Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 17:53:30 -0800 (PST) From: Fup Duck Subject: Under Pressure - High School 37 STANDARD DISCLAIMER: Let's see: 1. If it's illegal - don't read this. 2. If you can't accept it - don't read this. 3. If you're underage - don't read this. 4. It's mine - don't distribute without permission. 5. Characters and events bear an uncanny resemblance to people I grew up with and stuff I went through - ooops. ;-) That about covers it. New Year's Day...new possibilities? Who knows? lol Now we're winding down. Monday will be the posting of the epilogue chapter, and for all intents and purposes, this trip down memory lane will be complete. Here's Chapter 37...... ****************************************************************************** FROM CHAPTER 36 "Yeah, it's fine," David smiled and gave the boy a brief hug. Chad returned the smile, and quickly kissed David's cheek, then settled back into his former position, almost immediately falling asleep. David rarely slept on his back, so was a bit uncomfortable, but decided to let Chad sleep. "Grin and bear it," he thought. He was soon slipping into a light sleep breathing the scent of Chad's shampoo. UNDER PRESSURE/HIGH SCHOOL 37 - Brothers, Sisters, and Friends David jerked awake. He saw Chad slipping out of his sleeping bag, and walking toward the stairs. "Hey," he whispered loudly, "What's wrong?" "Gotta pee," Chad mumbled. David grimaced a little as he felt the wetness on his shoulder. Then he grinned and used his shirt to wipe Chad's drool off. Better that kind of wet than the other. He waited for Chad to come back down and whispered, "Good job, man." "Uh huh," the boy mumbled, then got back into his bag, rolling onto his side and pushing back against David. David mentally shrugged and rolled to his side, and draped an arm over Chad's sleeping bag about waist level. Chad gave a small sigh, then his breathing deepened and he was back asleep. David laid there for a few minutes, thinking, then he gave Chad a small squeeze and drifted back into sleep himself. It was light in the room when he felt himself being gently shaken. "David," came a whispered voice. As he drifted into semi-consciousness, he was aware of Chad still in the same position, spooned back against him with David's arm draped over his waist. He was gently shaken again, and he rolled onto his back. Opening one eye, he squinted to see Mrs. Murray kneeling beside him. "Morning, David," she smiled. "I see you survived the wilderness." "Uh, yeah. What time is it?" "It's about nine, want something to eat?" David's stomach answered for him at the mention of food, and he grinned sheepishly. Mrs. Murray chuckled, and left the room. David stretched, pulled his jeans into the sleeping bag, and with careful movements managed to change into them before getting out of his sleeping bag. He pulled a t-shirt from his overnight bag, pulled it on and padded sleepily to the kitchen. "Hey," Mr. Murray greeted the sleepy teen. "Hi," David half-smiled, and lowered himself into one of the chairs around the kitchen table. "Not a morning person, I see," laughed Chad's father. "Nope," David agreed. "Are eggs, bacon and toast alright?" asked Mrs. Murray. "Sounds good," David answered, the smell of food bringing him out of his daze. "You guys have fun last night?" "Yes, it was very nice," answered Mrs. Murray. "How about you?" "Yeah, we watched the stuff in New York. Chad and Cindy lasted til about 11:30. I woke 'em up to see the ball drop." Both adults chuckled. Then Mr. Murray asked, "Didn't have any problems?" "No," he answered, then getting the gist of the question, continued, "He went to the bathroom before bed, and then early this morning." "Good. He told us he was going to make sure he didn't go on you," Mr. Murray grinned. Mrs. Murray slid a plate heaped with eggs and bacon in front of him, and his stomach growled again, making him blush. Mr. Murray laughed and said, "Dig in, plenty more where that came from." "Thanks," David answered, and started to politely devour the breakfast in front of him. "So, you don't mind a ten year-old hanging around you?" Mr. Murray asked. Between bites, David answered, "Nah, he's cool. Almost like having a little brother." Then he grinned, "And he's almost 11." "Mrs. Murray laughed, "So we've been told." "Well, we know he likes you," Mr. Murray continued. "Who likes who?" came a sleepy voice from the doorway. Chad was standing there in his briefs, rubbing his eyes. "Nothing to worry about," Mrs. Murray dismissed. "Get some clothes on and I'll fix you some breakfast." "'Kay," Chad answered and went back into the living room to pull on his jeans. A few seconds later, bare-chested, he rejoined them at the table. "Shirt?" Mr. Murray asked. Chad grunted and left the table again, this time returning fully clothed except for his shoes. "That's better, Chad. It's okay when it's just us, but we have company." "It's only Dave, mom," Chad complained. "Oh, so now I'm 'only' Dave, huh?" David joked. "You know what I mean," Chad grinned a little. His grin widened as his mom slid another plate of food in front of him. "Looks and smells good, mom." Soon he was shoveling the breakfast into his mouth. "Slow down, Chad, or you're going to burst," Mr. Murray laughed. "Mmmkay," Chad mumbled. Then when his mouth was empty, he said, "Well, I gotta hurry, don't want Dave to leave without me." Then he returned to his meal. "Huh?" David asked, shrugging at the adults' questioning expressions. "You said we'd go cruising today." "When?" "Last night, remember?" "Oh, yeah. Well, I said sometime, not exactly today." "Oh," Chad said, disappointed. "But it'll be before school starts again, man. If it's okay with your mom and dad," David said, looking at the Murray's and getting smiling nods. "Cooool!" "You need to make sure you have your story straight, Chad," Mr. Murray advised. "Well, I was sleepy." Cindy came downstairs and entered the kitchen. "When you going home, Dave?" "In a bit, after I'm done eating." "Oh, okay." Then she asked her mom, "Can I go over to Lynn's?" Cindy and Lynn had become friends since David had started watching the Murray kids. He guessed it was a little inevitable, seeing how they liked the same things and rode the same bus. "What do you think, David?" asked Mrs. Murray. "I guess just call and see." "Well, if Cindy can go, why can't I?" argued Chad. "We don't even know if she can yet," answered Mr. Murray, while Cindy was on the phone with Lynn. Cindy hung up the phone, disappointed. "Lynn says not today, and you're supposed to go home, David." David nodded, and got up from the table, placing the plate and glass in the sink and went to the living room to re-pack his bag. He was rolling up the second sleeping bag when Chad came into the room. "When we gonna go?" "Sometime soon, promise. Like I said, before school starts." "That's so cool," Chad grinned, taking the rolled up bag David handed him. David followed Chad upstairs to a closet, where they deposited the sleeping bags. David hugged Chad briefly. "Thanks man, I had a good time. Even though you slobbered on me," David laughed. "I did NOT!" "It doesn't matter, I had a good time. I guess I'd better get home." "Okay, see you before school starts," Chad giggled. David poked Chad's shoulder, "You bet, see ya later." He went downstairs, said goodbye to the Murrays and drove home. He had just walked in the door when the phone rang. "Hello?" "Mom said she forgot to give you money," Chad's voice answered. David laughed, "Tell her not to worry about it, I'll get it sometime. Maybe when we go cruising." "Okay, tomorrow?" David chuckled, "We'll see, man. I'll let ya know." "Okay, bye Dave." "Bye." He hung up the receiver, took off his coat and carried his bag back to his bedroom. On the way past the living room he greeted his parents and Lynn. He was pulling clothes out of his bag when Lynn knocked on the half-open door. "Yeah?" Lynn slowly walked in, "Mom and Dad had a big fight again last night." "They've been doing that a lot, haven't they?" David asked, sitting down on his bed. "Yeah, I was in bed and it woke me up." "Well, sorta glad I was somewhere else," David said. "Think they're gonna get divorced?" "Lynn, they've fought before like this and they're still married. I don't think you need to worry about that." "Okay, if you say so." "Don't sweat it Lynn, if they do, they do. Not much we can do about it, ya know?" "I guess so, but then we'll have to live somewhere else." "Don't worry about it, Lynn, okay? It'll be alright." "Okay, thanks. Sorry I'm being a baby." David grinned. "A brat, yes. A baby, no." Lynn put her hands on her hips, "I am not a brat." David held up his hands, laughing. "Yeah, ya are, brat." Lynn started smiling, "You're teasing." David raised his eyebrows, "Am I?" "You'd better be, cos you're worse than a brat." "Yeah, I know," David agreed. Lynn giggled and walked out of the room. David thought about the exchange while he finished unpacking. He remembered reading somewhere that common problems made people closer. He shrugged, maybe it was true. He sort of felt bad for the way Lynn was feeling, since she was younger, but she was still a brat. He grinned to himself at his revelation, then started laughing quietly, shaking his head. The next morning around ten the phone rang. "Hello?" he answered. "Hey, happy New Year," Kelly said. "Auld Lang Syne, and all that," David laughed. "How was your's?" "Sorta crappy," Kelly said glumly. "Oh that sucks, wanna take a ride?" "Yeah, I guess, in about an hour?" "Sounds good, I'll be there." A little over an hour later, David pulled into Kelly's driveway and tooted the horn. He returned Mrs. Sites' wave from the kitchen window, then Kelly was opening the car door. David backed out of the driveway, then said, "Hey man, so what's going on?" Kelly turned to face David, and he saw the black eye. David swerved to the shoulder. Kelly smiled and said, "Happy New Year." David pulled back onto the road, and asked, "Okay, what's that all about?" Kelly laughed a little, "Would you believe I ran into a tree?" "As much as you would. What happened?" "Well, you remember Ben?" "Your cousin, right? Our age." "Yeah, 15, so almost." "Okay." "Well it was weird, I was sleeping in his room on the floor, and we started talking about jacking off." "Oh yeah?" David chuckled. "Yeah, then we did it together. Not to each other, but, you know." "Yeah." "So, he asked me if I wanted to do it to him, and I grabbed his dick and he freaked." "No way," David glanced over to see if Kelly was serious. He was. "Yeah, he called me a queer and pushed me off the bed and socked me in the eye." "Oh man, you always said he was a dick." "Yeah," Kelly sighed, then grinned. "He's smaller than us though." David laughed, then asked, "Well how come he called you queer? He's the one that brought it up." "Yeah, I know. But the next morning he was all friendly and stuff. Weird." "Yeah, so how'd you explain that?" David gestured to Kelly's eye. Kelly started laughing, "I just told everyone I walked into a door going to the bathroom. And Ben took up for me." "He should have," David said. "What a dick." "Yeah, a little one," Kelly laughed again. "So how was your New Year's?" "Well, I camped out with Chad in his living room," David chuckled. "Well, that sounds fun," Kelly rolled his eyes, grinning. "It was kinda. Beats a tent any day." "Well, maybe we oughta go camping in your living room next time." "Yeah, right. I'm sure mom and dad would appreciate that." "Yeah, we could have a slumber party," Kelly joked. "I haven't been to one since I was like eight," David grinned. "Yeah, sorta grow out of some of the fun stuff, huh?" "I guess, So what time ya have to be home?" "No set time, just keep drivin'." They rode around for another two hours, chatting about school, their friends, and whatever else came to their minds. Every once in a while the conversation would die down, but the resulting silence was far from uncomfortable. Kelly had decided to try out for the school musical as well as take the offered AP classes. During a conversation about David's babysitting experience, Kelly said, "You know, he really looks up to you." "I guess," David admitted, flushing slightly. "I think it's pretty cool," Kelly said with a smile. "Well, he likes you too, Kel." "Yeah he seems to, poor kid." David broke out into laughter at Kelly's comment. "What does that make me?" "Probably pretty brain dead," Kelly admitted, joining in the laughter. They were still laughing when they pulled back into Kelly's driveway. Mike was standing under the hood of his car, and stood up to see who was pulling in. Seeing David and Kelly, he flashed them the middle finger, then went back to whatever he was doing. "Niiiice guy," David grinned, still in a good mood. "That's my bro," Kelly said with mock pride. "Yep, glad he's yours." "I'm not," Kelly stated, opening the passenger door. "So when ya comin' over?" "Let me know, things aren't too good at the house, so any excuse I can get to get out, I take it." "Sorry to hear that, Dave," Kelly frowned, leaning down to look inside the car. David shrugged, "No big deal, but Lynn's all upset." Kelly broke into a grin and glanced over toward Mike. "Trade ya?" he asked hopefully. "Not a chance," David laughed. "He's all yours." "Thanks," Kelly responded with a heavy sigh. "You always did know how to ruin a mood." Then he laughed. "You're a goof, ya know?" "Yep, and proud of it. So I'll check and see when you can come over." "Cool, Just give me a call." "No sweat. See ya later." "Take care, Kel," David answered with a warm smile. "Always, man, always. See ya. And, thanks." Kelly closed the door and walked toward the house, giving a small wave as David backed out of the driveway. David waved back and started driving back to the war zone. ****************************************************************************** I had almost forgotten about the incident "Kelly" had with his cousin. It all came back when I started remembering the events of that particular New Year's. There were lots of times we just rode around aimlessly talking - no sex involved. Ahhh, the good old days! lol Please feel free to contact me with any questions or feedback. email: fupduckmd@yahoo.com AIM and Yahoo: fupduckmd Fup