Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 14:19:35 PDT From: Chris P Subject: Chapter 9 Hello again! Chris here with another episode in the lives of Justin and Adam. Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you all have enjoyed the others. Make sure you keep an eye out for Chapter 10. Chapter 10 will be the anniversary chapter with a few special guests. It might be 2 to 3 weeks before I release it. But it will be well worth the wait!! Oh yeah!! I want to thank my home-town-boi (boy) Ron for going through this chapter for me, changing any errors I have made. After the advise I have received from some of you, and one nasty e-mail I received from a nameless person, I asked Ron if he would double check my work for me. The format of the story has changed a bit for the better so please enjoy! Thanks "PUNK"!!! My High School Years Chapter 9 'Sweet Sixteen' It's December 10th and Adam's 16th birthday is now only 15 days away. Yes, I ended up with a boyfriend who's birthday just happens to fall on Christmas day. Lucky bastard! Not only do I have to figure out what to buy him for Christmas, but I also have to get him his birthday present, too. I guess I could always strip to my birthday suit and wrap a big bow around me. That could make up his Christmas and birthday present all in one! Nah, he can have me anytime he wants. But wouldn't it be funny if he came down to his living room Christmas morning and found me laying under the tree with just a red bow wrapped around me? God, that would be too funny! "Star Fleet Command to Justin on the Enterprise! Would you mind beaming back down to Earth now!" "What? Hmm... yeah, what did you say Denise?" "Justin. you're zoning again. I thought that you might want to come back down to Earth and maybe practice a little?" "Oh, I'm sorry. I just have a few things on my mind." God, Denise can be a bitch at times. Like she never zones out when Brandi walks in a room, daydreaming about having her face buried between Brandi's legs! "So, what's on you mind?" Brandon asked. "Dude, I have a problem. Adam's birthday is on Christmas day. I have no idea what to get him for Christmas let alone for his birthday." "Why don't you just wrap yourself up and give him you!" Brandon said with a chuckle. "Are you telepathic or something?" I asked him. "No! Why do you ask that?" Brandon replied. "Well, it always seems that you come out and say the same thing I have been thinking." Brandon just laughed and walked away. I still think he's weird at times. We have exactly one month until the state dance competition, and Denise and I have yet to come up with a good dance to Cher's song 'Believe'. Denise insists on dancing to this song. I, on the other hand, have been trying to get her to change it. She tells me that we can't figure anything out because I don't like the song. Well, she's right! I HATE IT! And to top it all off, I received a letter back from the dance commission saying that they are not really thrilled about us using Monifah's song 'Touch It'. They think that it might be a little to risque and that they hope we don't get too "wild" with it. I was surprised that they're even going to allow the song, so, we had our parents come in and judge our dance to it. Naturally, they said we need to clean it up a bit. So, we worked on it and had them back in and they all agreed with and liked our changes. The three of us began to go through our dance routine to 'Everybody' when Adam and Christian came walking into the studio. We were all getting into the dance and the two clowns just had to start making asses out of themselves. They both took off their shirts, came out on the mat, and started shaking their butts in front of us. Hmmm.... Christian knows how to move his nice ass real fine! And then there is my teen god! I don't care what anyone says, there is no butt in the world as fine as Adam's! None! Denise, Brandon, and I were laughing too hard at our resident clowns to finish the song, so I walked over and turned off the music. Of course, they continued like the music was still playing. I walked over behind Adam and kicked him square in the butt. He turned and said, "Hey buddy! What was that for?" "That's for being such a dick!" I replied. Adam just laughed, looked around to make sure no one was really looking, then said to me sheepishly, "But you love this dick, don't you?" "Yeah, but I still haven't figured out why!" I started giggling and turned to walk toward the dressing room and felt Adam's foot connect to my butt. He then followed me in, as did Brandon and Christian. Sometimes I feel like I have my own little bunch of groupies. It's like, when I move, everyone follows. It bugs me sometimes. Brandon and I hurried and got dressed. We said our good-byes to Denise, and went out the door and piled into Adam's moms mini-van. Adam and I sat in the back, of course, and we all headed for my house. We had no school the next day, Friday, because of parent/teacher conferences. I had asked my parents if Adam, Brandon, and Christian could spend the night. They agreed, with the stipulation that we kept the noise down so my dad could get his sleep for work. Well, you know, with four teenaged boys in the house, there had to be some noise... and there was. Cindy pulled up in front of my house, and we all got out. When we walked in the back door and down the hall into the kitchen, we found that my mom had a spread of food out on the kitchen table. There was stuff to make taco's, sub sandwiches, gyro's, and such. The table and counter was just loaded with food. Mom was standing there and told us all to grab a plate and dig in. Well, she didn't have to tell Adam twice! I think he grabbed two of everything on the table. I've never seen anyone eat like he does and not gain weight. It still amazes me to this day! Mom told us all to grab a Pepsi out of the fridge and head down to the basement to where my dad and my Uncle Sean were. We all went down to the family room my dad had built in the basement and took a seat. My uncle came over and gave me a hug, as he always does, then went to sit back down over by my dad. They told us to eat and when we were finished they wanted to talk to all of us. After everyone ate what their fill (with Adam taking a few more trips upstairs than the rest of us!) we all sat back down to listen to what my dad and uncle wanted to say. My uncle started: "Ok guys, here's what's up. Justin, you have become and excellent dancer, and from what I hear from your mom and dad, you can sing pretty well, too. Your mom tells me that Brandon dances with you at your dance class." My uncle looked at the other three, "Which one of you guys is Brandon?" Brandon got up off the floor and walked over and introduced himself to my uncle, as did Adam and Christian. My uncle then started asking us about our dancing and singing talents. I was surprised when Christian told him that he had been taking lessons from a vocal coach back in Texas. He said he was looking for a new coach in this area since moving here. I know Adam can sing, but he has never had any professional coaching. I've never heard Brandon sing, so I can't make a comment on his ability. "What's with all these questions, Uncle Sean?" I asked. My uncle stood up and walked across the room and sat down with the four of us on the floor. "Okay, the radio station I work for is going to be starting a new contest. They're going to hold a show to look for new local talent. And whoever wins this competition will get an all expense paid trip to Los Angeles to perform for several different record companies that are looking for new talent." We all just sat there looking at him like a bunch of dummies. He wanted the four of us to enter this competition? He's got to be out of his flipping mind! We listened to the rest of what he had to say. He told us that the competition would be in March and that if we were interested, we would have to start practicing now. I sat there and thought about it all for a few seconds, and then told my uncle and dad that I had a few questions. "Dad, how can I be in this competition? Don't we have to be in Seattle by the first of February? And what about the dance competition that I'm in next month? I won't have the time to work on both." My dad looked at me for a minute then kind of broke into a smile. "Justin, your mother and I have been talking about this since we told you we were going to move. We have discussed this with your uncle and we have also talked it over with Adam's mom. We have decided that if you want to stay here in Tallmadge to finish out the school year, you can. We also have decided to keep this house. Sean is going to move in and you will be able to stay here. He and Cindy will both have guardianship over you." I just sat there starring out into nowhere. All I could hear was the words "if you want to stay in Tallmadge to finish out the school year". I was in complete shock! I looked over at Adam and he looked like I felt. I couldn't believe what I just heard! My dad and Uncle Sean just sat there smiling at me. I don't know what made me do it, I haven't hugged my dad in a few years, but I got up off the floor and threw my arms around him and held onto him tight. I felt like I was a five year old kid again, sitting on my dads lap and giving him a hug. We need to do this hug thing more often! Don't get me wrong. My dad loves me, and I love him. He just don't show this kind of affection. After I sat back down we all started talking about this competition thing. Uncle Sean had an idea about hooking me up with a pop group anyway, but after he began talking with my parents about the friends I run with, he decided that we would try it from scratch. I liked that idea better. I would hate to get in a group just to be considered the new kid on the block (no pun intended). I sat there listening to everyone babble about the idea. Christian and Brandon were talking to my uncle as if they were all best friends. Adam just sat there watching what all was going on, trying to soak it up. He had this little smile on his face that just told me he had a good feeling about everything. I got up off the floor and went upstairs to the kitchen where my mom was sitting talking on the phone. I walked by her stopping to give her a peck on the cheek and went to the fridge for another Pepsi. I turned from the fridge but then turned back. I notice that she had some small bottles of water in there and grabbed one of those instead of the Pepsi. I've probably had three gallons of it today, time for a change. I walked over to the table and sat down next to my mom patiently waiting for her to get off the phone. After a few minutes my mom hung up the phone and turned to look at me. "My baby is growing up too fast!" She said to me. I just sat there and blushed. My mom moved closer to me and put an arm around me pulling me into her for a hug. "Justin, I take it your father gave you the good news?" She had a tone in her voice that made me realize that she didn't think it was that great of news. "Yeah, mom, he did. Thank you!" I replied. "What's wrong?" She just sat there looking down at her baby boy cuddled up in her arms. This is what I missed about being a little boy. I can remember crawling up in my mom's lap and her holding me the way she is now, slightly rubbing her hand through my hair. She sat there a few minutes more rubbing my head and then said to me, "Justin, I don't want to do this for anything in the world. I want you with your father and me, but we know how hard it will be for you to make another school change mid-way through the year. No mother in her right mind would feel good about leaving her 15 year old boy behind for so long. But we think you have grown to a point that this is a situation that you could handle. We trust you and we love you!" I sat back up and threw my arms around my mom. She hugged me so tight that I thought she might pop my head off from the pressure. I'm one lucky kid to have such great parents. I don't know what I would do without them. Hell, they've spoiled me rotten!! Mom and I sat there a few minutes longer and discussed my staying behind when they go to Seattle and also the idea my Uncle Sean came up with. She thought it was a great idea and hoped I would go for it and at least give it a chance. I told her I was going to give it my full attention as soon as the dance competition was over. She agreed and told me not to let anything interfere with the dance competition until it was over and done. We sat there talking for a while until my dad came up from the basement. He pulled out a chair and sat and talked with us for a few minutes. He then looked over at my mom and asked her if they should wait or tell me the other good news now. Well, naturally, I instantly went into little beggar mode. I wanted to know what the deal was with this other good news. "Well Justin," my dad said. "We are all going to fly out to Seattle on the 26th of December. There are a couple of houses that we want to check on out there. Then we will fly back from there on the 29th and go to your Aunt Marta's house outside of Chicago for a few days." "OH GOD, NO!!!! NOT THERE!!! ANYWHERE BUT THERE!!," I thought to myself. My Aunt Marta has this thing about pinching my cheeks. I can't stand it! "But here's the good news, we have talked it over with Cindy and Adam can come with us!" I sat there and just starred at them both. YES!!!! ADAM WILL BE WITH ME!!!! I was just too excited to say anything. I got up from the table, gave mom a kiss, patted dad on the back, and headed for the basement. "Hold on Justin!" dad said to me. "We thought that maybe you might want to give Adam his plane ticket for either his birthday or Christmas present." Hey, that's an idea! It sure as hell would take care of one of my present buying problems!! "Yeah, ok dad, that's great, I'll do it that way! His mom won't say anything will she?" My mom reached over and picked up the phone, "I'll call her now and let her know not to say anything." I smiled at them both and headed back downstairs. Two weeks have gone by since my parents told me I would get to stay here at home when they go to Washington state and that Adam can fly out with us to look at houses in Seattle and then on to Chicago. I have been giddy as hell the last two weeks. Adam thinks I went into retard mode or something. I'm always smiling, hornier than ever, and I'm happier than I have been for a long time. And finally Christmas day is here! Actually it's 2:30am Christmas morning. We just got back from midnight mass, and I'm having a hard time going to sleep. It's not that I'm excited about what I'm getting for Christmas, it's that I so damn excited that I finally get to share my happiness with Adam. The past two weeks have been so great. We have had sex at least twice a day and each time was better than the last. I think I have worn Adam out! Denise and I even came up with a dance for the song "Believe". We have our dance competition performance down and are all ready. I laid in my bed thinking. I could feel the sleep monster biting me in the ass but I didn't want to go to sleep. Eventually the sleep monster won the battle and the next thing I knew my mom was standing beside my bed shaking me to wake up. She leaned down and gave me a kiss. "Merry Christmas, time to get up, it's 8:30 and Santa has been here to leave gifts for my baby boy," she said, smiling the whole time. "Ok, I'm up. I think you forget that I stopped believing in Santa Clause a few years ago, mom." My mom looked back down at me and said, "No, I didn't forget, but it doesn't hurt to think that you're that little boy, flying down the steps to see what Santa left you does it?" God, mothers are so weird about this stuff! After getting up and doing the family Christmas thing I went back up to my room for a minute to call Adam. "Merry Christmas" the voice said on the other end. "Merry Christmas! Can I talk to Adam?" I asked his mom. Cindy laid the phone down and I could hear her yell for Adam to get the phone. I heard him come running down the hardwood steps at his house to get to the phone. "Hello?" "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR LOVE OF MY LIFE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Oh yeah, Merry Christmas too!" Adam started laughing at the way I sang to him then added the Merry Christmas at the end. I thought it was kind of funny, too! We sat there on the phone telling each other what we got for Christmas. Adam got to add his birthday stuff, too. He told me his mom has always had him open his Christmas presents first, and then when he was done, she gave him his birthday gifts. That has to be so damn confusing at times. But then again, it's probably cheaper on the check book!! I told Adam that I had to go because breakfast was ready and I had to eat. He told me that they had already had breakfast and to come over when I was done. I told him I would be there and that I loved him, and then we hung up the phones. After having breakfast and helping my dad arrange stuff back under the tree I asked if I could go over to Adam's house for a while. My dad said yes but for me to come back to watch the football game with him this afternoon. I told him ok and that I wasn't going to be gone long, and he suggested that I bring Adam over to watch the game, too. It's funny, my dad has taken to Adam so well. I guess it's because Adam gets into all the sports and stuff. I'm not a football fan, I like baseball. GO TRIBE!!!! That's the Cleveland Indians for you non-baseball fans!! I ran up to my room and grabbed the packages I had for Adam. The one I put the plane ticket in was the size of a shoe box. I put the ticket on the bottom of the box and stuffed it full of shredded newspaper. That was going to be his birthday present. For Christmas I took some money I had been saving and went and bought him this beautiful gold chain with a gold cross. I had "They Broke The Mold" inscribed on the back of the cross. That was a line from our song, "God must have spent a little more time on you". The whole line should read, "They broke the mold when you came in this world." I always sing that line to him, so I thought it would be cool to put at least some of it on the cross. There was no way they could get the whole phrase on it. I grabbed my stuff and headed to Adam's. When I got there and rang the doorbell, Adam opened the door, pulled me in, and laid one hell of a lip lock on me right in the middle of the foyer. "Merry Christmas to you too!" I said to him. "Dude, I have been waiting for that kiss all morning." Adam said to me with his sheepish little grin. He walked me into the living room where his mom, her boyfriend Mark, and Adam's grandparents were sitting. Adam introduced me to his grandparents and they said how glad they were to finally meet me, and that Adam had told them so much about me. Adam explained to me later that they were his dad's parents, that his mom's parents live in California and he only gets to see them every other summer. God, that sucks! Well at least he gets to see his grandparents on his dad's side. After the hello's and stuff Adam and I went up to his room. The room was dark when we walked in then Adam turned the light switch on. The only light that came on was from a Christmas tree he had set up in the corner of the room. Adam walked over and put his arms around me, "Merry Christmas, buddy!" He said to me, leaning in for another kiss. "Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!" I said to him, leaning into him until my lips met his soft pink lips. We stood there kissing each other for about 5 minutes when I realized that I was still holding his presents and that we were starting to crush them between us. We finally broke our lip lock and walked over and sat down next to the tree. Adam reached under the tree and pulled out two presents for me. Ok, now I feel bad! He went and got two things for me for Christmas and I only got him one. Adam handed me the bigger of the two boxes and told me to open it first. I in turn handed him the box with the chain and cross in it. We both started opening the gifts and I went completely pale. Adam had went and bought me a DVD player for my computer. Wait! I just got my computer for Christmas. The little shit was checking up on stuff to get me! Adam tore the wrapping paper off the first present I handed him and opened the case. "Damn dude! You shouldn't have spent this much money on me!" he said. "You like it?" I asked him. "Hell yes I like it!" he said with the sound of happiness in his voice. "Turn over the cross and read the back of it." I said to him. Adam took the cross and chain out of it's box and turned the cross over to read it. He immediately turned red from blushing. Adam leaned over and gave me a kiss and said, "Thank You! I will always wear it! How do you like that DVD player?" he asked. "I love it! I take it my mom told you they were getting me a computer for Christmas?'' "Yeah, she did. I didn't know what else to get the boy that has everything!" He said with a chuckle. Adam motioned for me to open the other box that he had for me. It was small, about the size of a RING BOX! I hurried and open the gift and I was right. Adam had bought me this beautiful silver ring with turquoise in the center of it. He knew how much I like turquoise jewelry and wanted to get me this ring. We had looked at it in the jewelry store at the mall. I wonder where the hell he got the money for it!? "You like it?" he asked. "Hell yes! Thank You!" I said to him leaning over for another kiss. I took the ring out of the box and went to put it on but Adam stopped me. He took the ring from me and told me to hold out my hand. I held out my right hand and he told me no, he wanted my left. I held out my left hand and he started to slide the ring on my ring finger, "Justin, I want this ring to be a symbol of the love we have shared over the past three months. Although we won't be together much longer, I want you to know that I will always love you very much! And everytime you look at this ring think of me, think of me here in Ohio loving only you." After he said all that I had tears rolling down my cheeks. I was speachless. I moved over next to him on the floor and we just held on to each other tight. He was right! I would have to go to Seattle eventually. This is going to be the first time ever that I hope the rest of the school year goes slow! Now there was only one gift left, the "big one" for Adam. I picked up the gift and handed it to Adam. "Happy Birthday, this is from me and my parents!" I said to him giving him the gift. Adam slowly opened the package and opened the lid. He started pulling handfuls of the shredded newspaper out of the box mumbling at me the whole time. Adam stopped in full mumble when he saw it. It was a small paper folder that had 'United Airlines" written on it. He took the folder out of the box and opened it pulling out the airline tickets. "Dude, these are for me?" he asked. "Yup! You're going to Seattle and Chicago with us and we're leaving tomorrow morning!" Adam just sat there in shock, he didn't know what to do or say. "My parents talked it over with your mom and she ok'd it. We're going to Seattle to check out a couple houses out there then we are flying into Chicago to visit my Aunt Marta." I explained to him. Adam turned, kissed me, then said. "This has got to be the best Birthday gift I've ever got. To be able to spend all this time out of town with you is, is, I don't know what to say, Justin!" I stood up and pulled Adam up with me. He needed to say no words. To have him there with me was enough. We started to kiss again and made our way to his bed. We made love that Christmas morning. We made love for the first time, the hundredth time. We were two teenage boys so much in love with each other that it hurt. Yeah, we've had a few bad times, but we've had more than our share of good times and the best are still yet to come! There you go boys and girls!! I hope you like Chapter 9. Now everyone that was afraid that Justin would move away from Adam can put that to rest for a little while anyway. Stay tuned for Chapter 10. The Boys are going to Chicago and you never know who they just might run into while they are there. I'll give you a hint; They are a couple of fairly popular teenaged boys that have warmed the hearts of many! As always, you can contact me at chrisohio@hotmail.com You can find all of the chapters to this story in the Nifty archives at http://www.nifty.org and also at http://www.boystoomen.com Thanks again everyone! Chris April 18, 1999