Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 22:09:56 -0500
From: jaden.scott@adelphia.net
Subject: Lover's Lane Chapter 20

This story is a work of fiction.  It depicts a romance between two
consenting adult males and may contain some descriptions of sexual acts,
again between two consenting adult males.  If you are not of legal age to
read this kind of story, please leave now.  If you reside in an area where
reading stories that include sexual situations between two consenting adult
males is illegal, please leave now.  This story is for entertainment
purposes only.  Any similarity to any person(s) living or dead is simply a
coincidence.  The author retains all rights to this story.  It cannot be
reproduced in any form without expressed written permission from the author
(me).  Please contact the author for any requests. Copyright 2006.

Feedback (and criticism) is ALWAYS appreciated and welcome.  Please respond
to this story at: jaden.scott@adelphia.net

I look forward to hearing from all of you and I will respond if you write
to me.  Thanks to all of you who have written so far with your encouraging
words.  I have appreciated every one of them.  Jaden

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to everyone who wrote to me after
Chapter 19 was finished.  I was pleasantly surprised by the intensity of
the reaction to the new chapter.  Clearly, some of you were close to the
end of your rope because you had to wait so long for me to complete Chapter
19.  I apologize once again and hope that the wait for this chapter wasn't
as agonizing.  I have some news: I've come to a decision for the NEXT story
I'm going to write.  I've decided on the main character's name, I've chosen
the title for the story, and I've already loosely plotted the first four to
five chapters.  Please don't worry-I WILL NOT bring 'Lover's Lane' to a
hasty and unsatisfying conclusion just because I've gotten an idea for my
next story.  In fact, coming to that decision has actually re-energized me
to finish 'Lover's Lane' and do it to the best of my ability.  Thanks again
everyone.

**Please watch for changes in POINT-OF-VIEW**


LOVER'S LANE

by Jaden

>From the end of Chapter Nineteen:

**LANE'S POINT OF VIEW**

"WELL, WELL, WELL," a very familiar voice boomed out behind me, "What's
going on here??"

Jaden jumped away from me in surprise, immediately removing his arms from
around my body.  FUCK!!  I opened my eyes.  Before I turned around, I
glanced up at the sign, the mistletoe that had prompted me to take action.
I completed my turn and came face to face with Connor.  He was smiling as
wide as a Cheshire cat.  I knew that in a second he was going to start
giving me grief over what he had just witnessed, but I didn't care.  Jaden
and I had kissed!!  I had gotten the only present I wanted for Christmas
this year and I was happy.


CHAPTER TWENTY: THE CHRISTMAS EVE PARTY, PART ONE

**JADEN'S POINT OF VIEW**

My heart was about to burst out of my chest and I thought that I might have
a heart attack.  Talk about sensory overload!!  I couldn't believe what had
happened during the last few minutes of my life.  I was flush with so many
emotions, many that I couldn't put a name to.  The newest emotion to come
over me was intense embarrassment.  I had been so caught up with what was
happening between Lane and me, the fact that his entire family was twenty
feet away from us didn't cross my mind.  So, when I heard 'the voice', I
was caught completely and totally by surprise.  If it had been possible, I
think I would have jumped out of my own skin.  As it was, I physically
jumped about three feet away from Lane and shut my eyes.  I wanted to crawl
into a hole and die but, as embarrassed as I was, I forced myself to open
my eyes and look at the person who had intruded on the most perfect moment
of my life.

I looked up and saw Lane standing in front of me.  In front of him
was...well, basically he looked like Lane, just a slightly larger version
of Lane.  He was about two inches taller than Lane and outweighed him by
about twenty pounds, most of it muscle from what I could see.  I instantly
knew this was Connor.  It was so weird...standing in front of me was a
slightly older, slightly taller, and slightly heavier version of Lane.  The
big difference was in the hair.  Connor had longer hair than Lane and he
had it dyed on top.  I think the term for it is 'frosted' and I wasn't
crazy about the way it looked on him.  While Connor wasn't exactly Lane's
identical twin, the similarities between them were still striking.

I had heard a lot of stories about Connor over the last few months.  Most
of them involved some situation in which Connor had ridiculed, embarrassed,
or generally harassed Lane.  Despite all of that, you could hear the
genuine affection that Lane held for his brother in the tone of voice he
used while speaking about him.  Lane would never admit this, especially to
Connor, but he looked up to his big brother.  He loved him.

I continued to stand there, frozen, not sure what to say or do.  Lane and I
had just been caught kissing.  Hold on a second...Lane and I had just
KISSED!!  OH MY GOD!!  This kiss was nothing like the quick peck on the
lips we had shared the night I told Lane about my past.  This kiss was
totally different.  It was exciting and filled with passion and sexual
undertones.  I focused my gaze on Lane.  He was facing away from me, so all
I could do was stare at the back of him.  My eyes drifted down and I looked
at his butt.  Man, his ass was AWESOME!!  Suddenly, I had an overwhelming
urge to touch his ass, to grab it and...and...I wasn't sure.  All I knew
was that I wanted do SOMETHING.  I wanted him...in a sexual way.  HOLY
SHIT!!  WAIT A MINUTE!!  What is happening to me??

No one had ever affected me like this.  No one had ever made me think these
kinds of sexual thoughts.  I was scared, which was understandable given my
history.  Yet, I was thankful that I met him and he was a part of my life.
I needed him in my life.  He had been the catalyst I needed to finally
begin making the changes I had wanted to make for so long but was terrified
to try.

I had come a long way in a relatively short amount of time.  Four months
ago as I began my senior year of college, I had no friends, no boyfriend,
and my mind was trapped in the past, trapped by the things Leon had done to
me.  It's funny how one moment can change your life so dramatically.  I'm
positive that if you had asked me four months ago if simply meeting one
person could impact my life so radically, I would have scoffed at that
notion.  However, I couldn't deny what had happened to me after meeting
Lane.  I made friends, to the delight of my parents and myself.  People
found out I was gay and...the world didn't end.  I confronted my demons
surrounding 'IT' and I was putting my ordeal to rest once and for all.  At
this point, the black cloud of doom was nothing more than a gray mist.
And...look at me right now.  I'm standing in the house belonging to the
parents of my 'romantic interest'.  I'm ogling his ass while thinking
sexual thoughts after I had just experienced the most passionate moment of
my life.  I think I've made some good progress in my recovery.

While I was happy with the changes occurring in my life, I had to ask
myself: who am I now??  I felt like the same person I had always been, at
least at my core.  However, it seemed that all of the changes I had been
experiencing, changes I had feared for so long, were creating a better
version of me.  I was becoming more of a complete person.  I was living my
life now, not content to sit on the sidelines and watch the world pass me
by anymore.

Although I was proud of how far I had come in accepting my feelings for
Lane, I still felt embarrassed that I was discovered expressing those
feelings for him.  I noticed that Lane's body took on a defensive posture.
Clearly he was expecting Connor to give us shit over what he had just
witnessed.  Even though I couldn't see his face, my instincts told me that
Lane was gritting his teeth and preparing for a showdown.  George growled,
apparently recognizing the mood shift in the hallway.  I looked down at him
and he was staring intensely at Connor.  I guess he understood who the
enemy was in this situation.

Suddenly Lane began to take a few steps backward.  At the same time his
arms started to reach back too.  He stopped walking when he was right in
front of me, and his arms stopped moving when he felt his hands touching my
hips.  He was in a protective position...and he was protecting ME!!  WOW!!
My own knight in shining armor, putting himself between me and the danger
he perceived.  The split second after I realized what he was doing, the
last remnant of my heart melted and all of my doubts were gone.  Right
there, right then, in the hallway of Lane's parent's house, I fell in love
with him.

"What's up??  What's shaking??  What's happening??" Connor asked again.

It's possible I'm being a bit melodramatic, but the tone of Connor's voice
can only be described as pure evil.  'We're about to get slammed' I
thought.

"Connor." Lane said curtly as he acknowledged his brother.

There was silence again in the hallway.  I think Lane wasn't sure what to
say, or maybe he was just waiting to react to anything Connor said or did.
I wasn't about to open my mouth.  Connor continued to shift his gaze back
and forth between me and Lane, that stupid grin plastered to his face.
After a few more seconds of silence, Connor apparently couldn't take it
anymore and decided to begin torturing us again.

"Well, Lane, I'm assuming this is your friend Jaden.  If he isn't, then I'm
really confused.  What am I supposed to think??  That you suddenly
developed a new habit of inviting in and KISSING strange men that come to
the door??"

My cheeks flared up again.  Lane and I needed to get out of this situation
and fast.

"I apologize for my brother's rudeness." Connor said, turning his attention
to me.  "I guess I'll have to introduce myself.  I'm Connor."

Connor took a few steps forward and stuck out his hand.  George growled
again, this time a little more loudly than before.  I reached down and put
my hand on the back of George's neck.

"Settle down, George." I commanded him.

I moved away from Lane slightly and reached out to shake Connor's hand.  He
had a very firm grip.  As I shook his hand, we locked eyes.  The grin was
gone, and I could tell he was studying me, appraising me.  I guess he was
trying to determine if I was a good guy or not.  I realized that for all of
the shit he was giving us, Connor was worried about his little brother.  He
wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to hurt Lane.  I tried to convey my
sincerity as I stared back at him.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Connor.  I'm Jaden." I said as I introduced
myself.

"I kind of figured that out because...well...you know."  He made a motion
with his hand, pointing to me and Lane.  The evil grin was back.  "Still,
it's comforting to know that little Laney-boy here isn't trying to suck
face with total strangers."

Wow...is this what it's like to have a brother??  I had always been a
little bit disappointed that my parents didn't have any more children.  I
understood why they didn't have any children soon after having me.  They
were so young when I was born.  Between the time I was born and 'IT'
happened, both of them had been busy going to school and establishing their
careers.  Even though it wasn't my fault, I felt a little bit guilty that
because of 'IT' they decided not to have any more children, choosing
instead to focus their attention on me and my problems.  Since we had never
talked about it, that was only my guess as to why they didn't have any more
kids.  But, after having heard all of Lane's stories about his siblings and
now having actually witnessed the cruelty firsthand, I was beginning to
think I was lucky being an only child.

Lane continued to remain silent.  I wasn't sure why he wasn't fighting
back.  'Come on, Lane!!  SAY SOMETHING!!', I screamed in my mind.

"I was just about to take Jaden into the family room to meet the family."
Lane said suddenly, almost as if he could hear my thoughts.  The tone in
Lane's voice was not friendly.  He basically spit those words out at
Connor.  I had never heard Lane so mad before.

"You were JUST ABOUT to take Jaden to meet the family??" Connor said, his
voice dripping with incredulity.  "Well...you could've fooled me!!"  The
grin was threatening to split Connor's face in half.

I came to a realization...once Lane and I escape this hallway, Connor
wasn't going to stop giving us shit about the kiss.  He's going to continue
ALL NIGHT LONG.  I had the feeling that Lane was keeping quiet because he
didn't want to egg Connor on.  I was sure that he wanted to fight back, but
he was stopping himself and I knew I was to blame for that.  Lane was
watching out for me and my feelings.  Because I had been so hesitant to
start anything with Lane, I'm sure he didn't know how I was reacting
internally to our kiss, especially since he knew all about my past.  I
think Lane was hoping that by NOT reacting to Connor, he would grow tired
of teasing us, thus sparing my feelings.

I didn't have any direct experience dealing with Connor, but I felt what
Lane was doing was the wrong course of action.  Based on what I knew of
Connor from the stories Lane told me, it seemed the best was to deal with
him was to fight fire with fire.  We needed to let Connor know we weren't
embarrassed by the kiss.  Lane wasn't going to do that because he didn't
know I'd be okay if he said something.  I realized if anything was going to
be said, I was going to have to do it.  Suddenly I felt energized by a
surge of confidence.  I didn't know where it was coming from, but I decided
to go with it.  I wasn't ashamed by the kiss that Lane and I shared.  In
fact, I was proud.  I was motivated by two factors in speaking to Connor.
First, I hoped that saying something now would discourage him from
continuing to give us shit about the kiss.  Second, and more importantly, I
wanted to give Lane something.  I wanted to show him that I was glad we
kissed.

"You know what, Connor??  You're right."  Lane took a step away from me and
whipped his head around to look at me.  "Not that it's any of your
business, but before Lane introduced me to your family, he wanted to
introduce me to the inside of his mouth.  Unfortunately, you interrupted
us.  I guess he'll have to try again later!!" I said as confidently as I
could.

Lane was gaping at me.  I think his eyes were about to pop out of his head.
He definitely did not expect me to make that comment.  If I wasn't trying
to act so cool in front of Connor, I would've laughed out loud at the look
on Lane's face.  The word 'shock' didn't do justice to his expression.  I
glanced over at Connor and he looked shocked too.  'Score one for me', I
thought triumphantly.

I looked back at Lane.  As he digested what I said, the shock was replaced
by a look of happiness and pride.  He smiled at me.  It was the biggest and
best smile I had ever gotten from him.  He was positively beaming.  He
moved over to stand next to me and grabbed my hand.  I squeezed back
tightly.

"If you'll EXCUSE us..." Lane said to Connor as we passed by him.  No more
words were needed regarding the scene that Connor had witnessed.  George
followed behind us faithfully.  When we reached the point where we were
going to turn and walk into the family room, Lane gave my hand a quick
squeeze and let it go.  I took a deep breath and turned the corner.

The first thing I saw as I entered the family room was the most gigantic
Christmas tree I had ever seen.  If I hadn't first witnessed the display
outside of Lane's house, I probably would have been shocked by the enormity
of the tree.  The family room had a cathedral ceiling and Lane's father
took full advantage of it.  My guess was the tree was about fifteen feet
tall.  It was decorated with a variety of ornaments, lights, garland, and
tinsel.  On the very top of the tree sat a beautiful angel.  The lights
were all white, matching the ones on the outside of the house.  I imagined
this tree could contend for most impressive Christmas tree in the country,
right up there with the tree put up in Times Square.

I was only able to admire the tree for a few more seconds because I began
to feel like I was being watched.  Sure enough, when I looked around the
rest of the room, everyone was staring at us.  It felt like they were only
looking at me, which I guess was understandable considering I was 'new'.
Whatever the reason, it still felt a little unnerving.  I finally saw
Mr. and Mrs. McNeil sitting on a loveseat across the room.  As I made eye
contact with them, they both smiled at me, then proceeded to get out of
their seats and walk over towards Lane and me.  But, before they could
reach us, a young voice yelled out.

"Uncle Lane!!  Uncle Lane!!"  A boy of about four or five years old came
out of nowhere and ran up to Lane.  Right on his heels was another little
boy who was a bit smaller than the first one.  Both of them had extremely
light blond hair, almost white.  The first little boy suddenly came to a
stop, causing the second one to smack into the back of him.  I looked at
the first boy and I noticed that he was staring at something.  I followed
his gaze to...George.  Ah, my dog had made an impression already.  I
glanced back over at the first little boy.  In a split second, his
expression changed from shock to excitement and he had this adorable gleam
in his eyes.

"Doggie!!  Doggie!!" he exclaimed while jumping up and down.  He looked up
at Lane.  "Can I pet him??  Can I??  Can I, Uncle Lane??" he said as he
began to tug on Lane's pants.

"OK, OK, Preston.  Settle down." Lane said.

George was standing to my side and I squatted down next to him.  I put my
hand on his collar and held him in place.  I looked at Preston and got his
attention.

"You can pet him.  His name is George."  I said.

Suddenly, Preston became a little shy.  He started to approach George very
slowly.

"It's alright, Preston.  He won't bite.  Don't worry." I said, attempting
to let him know he didn't need to be scared.

As Preston got closer, George tried to back up a little bit.  This action
surprised me.  Apparently, George was just as scared as Preston was.  As I
thought about it, I decided that I shouldn't be too shocked by George's
behavior.  He never had much contact with children.  He was always around
my parents and me and, lately, around Lane and his friends.  There wasn't a
lot of opportunity for George to interact with children.  While I knew that
George wouldn't bite Preston, I was curious to see how he would react to
the youngster.  I figured that they would be best friends in a few minutes.

Preston continued approaching and held out his hand towards George.  The
other little boy who, by process of elimination, had to be Hunter was
watching his brother intensely.  I guess he was waiting to see if it his
brother would get his hand bitten off, or if it was safe to pet George.
Preston gently touched George on the top of his head and then he quickly
withdrew his hand.  If someone was watching him and didn't see George, they
probably would have thought Preston had just touched something really hot.
Sensing it was safe, Preston reached out again and this time started to pet
George on his head.  Hunter began walking up to George, apparently
convinced now that my dog meant him no harm.

"Hey, mister dog!!  How are you??"  Preston addressed George.

"His name is George." I repeated.

"Hi George!!" Preston exclaimed as he continued to pet George.

Hunter reached George and started petting him too, tentatively at first.

"Hi George." Hunter said, mimicking his big brother.

George seemed to get used to the boys very quickly and licked each of them
on the face, cause both boys to giggle hysterically.

"Come on, George." Preston said.  Preston walked over, stopped in front of
the Christmas tree, and sat down.  Hunter followed his brother and George
went over to play with them.  I looked over at Lane and we smiled at each
other.  Those two were so cute!!  Everyone else was watching the boys play
with George too.  I turned my attention back to Lane's parents.

"Merry Christmas, Mr. and Mrs. McNeil." I said to both of them.

Lane's parents finished walking over to us.  I shook hands with Mr. McNeil.
I was surprised for a second when Mrs. McNeil moved in and gave me a hug
and a kiss on the cheek.

"Welcome to our home.  Make yourself comfortable."  Mr. McNeil told me.

"Merry Christmas, Jaden.  We're so glad you could join us." Mrs. McNeil
said.

"Jaden." Lane said my name to get my attention.  I looked over at him.
"Let me introduce to you the rest of my family."

I spent the next few minutes exchanging pleasantries with his aunts,
uncles, and cousins, all of whom seemed very nice.  Unfortunately, I barely
got a response out of Lane's grandmother.  She looked out of it and I
wondered if she even knew where she was, or the fact that it was Christmas
Eve.  Connor's girlfriend Veronica was gorgeous, which was exactly how I
expected her to look.  The last people I got to meet were Sarah and Brad.

"This is my brother-in-law, Brad."  Lane said.  I shook hands with him.

"Nice to meet you, Jaden." Brad said to me.

"Likewise." I responded.

"And this...this is my sister, Sarah."  Lane said very dramatically, like
he was introducing the Queen of England.

"Stop it, little brother."  Sarah chastised Lane.  "Jaden, it's a pleasure
to meet you."

Sarah was stunningly beautiful.  I might be gay, but I could still
appreciate a beautiful woman when I saw one.  Sarah, Connor, and Lane had
hit the genetic lottery.  The combination of Mr. and Mrs. McNeil's DNA had
produced three incredibly good-looking children.  I braced myself when
Sarah started to speak.  I wasn't sure what to expect, especially after the
teasing Connor had subjected us too.  The first thing she said was very
nice and I began to relax a little bit.  However, after I heard the next
sentence to come out of Sarah's mouth, I knew that I had been correct in
deciding to brace myself.  Sarah leaned in and whispered to Lane.  She was
only loud enough for the both of us to hear her.

"OH MY GOD, LANE!!  I wasn't sure what to expect, but DAMN!!  He's HOT!!
Good job little brother!!"

My cheeks flared up again.  Holy shit!!  Do either of Lane's siblings have
an edit button on their mouths??  I couldn't decide what was worse: what
Sarah said about me, or the fact that she had the audacity to say it right
in front of me.  Sarah noticed that I got embarrassed, but rather than try
to make me feel better, she continued on.

"Hey...you're CUTE, Jaden, so...get over yourself!!"

And that's how the Christmas Eve party began for me.  I kissed Lane, got
caught and harassed by Connor, and was called 'hot' by Sarah.  What did the
rest of the night have in store for me??


TO BE CONTINUED

Be on the lookout for Chapter 21 coming soon!!

FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK---This is lifeblood for us writers, so please
drop me a quick line.

My e-mail address is: jaden.scott@adelphia.net