Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:03:37 -0800 (PST) From: Henry Brooks Subject: The Worm Turns Short Story Julian McCormack and Nathan Swenson had been best buddies since the third grade. Now, as college freshman, and room mates, their friendship continued. College life was their initiation into a world away from parental rules and restrictions. On the first Saturday night away from home, they hit a local student hangout, along with several dozen other celebrants. There they consumed uncountable bottles of beer, and were now wending there way back to their dorm room, sotted beyond belief. They were reeling all over the place and supporting each other as best they could. Jule could not make it to their room. He stumbled to the bath room and tried to vomit in a commode, but he missed badly, and completely messed up his tee shirt. Nate was trying to help and he got splattered with vomit for his efforts. They washed as best they could and hobbled their way to their room. There, they stripped off their dirty clothes and threw everything into a laundry bag. Nate pulled the draw string tight, hoping to confine the odor inside the bag. Both men stunk badly and they decided to shower. They each grabbed a towel and waddled naked to the showers. The stinging hot shower waters did nothing to aid them in sobering up. Jule stood ramrod stiff under the spray. He was afraid if he moved, he would fall. Every so often his body would tip and Nate would push him upright again. Every time that happened Jule slurred, "I love you, Nate," and he threw his arms around Nate. When Nate felt that enough of their stench was gone, he turned off the showers and dried both of them as best he could. He had never touched another male below the belt in his life, but he dried Jule's pubic area, paying particular attention to the area below his balls. He even peeled back Jule's foreskin to make sure it was dry under there. Jule just kept muttering, "I love you, Nate." The two young men had seen each other naked in the high school and college showers on many occasions, but Nate was surprised to see that Jule's cock was getting hard when he dried it. He was glad that they were the only two people in the shower. Nate was not as drunk as Jule, but he was drunk enough to have lost any inhibitions he might have had. He wanted to see how big his friend got when he was hard. He began to stroke Jule's cock in earnest. After a while, Nate determined that Jule was at least eight inches, and so wide around that he had trouble wrapping his whole hand around his ample tool. He hated to admit that Jule was a little bigger than he was. He didn't know why, but he had an overwhelming desire to see Jule shoot a load. Nate was getting more and more uninhibited from the booze, and Jule was obviously getting more and more aroused. Now he began to push his body into Nate's. His mouth was right up against Nate's ear, and Nate was shocked to hear Jule whisper in his ear, "Not here, love. Let's go to our room." They almost fell several times getting back to their room. Once inside they locked the door and fell into each other's arms. Until this moment in time they had both been 100% straight, at least in their actions. Neither would admit it to the other, of course, but they were still virgins. They had lied to each other countless times about their imaginary female conquests. There had never been any. Now they began to make love to each other. Their love making came from pure intuition. They had no idea what men did to each other. Neither of the two men had ever even seen a porn film, much less a male film. Nevertheless, they made love that night like pros. They invaded every opening in their bodies and shot their loads several times in every one of those openings. As the evening progressed, they got more and more sober, but neither wanted to stop what they were doing. In the early hours of the next morning, they lay in Nate's bed, wrapped up together, their cocks grinding together, completely spent. "Awesome," Jule said. "Spectacular," Nate added. "Why did we wait so long?" Jule asked. "Do you think you would want to do it again, cold sober?" Nate asked. "I wasn't as drunk as you thought," Jule said. "I was exaggerating just a little bit because I liked what was happening." As they lay there basking in the afterglow, they didn't have a clue that they were now bound to each other for life, partners until the end of their days, and for all eternity. It was not a possibility that either had ever dreamt of in his philosophy. The room grew eerily quiet until Jule whispered in Nate's ear, "I have loved you since the day I met you. I have wanted to do this since you moved in next door, but I was just too damned scared I'd lose you as a friend." Nate laughed. "Me too! Me too," he sighed. ****** The big moving truck pulled up in front of the house next door, and eight year old, hazel eyed Julian ran out on his porch to see if he could get a glimpse of his new neighbors. His long, straight brown hair just about covered his whole face. Right behind the van, a mid sized four door sedan pulled into the driveway. A boy about Julian's age reluctantly got out of the back seat. Julian noted that he didn't look too happy. "Don't go into the house empty handed, Nate" his father yelled at him. Take a box or two with you." Jule thought, "His name is Nate, probably Nathan, and he's about my age. That's cool." Nate had blond hair and very pale skin. His eyes looked blue, but Jule couldn't be certain from that distance. One thing was for sure, Nate was two or three inches taller than he (but not for long). He watched Nate take two boxes into the house followed by a yapping little lap dog. Jule could not identify the dog's breed and suspected that it was a mutt. When Nate came out of the house, Jule decided to introduce himself. He walked next door and yelled, "Hey Nate." Nate was confused. How did this stranger know his name? "How do you know my name?" he asked. "I heard your dad call you that. I'm Julian. Everybody calls me Jule. I live next door. Wanna be friends?" "Sure," Nate said. All of his new location anxiety left him immediately, and just like that Jule and Nate were best friends forever. ****** There are only two kinds of high school teens. Any kind of blend of the two is very rare indeed. There are the popular kids. They are the good looking ones, and they are usually almost fully mature. The boys are athletes on one team or another, maybe more than one team. The girls are their cheer leaders, and if not, they are the ones who date the athletes. Their grades are usually mediocre, but no matter. At that age they still believe that their good looks will last forever, and will get them everything they want in life. There are hard lessons to be learned in the near future. Then there are the unpopular kids. They aren't necessarily nerds but the popular kids refer to them as such. They have yet to begin to reach their maturity. They take their studies seriously. They know what colleges they want to go to, and what they want to do with their lives. The girls are ignored when it comes to dating, and the boys are never ignored. They are easy prey for the school bullies. Even if it isn't true, the popular kids will often label them as sissies, or worse, FAGS. Charles Franklin and Oliver Dean were in the unpopular group. They were good friends. Their friendship started when they met in a science class. They began to study together after school. Their friendship filled a big void in their lives, and they grew closer and closer with time. Nate and Jule were both on the football team. Of course, they were in the popular group. They always double dated the prettiest girls in the school. Neither was ever alone with his date, but rumors spread how they both got into the girls' pants the night before. Neither denied it, and if the girls did not give a damn about their reputations, they never denied that it happened either. Of course, this made Nate and Jule even more popular, especially with "loose girls." One day Charlie accidently bumped into Jule in the school hallway. Jule was intact but Charlie's books landed on the floor. Charlie mumbled some sort of apology and reached down to retrieve his books. Jule grabbed him under his arms and pushed him against the wall. "Fucking faggot," he yelled at Charlie, making sure that everyone around him could hear. "You touch me again and your folks will be laying wreaths on your grave." That having been said, he lifted his knee and hammered it into Charlie's groin. Charlie yelped with pain. He picked up his books as best he could and ran off still doubled over. As he ran down the hall, he could hear students jeering at his humiliation. Jule himself was laughing his sides off. It was so much fun that he decided to do it again. He went out of his way to encounter Charlie, and to bully him as often as he could. Charlie was often with another `faggot,' and so Nate entered into the frivolity, and for the rest of their high school years, Nate and Jule pushed the smaller boys around and called them faggots, all to the amusement of the other students who witnessed this torture. Neither Nate nor Jule had an ounce of remorse. To them it was a game, a really fun game. They had no idea how they made Charlie and Ollie feel. In fact, it never occurred to them that the boys had feelings at all. Charlie and Ollie never complained to the school authorities or told their parents about the bullying. They were afraid it would make things worse. The only thing that saved them was that they could rely on each other for consolation. The bullying continued right up to graduation ceremonies. As Charlie walked down the aisle, someone stuck his foot out, causing the poor boy to land on his face, much to the amusement of his fellow students. Nate and Jule both won full football scholarships to the State University, and Charlie and Ollie both won small academic scholarships to Princeton. Charlie and Ollie thought of it as being separated at birth from Nate and Jule as they began their entry into manhood. Nate and Jule didn't give it a thought at all. ****** At Princeton, Charlie and Ollie fit right in. They met many hard working, studious people and made many friends. All their friends had goals and aspirations and they discussed it often among themselves. Although most of their friends were not athletically inclined, they were all into physical fitness. Charlie and Ollie joined a gym with a bunch of guys. They acted as a support group for each other, and encouraged themselves to stick to strict work out regimens. The results were obvious. By the end of their sophomore year, Charlie and Ollie were six feet tall each, one inch short of Jule and two inches short of Nate. Their bodies were toned and muscular. Their acne disappeared, and girls began to notice them. They got rid of their glasses in favor of contact lenses for their piercing blue eyes. They grew their dark hair longer and had it styled every so often. They were far from being jocks, but they were the popular ones now, and they didn't even realize it. They had no trouble having sex with some very hot females. At State U it didn't take long for the football team to become aware of the relationship between Nate and Jule. There was no bullying (the two guys were too big) but they were shunned and ignored by their team mates. They were never asked to parties or celebrations. They became more and more reclusive, and they relied more and more on their physical love to see them through. It took a little while but they finally made a decision. They spent hours discussing it and weighing the consequences. They had to get the approval of their parents as well. At the end of their freshman year, they gave up their scholarships and moved to off campus housing. They decided to concentrate on their studies, and to major in sports education. Their goal was to help young high school kids to fight bullying, using athletics as a means to that end. One day, during sophomore year, Nate was in the library, and he overheard someone behind him refer to him and Jule as, "Those nerdy faggots." He was only upset for a moment, and then he was amused. He and Jule were still strong, handsome, athletic jocks. What did those jerks know anyhow? He loved his life. He had a goal, and he had something they didn't have. He had a loving partner whom he loved in return. Yes, he was the lucky one. They put up with being shunned all the rest of their college years. In their senior year, they had to do some student teaching as part of their graduation requirements. Nate was assigned to help coach the football team in a nearby high school, and Jule was assigned to the basketball team. After only one day, they knew that they had made the right choice. They couldn't be happier. The kids seemed to like them, and they even seemed to want to emulate them. One day as Nate was leaving the high school building, he witnessed some guys from the football team harassing a much smaller boy, and calling him faggot. He grew incensed and did something nobody had ever done for Charlie or Ollie. He intervened and admonished the football players. "Watch what you do today," he warned. "Someday you might be asking this fine young man for a job." The reaction he got surprised even him. The football players respected him for his skills. The apparent ring leader started to laugh. "We were only having some fun, coach. But you're right. It can't be fun for Jimmy here." He held out his hand for Jimmy to shake. Jimmy took the big guy's hand, looking dumbfounded. "I'm sorry," the football player said. "Go do whatever you were on your way to doing." "I'm proud of you," Nate said, and continued on his way out of the high school and back to his apartment. That evening Nate described the encounter to Jule. "I think," he said, "that we should find Ollie and Charlie and apologize to them. I've seen how cathartic it can be." "I'm with you," Jule said. "I'm sure they'll go home for Christmas. Let's look them up as soon as we get home." ****** Nate and Jule had not come out to their parents yet, so when they got home for the winter break, they stayed in their own houses. By agreement Jule agreed to contact Charlie and Nate agreed to contact Ollie. They hoped to reach both of them, but even if only one was available, they would meet at the food court, at the mall, at noon on the following Saturday. Nate reached Charlie first. When Charlie heard who was calling, he almost hung up. Only curiosity kept him on the line. "Thanks for listening to me," Nate said. "I've grown up a lot since high school, and I mean a whole lot. I'm calling to ask a favor of you, Charlie." Charlie was dubious. "Oh yeah, and what would that be?" he asked. "I want to apologize to you in person. In case you think this is some sort of trick to bait you into some more bullying, I swear it isn't. I want to meet you at the mall on Saturday at noon. I can't think of a place that's more public or crowded just a few days before Christmas. Can you make it? Jule and I are going to ask Ollie to join us also." He believed that if Charlie knew that Ollie would be there too, he'd be more inclined to make the meeting. Charlie could not believe what he was hearing. He really held no hatred for anyone on the planet, but if pressed, he would have said that he had no use for Nate and Jule. He reluctantly agreed to meet at the mall if Ollie was similarly inclined. In his house Jule reached Ollie. He had a similar conversation, and had more difficulty than Nate, but he finally got Ollie to agree to meet. Before the appointed day, Jule and Nate met to discuss how they should proceed. Vanity never leaves a vain person. No matter how much they had been humbled by State's football team, and been shunned by other students, Nate and Jule erroneously assumed that they were still God's gift to human kind. "Let's give them a treat," Nate said. "I'll sleep with Charlie and you sleep with Ollie." "Ugh, that's disgusting, but alright," Jule grunted. "Wait a minute," Nate blurted out. "We always assumed they were gay because they're twerps. What if they're straight?" "No way," Jule said emphatically. On the appointed day, Jule and Nate got to the mall's food court early. They found a table near the chocolate cookie kiosk, where they had instructed Charlie and Ollie to meet them. They kept searching the crowds for two scrawny looking kids. Nobody seemed to fit the bill. Exactly at noon, Nate spotted two hunky looking guys coming toward the cookie kiosk. They looked vaguely familiar, but no way was it Charlie and Ollie. Nate wondered if he knew these guys from high school. To his surprise the two hunks walked right up to them. "Well," Charlie said. "We're here. Apologize and we'll get going." Nate and Jule were speechless. "What happened to you two?" Nate finally asked. "I have no idea what you are talking about," Charlie said. "I know what they mean," Ollie said. He looked at his former tormenters. "It just took us a little longer than you two to grow up. We worked out and built up our bodies. A lack of acne, new hairstyles, and contact lenses did the rest. FYI, we have women fawning all over us, thank you very much. Now please tell us why we're here and we'll get out of your lives." "OK," Nate said. "It's a bit of a story. Please sit down and we'll explain." He looked at Jule. "I hardly know where to begin." "Then let me tell," Jule said. He looked at Charlie and Ollie, and began. "I'll try to keep it short," Jule said. "Nate and I are room mates up at State. We went there on football scholarships. The first weekend we were there we got pie eyed drunk. I was so drunk, I barfed all over myself and Nate cleaned me up in the shower. He even had to clean my privates, I was that far gone. I started to get an erection and begged him to finish me off, but not in the shower, in our room. We were so drunk our inhibitions were in the cellar, and we confessed to each other that we loved one another. We probably always had. Once we were both willing to admit it, we made wild and wonderful love all weekend. By the time classes began on Monday, we were committed for life." "So you're gay," Charlie said with disgust in his tone of voice. "Is that when you faggots decided to ask us to forgive you?" Charlie asked sarcastically. Jule chose to ignore the slur. He deserved it, after all. "No," Nate continued. "We never even thought of you at all at that time, so don't get a swelled head. Please, just be patient and I'll tell the story from here." "Our football team mates got wise to our situation. They didn't dare bully us, but they gave us the silent treatment and excluded us from all their social events. We were pariahs around campus, so we decided to quit playing football, and we had to give up our scholarships..." "Wow," Ollie interjected. Nate held up his hand to silence him, and then he continued his narrative. "We decided to teach Phys Ed, and help young high school kids avoid bullying, and build their self esteem through athletics. We're both majoring in sports education without any scholarship help. This year I was assigned to student teach at a local high school. One day I witnessed a boy being bullied just like we used to bully you two. I intervened and the bully actually said that he didn't realize that he was being hurtful. He promised that it would never happen again. I realized that I was the same way. I really didn't consider your feelings, and now that Jule and I were being ostracized I knew how you must have felt. That's when I decided I wanted to contact the two of you and apologize. I know it doesn't make things right, and even if you don't forgive us, I feel better already." Nate stopped talking and there was silence at their table. In the background the din of the shopping center was non stop racket. The silence was uncomfortable so finally Jule spoke up. "I've got another confession. We expected to meet two nerdy little runts, and to make up for our past bullying, we were going to offer to have sex with you guys." More silence!! Then Charlie asked. "Why in the world would you think we were gay?" "You never denied it when we called you faggots," Jule answered. "You wouldn't have believed us if we did deny it," Ollie piped in. "FYI, we both have girlfriends, and we both have sex with women whenever we want to." Nate and Jule looked sheepish. "What are you two guys doing tonight?" Charlie asked. "We have no plans," Jule said. "Why?" "Ollie and I are going out to dinner tonight. Would you two guys like to join us? If you are really in an atonement mood, you can pick up the check." Nate and Jule nodded. The four men decided where to meet and eat, and exchanged cell phone numbers. They parted rather coolly. For the rest of the day all Nate and Jule could talk about was the incredible turn of events, and the utter stupidity of bullying. "Man, they aren't even gay," Jule lamented. "Too bad," Nate said. "They sure are hot." Charlie made the reservations, so when Nate and Jule arrived first at the restaurant, they were surprised to see that the table was set for six. Before they had a chance to conjecture much further, Charlie and Ollie arrived escorting two beautiful young women. They introduced Nate and Jule to Connie and Susan, their girl friends, and introduced Nate and Jule as their gay friends. The presence of the two women was designed to embarrass them, but it didn't embarrass them at all. Nate and Jule had endured worse to preserve their relationship. It was obvious to them that Ollie and Charlie were determined to exact their pound of flesh before they would forgive their former nemeses, if they ever would. The girls, on the other hand, were super friendly. They really didn't know any gay men and were curious to know how they met, how long they had been in a committed relationship, and so on. Nate and Jule chatted easily with the girls until Charlie realized that he and Ollie were losing control of the situation, so he changed the subject to what they were all doing at school and what their goals were for the future. It wasn't until the girls went to the lady's room together, and Nate was paying the bill, that Ollie finally said, "Look guys, you know we have been toying with you. We admire your aspirations of preventing bullying by strengthening the bodies of young boys, and teaching them to fight back. Bullies give it up when there is resistance, because the bullying stops being fun. However, please don't flatter yourselves. We don't really care anymore about how you bullied us. We haven't thought of you in years, and believe me, you didn't scar us permanently. You just made our high school years miserable. If we made you uncomfortable tonight, that was our intention." "It's OK," Jule said. "It wasn't half as tough as what we put you through. Do you think that we can ever be friends?" "Not very likely," Charlie said. "We are both going on to law school and hope to go into politics someday. It just isn't wise for politicians to associate with gays, so please pay the check and we'll be on our way." ****** Nate and Jule had no opportunity to make love until they got back to school. As soon as they got to their apartment, they locked their door, stripped quickly, and curled up in bed together. They had turned the thermostat way down when they went home, and the apartment was cold in the early January chill. It would take hours to get the temperature back to comfortable. "Fuck me quick," Nate said. "Warm me up like only you can." "Your wish is my command," Jule said, but he wasn't quick at all. He spent a very long time running his tongue all over Nate's body, and he spent an even longer time rimming Nate's luscious ass hole. Nate was moaning in sheer pleasure. "Please, fuck me now. I need it," he said. Jule greased his cock and Nate's ass and entered him easily. He was fucking away like mad, and still Nate was begging him to stroke faster and harder. Suddenly, Jule began to lose his erection. The more he tried to concentrate on the task at hand, the softer he got, until finally he fell out. "What's wrong?" Nate asked? "I keep thinking about Charlie and Ollie. I can't get them out of my mind. I'm really pissed that they won't have anything to do with us because we're gay. They admire our goals, but it's not enough to remove their prejudices." "Jule honey," Nate wondered, "do you think this is some kind of cosmic retaliation? Do you think this is karma?" "I don't know," Jule answered. "For sure, the shoe is on the other foot, and the worm has definitely turned. Maybe we aren't being bullied with fists and knees, but we are being bullied by being ostracized by almost everyone we meet, and I don't like it." "I don't either, so thank God we have each other. With you at my side, I can face anything this miserable world has to offer," Nate agreed. "It's not enough," Jule answered. "We have to come out to our folks and to the world, and we have to make gay friends. We need to function in a society that will accept us for who we are, and won't give a fuck about our sexual orientation. I love you and I'm proud of our love. I can't accept that people like Charlie and Ollie won't have anything to do with us. They have taken their revenge on us and that should be enough for them. "I agree," Nate said. "We are going to go out there, and from now on we are going to be honest about who we are. I want us to have gay friends and stop feeling like outsiders." Jule pointed to his cock, which had suddenly sprung back to life. "I think I'm ready to continue what we were doing. How about you?" he asked. "Go ahead and do what you do best, boyfriend. Make me happy!" The years flew by rapidly. Nate and Jule made each other very happy. They both taught Physical Education at two different high schools. In the summer months they ran a sports day camp. They lived modestly on their teachers' salaries. The summer day camp was lucky to break even every year, but it didn't matter to them. They loved their work and their kids. More importantly the kids loved them and looked up to them. Charlie Franklin was now Senator Franklin. He was handsome and charismatic, and easily won his US senate seat over the incumbent. His beautiful wife and three all American sons were constantly at his side during the campaign. Oliver Dean was always in the public eye. He often made the nationwide press. His skill as a defense attorney was legendary. He never lost a case. Besides using his legal skills, he charmed the jury with his boyish good looks. His clients were usually rich and famous celebrities who had gone astray. He never took any charity cases and was reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in America. Nate and Jule had followed their careers over the years, and often told people that they had known Charles Franklin and Oliver Dean in high school. When they received an invitation to their school's twentieth anniversary reunion, they accepted immediately. Many years ago, they had reached a point in their lives when they proudly introduced each other as life partners and ignored the raised eyebrows. They couldn't wait to see their old friends. The biggest question in their minds was whether or not Charlie and Ollie would attend, now that they were rich and famous. The famous pair did not appear during the social hour, even though they were on the guest list. Shortly after everyone sat down to dinner, Nate and Jule heard applause. Senator Franklin, Oliver Dean, Esq. and their wives entered the room. The organizers of the reunion escorted them to their table. When the waiters cleared the appetizer and the salad was not yet served, Nate and Ollie went over to Charlie and Ollie's table to say hello to them and their wives. When they said hello, Charlie and Ollie stared at them blankly. Finally Ollie said, "I'm sorry gentlemen. I can't seem to remember either of you. Were we in any classes together?" "I'm at a loss also," the senator said. "Weren't we in the same French class?" At first Jule thought they were kidding, but Nate was sure they were telling the truth, and so he spoke up. "Don't sweat it gentlemen," he said. "We barely knew each other, beyond nodding if we passed each other in the hallway. We just wanted to let you know that we voted for you, Senator, and we want to wish you the best of luck in Washington." "How nice of you," Charlie said. Then he turned away to say something to his wife. Nate and Jule returned to their table which was occupied by members of the football team and their wives. The two obscure Phys Ed teachers looked at each other, broke out laughing, and finally stopped feeling guilty for having bullied those two snobs so many years ago.