Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 20:12:04 -0700 (PDT) From: Jo Jo Subject: Wayward People Chap 20-"Denial's Not Just a River in Egypt" Disclaimer: The usual rules apply here. If you aren't legal in your area to be reading material(non erotic, mind you) about homosexuals and the activities they may or may not participate in, then please don't read. This story has been copyrighted and is not to be used elsewhere in any way without the express permission of the author (that would be me). For everyone else, enjoy! Wayward People Chapter Twenty-"Denial's Not Just a River in Egypt" I liked whipped cream. And cherries. "Pete-" "Ah," Pete spoke, putting a finger over my mouth. "Less talking. More stripping." I never would've figured him to be so good at this. The seducing thing. His button up shirt, which he'd already unbuttoned, fell off of his shoulders and on to the bed. He was sitting on top of me, pinning me to the bed, spraying whipped cream all over my chest with one hand while he tried to undo the button to my pants with the other. "Pete, what if somebody catches us?" I asked. "We'll just say we were eating a snack," Pete grinned, bending down to lick some of the whipped cream off of my chest. I closed my eyes and tried to keep from moaning. "Okay, you're gonna have to help me get these pants off of you," Pete spoke, getting off of me and moving to the side. I was sticky and wet and horny. I reached down and slid my pants off of my legs. "Boxers?" I looked down at where my boxers were still on me. I was a bit nervous. I felt like a giddy little child waiting for some special toy. "Oh come on, from what I feel, you're past carrying nickels and dimes," Pete spoke seductively. "I think we've moved up to quarters." Leave to him to be funny at a time like this. And this was a...new time for the both of us. All this time we'd been together and the most either of us had ever done with each other is make out. And now, now for Christmas, I was getting the best present ever! I loved Christmas! Pete reached down and took off his own pants. "You know, this is like getting off cheap," he said as he did. "Cuz now I don't have to buy you anything." "You're right," I replied. "You are cheap." "Shut up and kiss me," Pete spoke, leaning over and kissing me gently. We just stayed that way, kissing for a few minutes before Pete's breathing started getting heavier and he got back on top of me. He started kissing me faster and more fiercely and I could tell he was getting more and more into this. I reached behind him and started rubbing his strong bare back. I wasn't sure what the hell I was supposed to do exactly. I just knew that this was happening and I loved it. Pete started nibbling on my ears and kissing my neck. He sat up and leaned over me again. "This is perfect," he said, smiling down at me. "Is this not perfect?" I just looked up at him. I was going to respond but stopped when I noticed something strange happening. "Pete.." "What?" "Your....your hair!" Pete reached up to his hair and pulled a big chunk of it out. Some of it fell onto my chest. This was strange. Why was this happening? "Pete..." "What's going on?" "I....I don't know," I replied. He looked scared. I felt scared. But he looked afraid. I'd be afraid to if my hair started falling out. "It's.....it's gone!" Pete exclaimed. I couldn't even get past the shock of him losing his hair as he all of a sudden started looking a lot paler. Like....a ghost. "Pete?" Pete started looking himself over. His face was looking so strange....so weird. "Pete?" Pete stopped looking himself over and looked at me. "You killed me?" I stared at him. "What?" "You did this to me!' "What? Pete no I-" "You killed me! You fucking killed me-" "Pete please, I didn't-" "You killed me Mike! You killed me!" "No, no I didn't kill you! I didn't kill you!" "Michael!....Michael wake up!" I sat up panting. I didn't kill Pete. It wasn't me! He wasn't...I didn't....... Wait a second..... What was this? I looked around. "Where's Pete?" I asked. Weren't we just about to have sex for the first time before he started freaking out on me? Only it was nighttime...yeah, it was nighttime and Reverend Thomas was gone. Now it was daytime. So...that meant....a dream? "You were having another nightmare," Reverend Thomas spoke. I ran my fingers through my soaked hair. My shirt was soaked too. Yes, that was a nightmare. Any dream where Pete's hair falls out and he dies couldn't be a dream. "I have to call him," I spoke, reaching over to my nightstand to grab my cell phone. "Michael-" "He's mad at me," I replied. "I don't like that he's mad at me." "Michael-" "What?!" I stopped and stared at Reverend Thomas. What was with the damn look on his face? You'd almost think somebody died. "Look, I know you're grieving," he started. Of course I was grieving, Pete was mad at me. I didn't like that. "But you need to get up and get your suit on," he replied. Oh...today was Sunday, wasn't it? Church was the furthest thing from my mind. Then it hit me. That was it. Yes, yes, yes! I'd see Pete at church. I could make things right there. "You're right," I replied. "I'm sorry. I'll get ready now." "And if you need to talk....before..." "No...I'll be alright," I replied. I was actually kind of excited. I wanted him to know how sorry I was for abandoning him. I wanted him to know it was never going to happen again. Reverend Thomas seemed to stare at me for an awfully long amount of time. He was staring at me in this thoughtful little way. It was odd. So I just did my best to assure him I was okay by flashing him the most confident look I could. "I'm glad you're getting better," he replied. Okay...but there was nothing wrong with me. "I'll be downstairs," he replied, before shutting my door behind him on his way out. I looked at myself in the mirror. Why in the hell had I had such a strange nightmare? Then again, I'd probably do well not to dwell on it. I'd be seeing Pete at church. I could figure things out then. I never remembered people always wearing black to church. And as I looked around, that seemed to be the one color everyone had on. I must have missed that phone call that went out about the matching color thing. But why black? Black was such a depressing color. People wore black to funerals. And as far as I knew, there was no funeral scheduled for today. Then...then there were the sniffles and the crying. Sure, sometimes Reverend Thomas bored me to tears with his sermons, but I'd never let that show. And he hadn't even started yet. These people were being even more ridiculous than normal! "Hey..." Somebody had put there hand on my back. "Pete?" It wasn't though. It was my brother. "How are you?" "Oh...you know, missed out on some sleep but I'll survive," I replied with a smile. "Have you seen Pete yet? I wanna tell him-" "Mike?" "What?" Max just stared at me like he'd killed my best friend and didn't want to tell me about it. "Oh my god, Mike....hey." That time it was Sienna and she was hugging me. Troy was right behind her. "Um....where's Pete?" I asked. I mean, I knew we'd had a falling out, but still.... Sienna let go of me and looked me over with a puzzled look on her face. "Mike....don't you remember?" I looked at her before looking over at Max and Troy. "Remember what?" Sienna bit her bottom lip and had the same look on her face that Max had. They were looking each other over like they were holding some big secret over my head. "Remember what?" No one said anything. "Everyone, shall we get started?" I tore my eyes away from everyone and looked back at to where Reverend Thomas was on stage. People were starting to have a seat. "I'm gonna...I'm gonna go have a seat," I replied. Now my own friends were acting strange. I kinda just wanted to run. And probably would have had I not had a reason to be here. I decided I wanted to be as far away from them as possible and walked towards the front. Hey! A casket! So there was a funeral. I guess I should have seen this coming, but I didn't see the casket at first. It was open, but I wasn't a big fan of dead people. It may sound rude, but I didn't care who'd died. Yes, it was terrible, but no I didn't want to see who was dead. I took a seat on the far side of the casket, so that it wasn't directly facing me, but also so that I was still in the front. A few minutes passed. Minutes that I spent looking around for Pete. Where the hell was he? But it soon grew quiet and Reverend Thomas started. "One week ago today....a precious life was taken from this community and passed on to heaven," he started. I looked around. Why were......what was...... "Pete Reynolds was a good-" What? I didn't hear the rest but....how was this about Pete? "At the tender age of seventeen, he has passed...." I'm sorry, what? "And for that, he will be sorely missed." I stood up and walked over to the casket, which caused Reverend Thomas to stop. I looked inside the casket. It was empty. Pete wasn't in that thing. And I'll tell you why...because he wasn't dead! I started laughing. I mean, this had to be a joke. Either that or another nightmare. Either way it was all just too funny to me! "Uh....Michael-" "What's wrong with you people?" I asked through my laughing looking around. "And where's Pete? Pete? Pete, where are you?" No one was saying much, but people sure did look surprised. I was looking around trying to spot Pete until somebody came up to me and ushered me back to my seat. "Come on Mike, stop it," Max said. I looked over at him. "Is Pete here or not because I'm not a big fan of funerals," I said. "Mike, Pete's dead....he's gone-" "There's nobody in that casket," I replied. Max looked behind me over to the casket. "What are you talking about?" "Pete!" I started laughing again. Something about this whole situation just seemed funny. "Come on," Max spoke, standing me up. He was leading me towards the back. I made sure I got a good look around. Pete just obviously wasn't here. And damn. Now I felt all stupid for making a fool of myself like that during someone's funeral. But hell, to tell me Pete was dead....... Pete wasn't dead he just wasn't here! "Mike, man you look terrible," Max said. I looked over at my brother. "Well thanks Max," I replied. "I guess my new year's resolution will be to stop looking so terrible." "Have you gotten any sleep lately?" I asked. Well between Pete keeping me up and those weird nightmares, probably not a lot. But sleep was just sleep. Big deal. A few seconds later Sienna, Troy, my mom and dad all came walking out of the church. "Look everyone I'm sorry for in there," I started before any of them could. "I think I'm just gonna go back to Reverend Thomas's and get some sleep." "No," my dad replied. "I'll take you home. With me." I looked over at my mom, who surprisingly, actually looked concerned for my well being. Still wasn't convincing her to comment on it. "Mike, are you okay?" Sienna asked. "He'll be fine, Sienna," my dad replied. "Come on Mike." Well if he was letting me come home I wasn't gonna object. He put his hand on my shoulder ant led me towards the car. I was surprised when my mom came with us. I felt like the pope being escorted like this. But the more that I thought about it, the more I realized that I did need to get some sleep. I didn't want to look, as Max called it, `terrible' when I finally did talk to Pete. I guess I could wait a few hours. "It's gonna be okay, son," my dad spoke. Of course it was gonna be okay. Why wouldn't it be? I almost jumped out of bed when I finally woke up. I had almost forgotten that dad had taken me home with him and that I was at my own home rather than at Reverend Thomas's McMansion. It was dark. It had been morning when I was last awake. Now it was dark. It was dark and I felt refreshed. I looked over at my alarm clock and noticed that it was just after ten. Too late to call Pete. I sat up and looked around. Everyone else was probably asleep. But I was thirsty. And kind of hungry, actually. So I got up and headed downstairs. When I reached the kitchen and saw my mother sitting at the kitchen table, it was almost enough to make me turn around and go back up the stairs. And I probably would have had she hot seen me. I just stood there staring at her staring at me. I decided that I'd be civilized and walked over to the table and took a seat. "Did you sleep alright Michael?" she asked. "Yes," I replied. She actually smiled at me. "You had your father and I worried," she replied. "I thought you were getting enough sleep at the Reverend's." Yeah, thought so too. Apparently not. "I....just have...been having a few nightmares," I replied. "But I'm fine now." And then things grew silent. "That's good," she replied. I had to wonder why she was being so....motherly towards me. I was mildly suspicious. It'd been so long since she'd been this way with me. I didn't know what to do or how to react. "Michael...I'm not going to pretend like I understand your...sexuality...because I don't," she started. I knew that well enough. "But at the end of the day, I'm still your mother. The same mother that was in labor with you for twenty nine hours." "Aww...mom-" "It's true you know," she replied, with a smile. "You know that story." Indeed I did. A little too well for my own good, probably. "The point is...I've had to do a lot of thinking lately," she started. "And I'd rather have you alive and....gay, rather than straight and...not alive." Strangely, it had felt good to hear her say that. Because it meant that she was willing to accept me. "I just am saddened that it had to take the death of one of your good friends for me to realize that," she sighed. One of my good friends was dead? She wasn't talking about Pete again. "Mom-" "Pete was a good boy. And I'm glad you were friends with him." "Am." "I'm sorry...what-" "I AM friends with him," I replied. "Present tense." "Michael....your friend died last Sunday," my mom replied. "No he didn't!" I shouted, standing up. Why was everyone trying to convince me that Pete was dead? He wasn't dead! He just wasn't! "Michael-" "You know what mom, you almost had me," I started. "What did you get everyone to pretend like Pete was dead so I'd stop seeing him?" "Michael that's not what this is about-" "Save it," I replied. "I'm going back to sleep. You don't have to worry about having a queer living under your roof anymore after tonight." Because this so wasn't funny anymore. It was beyond that. Now, it was just scary. This was one of the rare occasions where I wished that I could go to school for once. But sadly, I was on winter break until the second week of January. So I pretty much didn't have much to do. Then I remembered I had Pete. I was going to go see him, but as I pulled my shirt over my head, he surprised me when I saw his reflection in the mirror. He was standing at the door, with a grin on his face, looking just as cute. "Hey! Your hair grew back," I replied. Pete rubbed his hair. "Yeah," he replied. "It always seems to do that, huh?" I just smiled and turned around as he walked into the room and had a seat on the bed. "I was just gonna come see you," I said, taking a seat on the bed. "I wanted to apologize for breaking up with you." "Don't sweat it," Pete replied. "I knew you were just upset." "So funny thing happened today," I started. "My mom got everyone to hold a pretend funeral for you. Probably to get us to stop seeing each other." I noticed the look on Pete's face darken and he got off the bed. "Pete?" "That wasn't a pretend funeral Mike," he said. "What?" He turned around and faced me. "I should probably go," Pete started. I jumped off the bed and walked over to him. "Pete, wait a second-" "This is too hard-" "What's too hard?" I asked, grabbing his arm. He stopped but didn't turn around. "I'm probably not even supposed to be here," Pete replied. "Oh it's cool, Reverend Thomas doesn't-" "Mike, you just don't get it!" His shouting at me just then shut me up fast enough. "Then again, you never did." I stopped and looked down before deciding to respond. "I'm sorry about breaking up with you before. I'm trying-" "Too late," Pete replied. "Don't you understand that? It's too late!" "How is it too late?" I asked. Pete didn't respond. "Pete, answer me! How is it too late?" "Michael!" Somebody was shoving me awake. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was back at home. My real home. I thought..... I looked up to see my dad sitting on my bed. Another....nightmare? "Dad?" "You were dreaming son," he replied. Whew. Glad that was a dream too. Although, I hated these weird dreams I was having. "I..." "You said something about it being too late," my dad said. No, Pete said it was too late. I just wanted to know why. "I....I need to..." I was going to say call Pete, but then I remembered that everyone wanted me to think he was dead when he wasn't. "Get up," I decided to reply. "Are you feeling okay?" my dad asked. "Your mom told me that you got up last night. She said you were a bit confused as to what happened with your friend." "Confused? She said Pete was dead, dad" I replied getting out of bed. "Son, Pete is dead," my dad replied. "Apparently he had cancer and didn't tell anyone he had it-" "He told me!" My dad stopped. "What?" "Yeah, so what," I replied. "He's not dead. He can get help" "Son-" "I'm gonna go out for....a walk or something." I definitely needed one right about now. With all the things that were flying through my head, I was lucky if I didn't go insane. For a moment, it actually looked like maybe my father wanted to try and stop me. But then I noticed him sigh and look down. "If that's what you need," he replied. I was thankful he wasn't trying to stop me right now. Because I was almost sure that I wouldn't have listened to him. I felt like I was alone. No, I had Pete. I felt like it was us against the world. Only, everybody kept wanting me to think that he was dead. I put on some sweats and a sweatshirt and walked out of my room. When I got downstairs, I noticed Troy standing at the front door holding my keys. "Let's go for a little drive," he said. Because him saying that amused me, I decided to go ahead and agree. But after that, one way or another, I was going to see Pete. "You know, one of my good friends died once," he finally started. We'd been in the car almost and hour and I was just going along for the nice calming ride. But, I had been expecting Troy to say something and now he was. "What?" Troy rarely told me anything about himself, and even when he did, I couldn't be sure that he was telling me the truth exactly. But that didn't matter to me. As long as I got to hear something about his life back in Canada, I was good. "His name was Brayden," Troy replied. I just sat back and watched the light snow falling on the car. "We had been friends for...about two years," Troy started. "Actually, we met almost the same way you and Pete did." Pete introduced himself to me and from then on out he was pretty much in my life, refusing to not be. That's what I loved so much about him. "He was kind of a nerd, but he never shut up," Troy replied. "I thought he was annoying at first...wanted to kick the shit out of him." We both chuckled. "But he started growing on me," Troy replied. "He pretty much didn't have any friends while I had a lot." "Had?" "Well, I didn't start to lose friends, thankfully," Troy replied. "People got used to seeing Brayden always hanging around me just like I did." More snow. "But...that was just it," Troy continued. "We all got used to him being there....so when he....just...wasn't there anymore......." I looked over at him. I thought maybe he was getting emotional or something, but he still just looked unreadable, as always. "You get used to a certain way of living...and then when things change....well, it's rough," Troy replied. "So what did you do?" I asked. "Well, nothing...at first," he replied. "I just pretended like he wasn't gone. And because I pretended like nothing happened, so did everybody else." I looked back over at him. "I don't understand..." "It was like he was there one minute and gone the next," Troy replied. "No one even cared that he was dead. But I cared. I cared a lot." Wow. This was interesting hearing about Troy's life. He was such an interesting person, full of depth, when he opened up. "I didn't want to face the fact that he was gone," Troy replied. "And I think that's something we have in common." He looked over at me. He didn't say anything else but I think I got what he was implying. I didn't say anything either. What was there to say really? For now, I was just going to enjoy the ride. The day went by so fast, I forgot all about needing to go see Pete. Troy let me take over driving and had me showing him around proper. I guess I had kinda neglected to do that four months ago when he first arrived. But we spent all day just driving around going from place to place. It was actually really fun. I enjoyed it and I knew that Troy had as well. We were almost back at home, which was about when I remembered that I still needed to talk to Pete. I wanted to but knew that I couldn't blame Pete for keeping me out all day. "I should seriously go over to Pete's," I said as we turned onto my street. "Mike, what do you think today was all about?" Troy asked. "I thought you forgot all about....well, I mean-" "I did," I replied. "I did forget about Pete. And it was fun, Troy, but....he's my boyfriend." Troy sighed. "Mike-" "You know I didn't forget about you trying to get me to stay away from him in the first place," I started. If he was gonna get all defensive then I could could get all defensive right back. "Mike, that was-" "Selfish and stupid?" I heard Troy sigh with anger as I parked the car and turned off the engine. "I did a lot of stupid things when I first got here," he replied. "But I thought we were past all that." "I did too," I replied. "But now you and everyone else is trying to get me to think that my boyfriend is....dead. I mean...what kind of bullshit is that?" Troy sighed. "Mike-" "Is it my mom?" I asked. "What?" "Did she tell you guys to do this?" "Mike, your mom just like the rest of us are worried about you." "They're just nightmares, I'm fine," I replied getting out of the car. Why was everyone getting all bent of shape behind a few nasty nightmares? We all had them. Didn't we? Troy got out and followed behind me. "Mike, you need to understand something-" I kept heading towards the front door. "That story I told you just wasn't about me," Troy replied. "Oh so it was another one of your lies then?" I asked. "Because with you, it's kinda hard to tell what's real and what isn't." "Why're you being like this?" "Why're you trying to get me to believe my boyfriend is dead?" Troy didn't reply. "Face it Troy, you're jealous of what the two of us have," I replied. "What?" I stopped and turned around. I'd finally figured it out. Besides my mother getting them to do it, they all had their own reasons for wanting me to think Pete was dead. Troy was jealous of me and him, still. Sienna probably thought I wasn't good enough for Pete anymore. I couldn't blame her though. I had dumped him. My brother probably wanted me to spend more time with him and less with Pete. That I could understand. And my mom? Did I even need to state the obvious? "Why're you being such a little shit?" Troy asked. "Ugh, just stop talking Troy," I sighed, getting my house key into my hand. "No, if you wanna talk about this, let's talk about this," Troy spoke. I stopped and turned around. I didn't exactly see what there was to talk about. He, like everyone else wanted me to think that my boyfriend was dead. I wasn't about to think that about him. "Pete's a good guy, Troy," I spoke. It was the only way I knew how to defend my boyfriend. Somebody had to. As long as everyone wanted me to think he was dead. "I know that, Mike," Troy replied. "And he's not going anywhere," I replied. "No, see that's-" I turned around and headed up the steps to the front door. I didn't need to hear anymore. He was just like the rest of them. I was going to stick my key in the knob but was surprised when I didn't have to. The front door opened for me. Standing at it was Reverend Thomas of all people. I stared at him and he stared at me. "Reverend Thomas..." "Michael....you're back," he replied. I looked past him. I think I saw people in the living room. Reverend Thomas looked past me over to where Troy was standing in the snow. "Uh, why don't the two of you come on inside," he spoke, moving aside. And I was right. Somebody was in the living room. I was a bit hesitant to come inside. I almost felt like I was walking into some kind of trap. But it was cold outside and I couldn't stand around outside forever. I walked in and only stood aside. Troy came in after me and Reverend Thomas shut the door behind us all. "Uh, why don't you come with me to the living room," he said, holding out a hand. I saw Max turned around in his seat looking back at me, but that was all I could see from here. Other than it looked like every light downstairs was on. I followed Reverend Thomas to the living room where I noticed my mom, dad, Max, Sienna, and surprisingly Pete's parents, all sitting down. "What's...what's going on?" I asked as I got closer. What the hell was this? Some kind of intervention? "Michael, we felt that given your recent behavior, it'd be a good idea to have a chat with you," Reverend Thomas started. Okay, ONE of them could have a chat with me. Or all of them. Just ONE at a time. And now they were freaking ambushing me! "What is this?" I asked. "Michael, please," my mother started. "We're just worried about you." "Yeah I'll bet," I replied. So worried, she was willing to just try and erase my boyfriend from my life. But it wasn't gonna happen. "Mike, come on," Max started. "You need help." I need help? I need help? Oh so now they were back to thinking I was crazy again? What the hell was wrong with these people? "We just want you to understand something," my dad started. Oh I knew what they wanted me to understand, alright. But now it was about time for them to understand something. "I get it," I started. "Being gay in this town is like a sickness." I was getting so worked up. I felt like I was a lone in all this, trying to defend myself. I actually felt tears coming down my cheeks. "And you keep talking to me and looking at me like I'm crazy," I continued. "And you want me to just stop seeing Pete." Everyone just started at me. "And the way you do that is by trying to fucking convince me that he's dead, when he's not!" I shouted, through the tears. "He's not dead!" "Michael, please!" Wait a second. I took another look around. Mom. Dad. Max. Troy. Sienna. Pete's parents. Pete....... Pete was.... Not here. No Pete. Pete's parents, yes. But Pete himself, no. "Where's Pete?" I asked. "Michael-" "No, where's Pete! Did he not wanna be here or something? Somebody call him so he can come down here and.....and....and......." I fell to the floor. I couldn't stop the tears. "He's gone Michael," my dad spoke, dropping down to hold me in his arms. "He's gone. His parents....they....found a letter....it uh" I couldn't stop crying. And because I couldn't stop it, I just let the tears flow as I stayed where I was in my dad's arms. Gone. He was...... Pete was dead. I knew that. Deep down, I always knew that. But..... To have to admit it... "So...he's really..." "He's gone son," my dad replied, consoling me. I sniffled a few times and then all of a sudden, I didn't feel like crying anymore. Crying was something that you did when you were sad. But me? I wasn't sad anymore. I was angry. "He's gone." Pete was gone. He was gone because he had cancer and didn't tell anyone. And when he had, it was too late. And now it even looked like he killed himself to go along with that. Pete was gone when he didn't have to be. My boyfriend was gone for a stupid reason. "He's gone," I repeated, plainly. Suddenly, feeling angry felt a whole lot better than feeling sad. YahooGroup (w/ advanced chapters of the story): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JoJoPresents-GayFiction/ Personal email: crossingboi2004@yahoo.com Copyright 2005