sex. You should not read this story if it is in any way illegal due to your age or residence. This is a work of pure fiction. It mixes fictional characters and events with real people. However any real person mentioned in this work is purely an actor playing a part. This story in no way is meant to imply anything about the sexuality, personality, or behavior of the actual person. Copyright 2003 Jason Calme. This story is the sole property of its author and may not be copied in whole or in part or posted on any website without the permission of the author. Questions and commentary can be sent to "JasonCalme@yahoo.com". Chasing Matt Chapter 16 - The Neighbor The next morning Matt woke early. His leg was itching a little, but it didn't really bother him. For a moment he lay in bed, wide awake, just smiling to himself. He was happy. Really happy. He'd resisted the urge to call Nick for a while. Not that long, but long enough that Nick had called him, just to say 'hi!' And then they'd spoken again later. Not about anything much at all. Nick was catching an early flight, so Matt knew he wouldn't hear from Nick until much later in the day. But he didn't care. He decided to get up. He struggled up, grabbing the crutches that his Mother had put beside his bed, and ambled out to the bathroom. A quick wash with a washcloth to try and clean himself all over, then he went back to his bedroom to look for clothes. He found a pair of baggy shorts that he managed to get into without too much difficulty, then he pulled on a t-shirt. He made his way to the top of the stairs where he left the crutches, and eased himself down onto the ground. With out too much trouble he worked his way down the stairs, sliding down the stairs on his butt. He was pulling himself up at the bottom of the stairs when his Mother appeared and ran up and brought the crutches down for him. Breakfast was a simple bowl of cereal, some toast and juice. It was 8:30. 'Now what?' he wondered. He realized that his computer was up stairs. Going up to use it was so much effort; he decided to stay down stairs for a bit. He thought about watching some TV. But it seemed like such a nice day. He went out onto the porch. He didn't usually hang out on the porch, but for some reason he wanted to. Maybe it was the nice weather. Or maybe it was the fact that he had a cast on his leg, and couldn't really go out and do anything that was creating a perverse desire to do so. Or maybe it was because he was in love. He didn't think about it too much, he just struggled over to a chair and sat down. It turned out that sitting was kind of awkward. He had to carefully turn around, drop one of the crutches, then try and hold onto the other crutch and reach for the chair and carefully lower himself down. Then he dropped the other crutch. A couple of deep breaths for a job well done. After about ten minutes he started to think that maybe he didn't want to spend a whole lot of time sitting outside. Going in and surfing the net was kind of attractive now. But then his Mother came out. "I brought you a drink," she said, putting down a large glass of lemonade and a couple of cookies. He nearly pointed out he'd just had breakfast, but he decided not to. "Thanks Mom," he said. "Do you need anything?" she asked him. "No, I'm good, thanks." "Okay, well you just take it easy," she said, and then she disappeared inside, leaving him with the glass of lemonade and the determination to stay out for at least another ten minutes. Maybe he could take a nap. He closed his eyes. ...it was really quite pleasant he thought... The sound of a car pulling up caused him to open his eyes. He saw a familiar green Jeep stopped just past the driveway. There was a pause and it backed up, stopped again, and turned into his driveway. Matt felt a moment of nervousness. The car stopped, the door opened, and the driver hopped out. For a moment the driver just stood there, staring at Matt. "What the fuck happened to you?" he said. Matt half rolled his eyes. He wondered what the appropriate response was. He had a few ideas. He finally settled on the best one. "Broke my leg," he said. "Yeah!?" came the somewhat derisive response. "How the fuck you do it?" Dave said, walking uninvited up onto the porch, but stopping a few feet away from Matt. Matt shrugged. "I was on my bike. Got hit by a car." "Uh huh. Well that was fucking dumb," Dave said, squatting down to look at the cast. "Yeah," Matt agreed. He was beginning to wonder what Dave wanted. They'd been neighbors for ever, even played together when they were kids, but then they'd gone their separate ways around 6th grade and now they only said 'Hi' in passing to one another. Dave looked up. "Shouldn't you have that elevated or something?" Matt shrugged. He'd managed to settle down so that his cast was just at the edge of the chair and his leg was angled down to the ground. Dave looked around, then he stood up and went over and grabbed another chair and dragged it in front of Matt. Then, despite Matt's mild protests, he lifted up Matt's leg so that his leg was on the chair. Matt had to pull himself back a little into his chair so that he was comfortable. He wasn't. It was less comfortable. Oh well!, he decided, he'd just wait until Dave left. "So how long you have to keep that on?" Dave asked. "Six weeks," said Matt. "Huh!" Dave laughed. "So you're on your bike and you get hit by a car? How'd you manage that, you dork?" Matt sighed to himself. "Just wasn't paying attention I guess." He looked up at Dave, who suddenly looked a little serious, standing there staring back at him. His eyes were a sparkling blue color. "Dumb," Dave said quietly, though his voice wasn't as taunting as it had been. The front door opened and Matt looked up. His Mom came out carrying a glass of lemonade. "Hello David," she said. "I thought you might like a drink." "Oh thanks," he said, going over to take the glass from her hand. "How are you doing?" she asked. "Good," said Dave. "Busy down at the gym." "Oh, you like it there?" "Yes, it's pretty good," he said, taking a drink and then looking over at Matt. "So I didn't know we had an aspiring Evil Kinevil here," he grinned. Matt felt himself blush. "Oh, well he got hit by a car," Matt's Mom began. "You should see the bike!" "Mom! It's fine," Matt objected. "Yeah?" said Dave, ignoring Matt, instead turning to face his Mom. "Yes, driven by this nice young man. Took Matt to the hospital and brought him home." "Oh yeah?" said Dave, glancing back at Matt and grinning. "He's from out of town and I guess he wasn't paying attention," Matt's Mother went on. Matt groaned to himself. When was this going to end? He looked around for his crutches. Maybe he could just leave them to gossip. It wasn't as though he and Dave were friends anymore. He wasn't even sure why Dave had bothered stopping. Probably just to get the dirt. That was all, and then he'd be off again and he wouldn't talk to Matt again. "So he wasn't paying attention and he hit Matt?" Dave asked incredulously. "Yes," said his Mother. "You could sue him you know?" said Dave. 'Oh Christ!' Matt thought. "We're not suing him!" Matt almost snapped. Both his Mom and Dave turned towards him, as though suddenly aware he was there. "It wasn't his fault, okay? It was mine. No one's suing no one." Matt sat there, breathing a little hard, his heart pumping. He reached down trying to get the crutches. 'Damn it!' he thought to himself, enough was enough. He was going to go inside and do something. "I'll get those," said Dave, quickly jogging over and leaning down and grabbing the crutches and picking them up. His Mother watched for a moment, then turned and slipped back into the house. "Thanks," Matt acknowledged, a little reluctantly. "You gonna get up?" Dave asked. Matt looked at him a little surprised. What did he think he was going to do? Signal passing planes by waving his crutches at them? "Uh...yeah," he said. He didn't add 'duh' at the end of the statement, but his tone implied it. Dave seemed to ignore it. Matt went to push himself up, but Dave reached down and grabbed Matt's upper arm and pulled him up. Matt stood up, balancing a little awkwardly as Dave handed him his crutches. Matt put them under his arms, but Dave was standing in front of him, and he didn't seem to be moving. "So, you doing any physical therapy?" Dave asked. "Huh?" Matt said. "You should do some activity...you know...keep your muscles up while you've got the cast on cause you're probably not going to be moving around as much...and then you'll want to do things once the cast comes off to get the leg back into shape." "Uh..yeah," said Matt, trying to just agree with him so he'd shut up. Get him to go. He and Dave hadn't said four words in four years and now he was all over him. Was this some maternal caring instinct coming out or something? "I could help, we do this kind of thing down at the gym," Dave went on. "I don't belong," Matt pointed out. That would get him off the hook. "I can get you in as a friend. At least for a few times. If you like it you'd have to join though!" he said, his tone joking. "Ahh...yeah...maybe," said Matt. Just 'go please.' he was thinking. "How about this afternoon?" "What?" Matt said, looking up, surprised. Shocked even. "This afternoon? I'm gonna come back this way a little after lunchtime. I could pick you up, take you down, and bring you back. You probably can't drive with that, right?" "Uh no," said Matt. "Great! After lunch! I'll see you then," said Dave, suddenly turning and jumping off the porch, jogging to his car. "Ah..Wait!" Matt called. Dave stopped and spun around. "What?" "I just...ahh...you don't have to do this," Matt said, trying to think of a way to wiggle out of it. "Hey! No problem!" Dave smiled and he half waved. "See ya later," he said, and turned and jumped into the car. And then he was gone. Matt watched the car leave. He wondered if he could fake a convincing cold by lunchtime. He was pretty sure he was getting a headache. Or maybe he could go into town and just pretend he'd forgotten all about it. But how would he get into town? Matt struggled through the door and down to the kitchen. "What did David want?" his Mother asked casually. Matt shrugged, "Just making fun of my leg," he mumbled. "What?" "I don't know," Matt said louder. His Mother stood staring at him for a moment. "Hmmm," she said, and then she turned back to what she was doing. Matt stood there waiting for her to add something. Did the 'hmmm' mean acknowledgement, agreement, or something else? Did it mean 'That boy always was trouble?' or 'It's a shame you two stopped being friends,' or 'I better remember to get some lettuce today?' He didn't know, and no answer seemed to be forthcoming, so he gave up and hobbled back out to the living room and tried watching TV. There was nothing much of interest on, but going upstairs was too much trouble, and he ended up falling asleep for a while. He dreamt about Nick. It was a cool dream too. They were on the beach walking together... By lunchtime he had completely forgotten about the strange visit that morning. It was only a little after 1, as he was finishing eating a baloney and honey mustard sandwich that he heard a car pull up outside and his heart skipped a beat. Shit! He'd meant to come up with a good excuse, or get out of there. He wondered where his Mother was...he could send her out to tell Dave that he wasn't well. "Hey," said a voice, and he turned to see Dave standing in the kitchen doorway. "You ready to go?" "I'm ahh..." Matt mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich, holding it up for Dave to see. Dave came over and looked at the sandwich. "What is that?" he asked skeptically. Matt swallowed the mouthful and then said, "Baloney." "What you put on it?" Dave asked. "Ah...honey mustard." "Honey mustard?!" Dave repeated, his voice sounding shocked. "Well I thought we had ham and I put the mustard on first..." Matt said, looking up at Dave, who was staring back at him with a quizzical expression. Dave's face broke into a broad grin, and he hooted. "Huh!" he almost exploded. "You always were a weird one," and he slapped Matt on the back rather hard. Matt wasn't sure if he should be offended, or laugh along with the joke. He decided to do neither. "Listen, uhh..." Matt began tentatively. "Thanks very much, but I don't think I'm up for this today." "Why not?" Dave asked. "I'm tired, this whole thing has worn me out," he paused, but saw no recognition in Dave's eyes. Dave was just staring back at him blankly. He pushed on, "I slept most of the morning." Dave sat there for a moment, and then his eye's lit up, "Sounds to me like you need to get your circulation going! You've been lounging around too much." "No I haven't!" Matt responded angrily. "Yeah you have, no lollygagging, come on," and Dave was standing beside Matt and helping him stand up. Matt felt like fighting him off, telling him to piss off, when his Mother came in. "When will you be back?" his Mother asked. "I'll have him back in a couple of hours," Dave said before Matt could say anything. "You really don't have to," said Matt. "I'm happy to," said Dave "I mean you really don't have to," said Matt. "Oh go on," said Matt's Mother. "It'll do you good." Matt stared angrily at his Mother, but she ignored him. "Just be careful with that leg," she said. And so Matt found himself in Dave's Jeep, holding onto the seatbelt as Dave drove like a lunatic to the gym. They hardly said a word all the way there. Dave skidded to a stop and hopped out and came around to the passenger side to help Matt out. He handed him his crutches, then lead him inside, past the young woman at the counter. Dave grabbed a clipboard and a sheet of paper from the counter, then lead Matt out onto the floor of the gym. Matt felt out of place. People in athletic gear were working away and he was hobbling along on crutches. "Let's start with the upper body," Dave said, and took Matt over to one of the machines. Dave adjusted the seat and then helped Matt to sit down. "That feel comfortable?" he asked. Matt put his hands on the two handles in front of him and grabbed them. He nodded. "Okay, so let's start you off at...hmm," said Dave looking at the stack of weights and pulling out the pin that set the amount that would be moved when Matt pushed on the handles. 'Oh great' thought Matt, he's going to start me off with some ridiculous amount that I won't be able to move. Dave slid the pin into position and then nodded at Matt. Matt grabbed hold of the handles, took a deep breath and pushed hard. The handles shot forward and he nearly fell forward, he'd pushed so hard. "Oh, okay," said Dave, "just relax." Matt let go of the handles and Dave adjusted the pin. "Try that," he said. Matt pushed the handles again. This time it was a lot harder, but he managed to push them up without difficulty. "How does that feel?" Dave asked. "Okay," said Matt. "You think you can do about ten with no trouble? Or a bit of trouble?" "Ahh...not sure," said Matt. "Well do some and see how it feels." Matt pushed out the handles three or four times. "How's that?" "It's pretty easy," Matt said. "Yeah? Because you want to be just able to do ten to twelve. So it's like you couldn't do another one after that. That's what you're kind of trying to get to. Then you build from there." "Ah...then probably more," said Matt. "Okay. That's good," Dave said, smiling. "We're just finding out where you are today so you'll be set for next time. Let's try it with another ten pounds." Dave reset the pin, and then Matt set to work again. Pushing the handles forward and up, then back down and repeating the process. By the tenth he was starting to tire, but felt he could easily do three or four more. "Okay, you can stop," said Dave. Matt stopped, breathing a little heavier now. Dave crouched down beside Matt and held out the Clipboard and began writing on it. "Okay, so this is the Shoulder Press, and this is the seat position," he said, writing on the sheet, "and I think you can probably even start with another 5 lbs next time," and he wrote that on the sheet. And so they went around the room, Dave setting up and demonstrating three more machines. After the last one Dave looked down at Matt's leg. "I'm not sure about the leg," he mused. "It's okay," Matt said. He didn't want to risk breaking his good leg doing something silly. "No, there's a couple you can do one legged," said Dave, and he lead him through two more machines. Then it was back around to repeat the process, Dave watching what Matt did. Matt was a little surprised that Dave was so friendly and supportive. He expected Dave to be yelling at him to do 'one more!' and to lift more weigh, but Dave was quite the opposite, telling him to take it easy this time and work up to it. After about half an hour Matt was hot and sweaty. He was relieved when Dave said it was time to call it quits. Dave led Matt down a corridor and into the Men's Changing room, then down and into a small room. Matt, now comfortable with his crutches and taking long strides as he slid along, barreled into the room before he quite knew what Dave was up to. He stopped. The room was small, with a padded table in the center. Matt turned around to see Dave closing the door. "Uh...what's this?" Matt began. "Massage table," said Dave brightly. "Come on, get up and I'll give you a rub down." "A rub down?" Matt barely managed to squeak out. "Yeah, come on," said Dave. Matt stood there not sure what to do. Dave walked over and took the crutches out of Matt's arms. Matt awkwardly hopped the one step to the table and stood there for a moment. 'Okay,' he thought, 'this is weird.' But Dave was back beside him and helping him onto the table. "Let's get you shirt off," Dave said, grabbing the bottom of Matt's shirt. "It's okay," Matt protested. "Yeah, yeah," said Dave, ignoring Matt's protests and pulling Matt's shirt up. "Hey!" said Matt. "What?" said Dave, stopping and looking up into Matt's eyes. He was smiling, and his eyes were bright. Matt stared at him for a moment. "Uh, I don't...you don't need to..." "It's all part of the service. Come on! Get your shirt off and lie face down on the table." "Just the shirt?" Matt asked. Dave cocked his eyebrow. "Yeah," he said, then he playfully shoved Matt's shoulder. "Anything more costs money," and he laughed. "Come on, hurry up," he said, turning and walking around to the other side of the table. Matt stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. Then he pulled off his shirt, tossed it on the chair, and eased himself onto the table. He lay down on his back first, then awkwardly started to turn himself over. Suddenly he felt Dave's hands on his chest and thigh and he nearly jumped. "There you go," Dave said casually, helping Matt roll over. Matt lay on his stomach, trying to get comfortable. He squirmed a little. "Okay?" Dave asked. "Uh, yeah," said Matt. Dave paused, then he reached out and placed his hands on Matt's shoulder, pushing his fingers into the muscles. He paused. "You sure?" Dave asked. "Yeah," Matt said, a little irritation coming through in his voice. "Okay," said Dave, putting his hands back on Matt's shoulder and working the fingers into the muscle again. "Then try relaxing," he said. "I am relaxed!" said Matt through clenched teeth. "Uh huh," said Dave, pushing harder. "Owe! Hey!" Matt grumbled, weaving a little on the table. "You've got to relax man!" said Dave, laughing. "This won't hurt a bit if you relax." "I am relaxed," Matt repeated, trying to relax as Dave worked his fingers deeper into his shoulder. Matt tried relaxing. He breathed slowly, tried to let his arms just fall, but Dave seemed to be pushing into him so hard. "Just relax," Dave kept repeating, his hands starting to work down Matt's arm. "Just relax," he repeated softly. It actually felt pretty good now. Matt closed his eyes for a moment, feeling comfortable. He opened them again. The feeling of Dave's hands running down his arm made him feel like part of himself was running down his arm and falling out of his fingers. It was the strangest feeling. He felt warm. Dave was back at his shoulders, working the muscles in his shoulders. It really started to feel good. Not like it had at first. Now his muscles had relaxed. He wasn't fighting it. He closed his eyes again. He felt warm. The rubbing made him feel warm. All he was thinking about was the rubbing of skin against his skin. The warmth and roughness of Dave's hands on his skin. He was drifting. It was really peaceful. "Matt?" someone whispered. He startled a little. He tried to open his eyes, but it was so bright he had to blink for a moment. He felt disoriented. What was going on? Then he heard Dave again, and knew where he was. "Oh did I..." Matt muttered. "You fall asleep for a minute?" Dave asked. "Did I?" "Happens sometimes. It was just for a minute," Dave said casually. Matt tried to straighten up but his arms were all limp. What had Dave done to him? Had he drugged him? He did a quick mental inventory. He still seemed to have his pants on, and nothing felt odd - except for the fact his arms weren't working right. He managed to get his arms working and push himself up on the table and slowly rotate to a sitting position. "Everything ok?" Dave asked. He was standing in front of Matt, a big smile on his face. "Uhh....yeah," said Matt quietly, absently rubbing one arm with his other hand. "Things'll feel normal in a minute or two, it's just a... because of the massage..." Dave said, trailing off. "Ok," Matt nodded. He looked down at this arms and then up at Dave, who stared back at him blankly for a minute. "Oh," said Dave, as though suddenly waking up, "so you want to shower?" Matt sat there for a moment. "Shower?" "Yeah," said Dave, and he leaned forward conspiratorially, "don't want to stink up the place ya know." "Uh...kind of hard with my leg," said Matt. He didn't want to be mean, but Dave was such an idiot. What was he thinking? He'd just hop under the shower with his crutches? "No problem," said Dave, "I'll get you a trash bag." "What?!" said Matt. "Hang on!" said Dave, and he dashed out of the room. Matt sat there thinking for a moment. Trash bag? He thought about it for a moment. So Dave was thinking the trash bag would go over the cast and then...what? Matt was going to shower like that? With his crutches? That would be stupid. Or...was Dave planning to help him under the shower? Matt was up and off the table in five seconds flat. He pulled on his t- shirt and hopped over and grabbed his crutches that were leaning against the wall. He made for the door, awkwardly managing to open it and get out into the hallway. He'd gone only a few feet when he saw Dave come around the corner, a black plastic trash bag in his hand and a triumphant smile on his face. "I got the..." Dave began. "That's okay," Matt interrupted. "This has been great...thanks so much...but I've got to get home." "Home?" asked Dave. "I thought..." "It's late, I'll wash up at home...thanks. I can call my Mom to pick me up." "No, I'll take you back," said Dave. "It's okay," said Matt. "No problem. Come on then," said Dave, and he lead Matt back out to the entrance. SN123467: Hey! How was your day? mattv80: ok mattv80: how was yours? SN123467: busy. rehesals and stuff. big drag. you? mattv80: me what? SN123467: what you do? Matt sat back. He was sitting in bed. It was kind of nice to be back here. Away from all the hassles and troubles of the day. He ran through the day in his mind. It had been pretty dull really...except for the whole thing with Dave. What the hell had that been all about? It was so weird. Dave hadn't talked to him for years more than to say hello, and today he's all over him. Why? The whole experience at the gym had seemed normal....and yet something was odd about it too. Dave had hardly said a word on the trip home. He'd been polite and friendly. But quiet. Matt had thanked him when they'd got home and Dave had declined the invitation to come in; which Matt was grateful about, as he'd only extended it out of courtesy. He hadn't wanted Dave to come in. He couldn't figure it out. mattv80: didn't do a thing really SN123467: huh! you must be bored out of your mind. mattv80: lol nah it's always like this here SN123467: you should come down mattv80: what? SN123467: to NY. why don't you come down? Matt sat there thinking about it. It was tempting... No, he'd been right before to turn it down; it made no sense. Better to stay here. mattv80: no, I can't SN123467: man, why not? It'll be ages until I can get up there! mattv80: I told you, I won't be able to get around. mattv80: but thanks for the invite SN123467: you can get around! I'll fucking move you! Matt smiled. It was appealing. But he couldn't. mattv80: I can't SN123467: why not?????????????? mattv80: cause I've got important business to take care of SN123467: oh yeah??????? mattv80: im off to planet zoolock 10 for my annual tour tomorrow mattv80: don't get back for five weeks SN123467: Im sure zoolock wouldn't miss you mattv80: of course they will! I am supreme chancellor! SN123467: well then they'll have to let you skip it SN123467: or you could come back early? mattv80: they are blonde men who want only sex mattv80: once im there im not leaving! SN123467: then you better not go! SN123467: anyway theyre probably PATHETIC in bed...you need a real man mattv80: they have 10 inc penises mattv80: and 3 prostates SN123467: hmmmm...any chance I could come too then? mattv80: and can stick there tongue in you so deep your grandkids feel it SN123467: lol! lucky grandkids mattv80: lol SN123467: well I guess I can't compete with that :( mattv80: nooo.... you are way better than that mattv80: they'll just keep my mind off missing you while I have this damn foot SN123467: I don't like the fact that they're taking your mind off me matttvt: I won't go then....but I'm not coming down to New York. SN123467: ok mattv80: when my leg is better SN123467: yeah? mattv80: probably SN123467: probably? mattv80: yeah SN123467: ok...I gotta go to bed Matt mattv80: me too Nick SN123467: night mattv80: gnight! SN123467: I'll call ya tmorrow mattv80: yeah, you better mattv80: :) SN123467: night Matt quit the window, closed the laptop and put it down, turned out the light and lay down. He closed his eyes, thinking of Nick. Wondering when he'd get to see Nick again. He'd done the right thing not seeing him, hadn't he? As he drifted off to sleep, there was only one thing that troubled him... What was Dave up to? ------------------------------- To be continued... ------------------------------- My other stories: High School: Do What You Can Celebrity: Boy Bands: Birthday Blues Celebrity: Boy Bands: All The Ways I Love You