This story is a work of fiction. All similarities to real life are coincidental. It also belongs solely to the author and unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited without the author's consent. Be aware! This series is about gay high school kids growing up and learning about life and love. If you are or think you will be offended by reading this, please make everybody's life easier and just move on. Also, if you are under 18 (or 21 in some areas), you're not supposed to be reading this either. Don't blame me!

And now...

Collision, Part 16
"Eric, Part 2"
By Joey E

As the car sat up on the top of the barrier, Eric yelled, "Shit, Jay, if I don't make it out of this alive, tell everyone I said goodbye."

"SHUT UP ERIC! We're gonna make it! Lean to the left!" Jay yelled.

But it was too late. The car slipped off the barrier towards the river.

But it never happened.

They landed with a thud on the railroad tracks that were on the side and below the road. The tracks were for the Speedline system that went from Philly to NJ that ran every 15-20 minutes at night.

"Fuck!" Eric yelled.

Jay frantically unbuckled his seatbelt. "Are you okay, man?"

"Uh, I don't know, man."

"Get out," Jay yelled. "Undo your seatbelt, babe! We gotta get off these tracks before the Speedline comes and crashes into us!"

Eric did nothing. He just sat there. Jay quickly unbuckled Eric's seatbelt, got out of his side, came over to Eric's side, opened the door and yelled, "COME ON! GET OUT!"

Eric slowly got up, still in shock.

"HEY! Are you all right?" they heard someone yell from above. Jay looked up and saw there were a bunch of people who were looking below.

"I think so," Jay yelled back up. "Call 911 and tell them to stop the trains!"

"They're on it already, son. Good thinking," a deep voice yelled from above. He appeared over the top and it was a police officer. "You'll be okay for now down there. No train is coming."
"How are we gonna get up there?" Jay asked. Eric just slumped down on the hood of his now totaled car.

"Is he okay?" someone asked.

Jay turned around to Eric. "Eric, are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

"My head," Eric said. Blood was dripping from the cut on his face, but it didn't look too serious. "I think I'll be okay, man. I'm just scared man."
Jay looked back up and yelled, "I think he's okay. He's just shaken up. I'm okay. We're okay."

"Good," the officer said. "Help will be on the way. Just stay calm and don't move from where you are."
Jay moved over to where Eric was sitting on the hood. He looked into Eric's eyes. Eric's eyes showed fright and terror. He took Eric's hand in his hand and said very softly, "Don't worry, babe. It's gonna be all right, man. We're safe dude. We didn't go fly off the bridge."

"JayMan, we could've died!" Eric said.

"I know, but we didn't. And we aren't going to either. Help is on the way, babe."

Eric sat up on his mangled hood and threw his arms around Jay. Jay smiled and reached around Eric's body, standing in front of him. Jay held him tight and gently said everything was going to be all right. He noticed Eric's face was bleeding, and blood was getting on his shirt, but Jay didn't care.

Eric finally released Jay and looked at him and smiled. "Thanks," he said, softly. There was a moment of silence as they looked into each other's eyes.

"JayMan, we are so lucky," Eric said, getting up. He went to the edge of the tracks which had a small railing . He looked over the edge and saw water. Jay walked slowly over with him.

"Yes we are," Jay said. "Yes we are."

Jay didn't have time to take in what happened, since he was caring for Eric more than himself. But now that Eric seemed to be better, he began to realize just how lucky they were.

"I guess, uh, I guess....you're my lucky charm," Eric said, smiling down at Jay's face.

Jay's face turned red as he grinned widely. "Well not so lucky. Look at your car, man."

"Who cares about the car, dude? It saved us probably. It did it's job."

"Yeah...but..." Jay's voice trailed off.

Eric put his strong around the college kid standing next to him. "Like you said, man, everything is going to be all right."

They both looked up at the bridge. Traffic had stopped. It took them a while, but finally, there was a rescue team that hoisted up Jay then Eric back up to the road of the bridge.

He has a cute ass, though Eric, as he watched Jay being lifted up Jay smiled as he rose, and thought, this ain't have bad after all. An officer helped him down and it felt good to be on solid ground again, even if they were up 800 feet above the water. Jay then watched Eric being hoisted up. He had a big grin on his face.

"Are you sure that'll hold him?" Jay asked the officer, smiling.

"Yeah, we're sure."

The officer assisted Eric and soon enough, he was back on a flat surface standing next to Jay.

Eric walked over and shook the officer's hand. "Thank you."

They got a view for the first time of the accident. There were three cars involved. The one that Eric saw swerving to him was actually not the cause, since he was hit from the left side pushing off to the right. There were people standing on the bridge, looking over the edge at Eric's car.

The crew started work on getting what was left of Eric's car back on the road and off the tracks. Eric and Jay gave a full report of what they saw. There were three cars involved in the accident including theirs. They had witnesses and it was clearly not Eric's fault.

"I need to call my parents," Eric said. "They'll be worried."

The officer put a call in to notify his parents. "They'll be here soon, son."

Eric had always wanted to be able to walk on the bridge. It wasn't the greatest circumstance now, but at least he was doing it. The officer put the two guys in his patrol car and went away from the scene towards the tolls where his parents would pick them up.

"What did they tell my parents?"

"Well, they told them not to worry, most likely, since you are okay. But that you were in an accident and needed to be picked up."

"Gee I hate to have you parents have to drive me back to college, Eric. Do you want me to give a call to my roommates to pick me up?"

"Nah, Jay, they'll give you a ride. I insist. After all, you wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for me," Eric said smiling.

If only they weren't in a patrol car, Eric thought to himself, I would be holding his hand. He smiled at Jay. Jay smiled back. They arrived at the mini station near the tolls and the officer took them inside. Eric filled out some kind of report and they waited in the lobby. It would take his parents at least 30 minutes to get there.

Surprisingly, they were there in 25. Eric's mom, a surprisingly short woman about 45 was the first one to come in. Jay noticed immediately that Eric had his mom's eyes. He smiled at that thought. A big figure behind her, the same height as Eric followed. Now, this was a pretty good looking Dad, Jay thought. He looked about 45 and you could tell that Eric was his son.

"Eric, honey!" his Mom said, wrapping her arms around her eldest son. "Are you all right?"

Eric looked extremely comfortable in his Mom's arms and hugged her back. "Yeah, mom, I'm okay."

"You sure, son?" his Dad said.

"Yeah, Dad. I'm all right. Thanks to Jay here," Eric said, smiling at Jay. "Oh, by the way, this is Jay. Jay this is my mom and dad."

"Hello," Jay said, sort of feeling awkward.

"Well, what happened? And what are you doing out this late?" Mrs. Neuman said.

"We can talk about this later, honey," Eric's dad said. "Let's just get these two boys home. Jay where do you live?"
"I live on campus at the college," Jay said.

"Oh, okay. We'll drop you off. I already talked to the police. They're having the car towed to our house, since I didn't know where else to take it."

"Great, Dad," Eric said, not wanting to see the car outside his house now.

They all got in the car, and Eric and Jay retold the story to the parents. However, it was clear that the parents were not so clear about why they were in Philadelphia and why they were out this late. Eric was allowed to do most anything, as long as he didn't cause trouble. That was the rule. If he did get in trouble, that would be the end of his freedom. And it worked. Luckily, there was the accident to talk about because, if there wasn't, the car ride would've been a very quiet one.

Jay was let off in front of his on-campus apartment. Eric was sort of stressing out now. His parents would want to know who Jay was, why they were out in Philly, etc. He didn't think he could deal with it now.

But as soon as Jay left the car his mom said, "Eric, there are some questions that need to be answered, but I'm too tired to get into them now. I'm sure you are too. So, I just want to say I'm glad you're okay. You had us worried."

"Yeah, Mom. We were lucky."
So after a very long night, Eric hit the hay at merely 4:30AM. School was in three hours.

"Hey, have you seen Eric today?" Brett asked Ryan as they both entered their US Government class.

"No, man I haven't. I do know, however, he had a hot date last night," Ryan said.

"Oh really? Was it with that girl he's been trying to get?"

"Uh, no, it was with a college student..."

"College? Damn, bro, he's the man!"

"Yeah, I know. You met him before, though. At the club," Ry said sitting down.

Brett hit Ryan on the shoulder when he remembered who it was. "No shit! Jay? He finally converted him?"

Ry laughed. "Maybe so. I don't know."

"Wow, I didn't know about that. I'll be sure to call him tonight. I hope he's okay."
"Well, you know Eric. He can get through most anything!"

"True...true," Ry said.

At lunch time, the duo ran into Sara, their most favorite female friend.

"Hey Sara. Have you heard anything about Eric?"

"I was just going to ask you guys that," Sara said. She was on her way to another table, but paused to talk with the boys.

"We have no clue. Ryan said he had a hot date with a college boy," Brett said.

"Oh, yeah, that's right. He told me that he was going with some college kid," Sara said. "Well, I gotta get over to my table guys. I'll talk to you later!"

In the afternoon, just before Physics, the duo ran into Dan.

"Hey Dan, have you heard anything about Eric?"

"No man, I was wondering where he was today. I knew he had some hot date last night though..."

"What is with this?" Brett interrupted. "Everyone knows about Eric's hot date except me?"

Ryan laughed. "Apparently so."

Just then, Miller appeared. "Hey Ryan!" he yelled, smiling.

Ry smiled and shook his hand. "Hey Paul."
"Yo, I hear Eric got some last night...." Miller said.

"That does it!" Brett yelled throwing his hands up in the air. "Even fuckin' Miller knows!"

"What's with him?" Miller asked, nodding his head towards Brett.

"He's a little miffed about everyone knowing about Eric's hot date with a college kid," explained Ryan.

Miller grinned. "All right, see you around, faggot!"

Ryan glared at Miller. Miller broke into another grin. Finally, Ryan grinned and replied, "Okay, cocksucker!" Miller cracked up laughing and walked away.

"This is too weird!" Brett said. "Miller and you are laughing at each other and I'm the last one to know about Eric. What next?"

"Get movin', babe. We'll stop by Eric's house on the way home after practice, how about that?"

"Sounds good to me."

Practice was hard as usual. Eric was not present there either. Brett wanted to ask the coach if he knew why Eric was out, but thought better of it. Ryan was back in style, beating the pants off of the varsity 115 pounder and 119 pounder. He was on a roll.

Ryan followed Brett in separate cars to Eric's house. Hmm, thought Ryan, his car isn't there. I hope he's okay.

"His car isn't here," Brett remarked when they got out of their cars.

"Yeah, strange isn't it?" Ry said, walking with Brett towards the front door. They rang the doorbell.

Surprisingly, Eric's face appeared at the door.

"Yo, dudes!" he said, as he opened the front door. "Come in!"

"Where the hell have you been? What the hell happened to your face?" Brett asked. Eric had a brush burn on his chin, and had a cut on his forehead.

"Well, we had a minor catastrophe last night. Did you hear about that accident on the Ben Franklin Bridge?"

"Well, I heard there was one, but I don't know any of the details," Brett said. "Wait, don't tell me you caused it?"

"Nah, but I was involved in it. My car was the one that went off the edge onto the train tracks."

Eric explained the whole story to them. "I've been sleeping all day, dudes. Jay's gonna come over later though."

"Ah," Ryan said grinning. "How'd it go?"

Eric lowed his voice, knowing his parents were in the other room. "It went very well, man. I like him very much. Never met anyone like him before. He's such a small guy, but he's very strong at heart. I saw it last night. He's awesome man."
"Wow," Brett said, smiling. "I'm glad to hear that buddy. It's about time you found someone worth keeping."
"Well, I don't know where we're going, but I sure am enjoying it," Eric said. He went to move and groaned.

"You sore?" Ry asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I have some scrapes and bruises from the accident. Nothing serious, though."
"Well, thank god you're okay," Brett said.

"Yeah, we were lucky, very lucky."

Just then, the doorbell rang. "Could you get that for me?" Eric said. "It hurts to move."
His mom started to come towards the door. "It's okay, Mrs. Neuman. I got it," Brett said in his deep voice that resonated throughout the front hallway.

He opened the door and there stood a kid he met a few months ago at Woody's. He smiled and opened the door. Surprisingly, the kid had a black eye, and had a bruise on his arm.

"Hey, is Eric here?" Jay asked, timidly.

"Sure, buddy, come on in," Brett said. "What did he do to you? He beating you up already?" he asked with a chuckle. "Hey Eric, it's Jay!"

"JayMan!" Eric said, smiling as Jay walked into the living room. They all sat down again. Eric on the lazy-boy and Jay, Brett, and Ry on the couch.

"So, how was the ride home from my place?" Jay asked.

"We haven't talked about it yet, believe it or not?" Eric answered. "Mom and Dad are unsure of some things about last night."

"Like why I was hanging out with their son," Jay said, smiling.

"Why were you hanging out with their son?" Brett inquired.

Jay blushed and looked at Eric. He grinned. "Because I like their son, very much."
Eric blushed too and smiled. "Aw, man..."

"Well, I guess that is our cue to leave," Ryan said getting up. "I'm glad to hear that you're okay, Eric. And you too, Jay."
"Thanks," Jay said. "It was nice to see you two again. It's nice to see anything again after last night!"

"You got that right," Eric said. "You got that right."
Ryan and Brett left the two young men alone in the living room to talk.

"Thank you again for last night," Eric said after a brief awkward silence. Jay looked up at him and smiled. "I don't know what I would've done without you there to calm me down, man."
"Hey, no problem. You were calming me down by being so hyper."

"I just panicked and freaked. And because you were there, talking to me, and holding me, I felt better. You made me feel better. I've been thinking about you all day, Jason. All day."
Eric got up and sat next to Jay on the couch. Jay blushed and felt full of life. He couldn't help it. Every time he got the thought of Eric in his mind, he would feel alive. Having faced near death last night, he was beginning to view life from a different perspective. Having also faced the first real kiss by a man last night, he was looking at life from a different perspective. It was new and different.

"Man, I thought about you all day too. My roommate Joe and his boyfriend Matt think you're awesome. I did the best I could last night to ease your mind. You certainly eased mine. And let's not forget, I did have the time of my life last night before the accident as well."
Eric smiled and closed his eyes. Oh, how he wanted to hold Jay in his arms, feel him, touch him, kiss him. But somehow, that wasn't feasible right now.

"Jay, I've decided I'm gonna tell my parents. I'm not going to lie to them because it's just not my style. I've never had to talk about this subject to them before though because I've never had a guy I really liked. I'm sure they'll be okay with it. They have two other Neumans to carry on the Neuman name."

Jay proceeded to laugh at that comment. "There will be no one else to carry on my last name."

"What was it again?" Eric asked. He had heard it last night. "Was it Geiger?"

"Yep. That's me. Good old German!" Jay exclaimed.

"That's right, you don't have any other brother or sisters," Eric said, remembering.

"Well, the truth is, I did, man. A long time ago," Jay said, looking past Eric, as if to see the past behind where he was sitting. "He was older, man. I loved him so much. I looked up to him. He was everything I wanted to be at the ripe old age of ten. He and my Dad. We were quite a team. My mom somehow put up with us. But then, one day, it all stopped. My Dad and my older bro died in an accident when I was ten."

"Aw, shit, JayMan. I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. So why this sudden urge to tell your parents?"

"Because I don't know. I think I knew for a long time. I have super cool parents. I'm sure it'll take time, but I'm sure they'll accept me. I just hate lying to them though. I know it sounds so corny, but it's true."

"I see. Hey listen, do you think your parents would mind if you took a ride with me to my apartment. I'd like to talk to you more, but I don't think this is the time and the place."
"Sure, man. Let me get my sneakers and I'll go tell them."

Eric left the room and walked into the family room to let his parents know he was going out for a little.

"Okay, but try not to make it too late tonight. Don't forget, you still got school to go to," his Mom said.

"Don't worry," Eric said. "See ya!'

He came back to the front living room, stood in the foyer, grinned at Jay, and asked, "Are you ready?"

Jay jumped up off the couch and smiled. He brushed up against Eric's hard firm body as he passed him to go out the front door. Eric whispered, "You bad boy..."

Jay giggled and Eric left behind him. Little did he know, his Mom was watching the whole scene play out. She smiled, in spite of herself, and realized her suspicions were true. She sat back down next to her husband and said, "Honey, we may be right about him." Eric's Dad let out a huge sigh and smiled.

"Well, we already have grandchildren..." he said.

"It could be worse, you know," she said.

"Yes it could be. A lot."

"He's our son," his Mom said for no reason.

"Yep. Nothing will change that," his dad said, putting his arm around his mom.

And so ends another section of Collision. I hope you enjoyed it. I think focusing on Eric for a time is just what the series needs. But don't worry, there will be more on Brett and Ryan too. Please send any comments or suggestions to SNJBoy76@aol.com Thanks!