Disclaimer: This is a fictional story with fictional characters. Any resemblance to people living or dead is purely a coincidence. Please do not distribute this story. But for 50 million US dollars, I will be more than willing to grant you the copyright. Anyone interested? This story involves love and physical intimacy between two consenting adult men. If you do not want to read this or should not be reading this, please close the browser window and go back to the newspapers. And finally to those who can and still want to read the story, I would like you to know that this is a story about relations and not about sex. So there will be very limited sexual acts and even when it occurs, there will be no graphic details about the act. Enjoy the story. Thank you for reading. First Love - Chapter 2 I lazily opened my eyes and scratched my hair. It was a sight to see Michael peacefully asleep next to me. He had lips that curve up a little. So it always looked he was smiling. I stared at him. The entire sequence of events from last night went through my head. It all seemed like a dream. I had the 6-foot hunk of a man lying next to me and the funny feeling down under to prove that it was not a dream. I tried not to move too much, afraid that I will wake him up. My eyes were still only half open. The only noise in the room was from the heating vent. "May be I should make him breakfast in bed" I thought to myself. I slowly pulled myself out of the bed. Mike stirred a little bit and then settled down. He was still asleep. I could have sat there looking at him, but breakfast was not going to make itself. I planned the breakfast while I dragged myself to wash my face and brush my teeth. I felt much more awake now. I put bread in the toaster. Then I grabbed eggs from the fridge and started beating them with mixed vegetables. Eating healthy was at the top of my list. So bacon was a big NO. Too fatty and too much sodium. God, I am so gay. Anyways. Scrambled eggs and toasts were going to be breakfast. And of course coffee. Got to have coffee. I gathered all of them in two plates, with the coffee mugs precariously balanced on the plate, and walked into the bed room. He was still asleep. I set the plates on the night stand and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Good morning" he said, turning to his side bringing his palms together and placing them under his head and without opening his eyes. "Good morning. I thought you were asleep." I was a little surprised. "Sorry, I did not mean to wake you." "It is not you. It is the delicious smell of your breakfast." He said with his eyes still closed. He looked so innocent and child-like. "Get up already. I don’t know about you, but I am starving". I had to spoil the moment, didn’t I? He slowly opened his eyes and stretched himself. He extended his arm toward me and said, "Come here...give me a kiss." I obliged. No points for guessing that! "What a way to start a morning. A beautiful kiss. A delicious breakfast. I love it." He said softly. He pulled himself up and made himself comfortable against the headboard. We ate, mostly silently, stealing glances and smiling when we were caught staring. And discussed what we were going to do that day, while we finished the coffee. I had to finish my homework before I met with my friends. Mike and I had this arrangement where we would go out Friday evening, spend Saturday finishing up the chores and meeting our own friends and then again meet up Sunday afternoon for a private lunch in either one’s apartment. We both thought it was too early to "meet the friends". Luckily for us, we both lived like 10 minutes away from each other and it was very convenient. Neither of us had expected last evening to turn out the way it did. Well, I did plan for it, but to be frank, I was not very sure, if I was ready. I was not sure if I was ever going to be able to ask him, until I did. After that, Mike made it all so easy. "Do you want to take a shower?" I asked. "Naah. I will go home now". "OK." I gathered the plates and glasses and took them into the kitchen. "Thanks for the lovely breakfast" he said, walking into the kitchen a little later. I was doing the dishes instead of being around him. I am a total nut head. He walked up to me and put his arms around me. He tried to reach up to my cheeks and kiss them. I have fantasized about this for ever. I turned towards him and gave him a quick kiss. He stood holding me for sometime and then said, "I got to go. My friends are going to kill me, if I don’t make it in time for lunch and it is already 11 am." "You better hurry. Don’t want to get your friends mad. They will start hating me for keeping you away from them." "They won’t be able to. Even if they tried." I was a little concerned about this. I did not want to spoil my chances of getting into their good books even before I had met any of them. If I ended up not getting along with them, Mike would have to make a choice every time both his friends and I want to hang with him. That would not be so good. Would it? I knew my friends very well and believed they will accept Michael with open arms (literally), but I was a little concerned about his side. Mike had put his shoes and coat on and was waiting for me to come back from my dreamland. "Hello...where were you." He said waving his arm in front of my face. "Sorry. You have a great day and I will see you tomorrow." I said smiling at him. He came close, wrapped me in his arms and gave me a long deep kiss. Though we’ve kissed several times before, this time was special. My knees went weak and I thought I will fall down, if he let go of the embrace. When I opened my eyes, he was looking into me. "David...I love you."  There...he said it. "I love you too." There...I said it. And I meant it. "I must go now. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Bye baby" With those sweet words, he was gone. I locked the door behind him, turned around, leaned and slowly slid down against it. I was just mentally exhausted. I just can’t get Steven out of head. I know I love Michael. I feel it. At the same time, I keep thinking about Steven all the time. I feel like I am cheating on Michael. Every time I hug him, kiss him, look at him, anything I do, I see Steven...like for a fraction of a second. He is always there. It has been almost a year since I talked to him. I have never met him in person. Yes, that’s right. And I know it is not infatuation, because infatuation fades pretty quickly. Oh, what the heck, I am going to go ahead and tell you the story. **** Picture it. Last December. The week after Christmas. Holidays. It was a cold Saturday evening. I was bored out of my mind. And I was frustrated. For the hundredth time, that day, I swore to myself that I would never ever chat with strangers on a dating website again. All of them want to get it on. No one wants to hold a decent conversation. Where are all the nice guys? May be they are all cuddled up with their boyfriends in front of the television. God, why can’t I find someone? I am 23. I am OLD. I persuaded myself that I will feel much better, if I took a warm shower, dressed up and had some hot chocolate and sit down and watch my favorite movie. That is too much work though. I can go out for a walk - Hell NO. You know how cold it is out there. I can do the dishes and clean up the apartment - It is the holidays. I must rest, relax and enjoy it before I have to go back to the grind of work. So that is out of the question. I can press my clothes and get them ready for next year - Boring. I can call up some of my friends and talk - Not in the mood. I can call up and Brian and Ken (my two best friends) - They just left this afternoon. I can read a book, paint something, rearrange the furniture, watch a movie, eat or fall asleep. You know when you don’t feel like doing anything. I was in one of those moods. Holidays can be very depressing sometimes, especially if you are single. I finally decided it was best to get online and chat with total strangers. If not chat, I can at least read the messages on the public chat room and laugh at them. Sometimes they are hilarious. Not funny, but hilarious. I logged back onto the same dating website again. The same old people. You have seen them so many times, that just by looking at their picture you can say where they live, what they are looking for and what is their ego-level. There were those regular hook-up cases that never seem to give up trying. Also, of course, the annoying bots. I have learnt to recognize and ignore them now. Not long ago, I was so naive that I was talking with a bot for about 15 minutes, before I realized it was not a real person. How embarrassing! I was doing a quick scan of all the people in my chat-room and stopped at this one picture. I had never seen him before. He had a picture showing his beautiful face and bare torso. He had a rugged look to him. Not the kind like Arnold Schwarzenegger. More like Ben Affleck, I would say. When I came out of my trance after a few minutes, I thought I should say hi to him. At the same time thought, he was too hot to even respond to a geek like me. I decided to take a chance. "Hi." "Hi, how are you?" he responded I broke into a huge smile. I was glad that if nothing, the guy at least said hi back. "Pretty good, thank you. How about yourself..." You know how it begins right? So we went on an on for like more than an hour. He was responding fairly quickly. I was convinced that he was chatting just with me. If not, at least he was making it appear that way. He told me that his name is Steven, is 24 years old and he is in medical school and is in his final year. He has made only very few friends here as his busy school schedule does not allow him too much to socialize. That is the reason he does not get online that much either. Well, I was really glad, he did today. Typing was tiring. Neither of us seemed to be satisfied enough to let go. So we decided it was a good idea to exchange phone numbers and talk instead of type. He spoke very softly and politely. It was adorable. It was like music. Haha. May be he was trying to impress me. Yea, wishful thinking.  We were on the phone, talking about every thing under the sun. I did not understand most of the information he gave me about medicine and what he plans to do in his residency period. I was just happy to be talking with him. How many guys have that effect on me? No one. I forgot I had not taken dinner. I didn’t care. I got into the bed, making myself comfortable, and we talked and talked. It was close to two hours before my cell phone starting giving out signals of its impending death. I cursed myself for forgetting to charge it last night. Yea, it was pretty late when Brian, Ken and I returned home from the club and we all immediately crashed in to my bed. When the cell phone beeped a second time, I decided it was time to end the conversation rather than have the machine cut us off half way through a sentence. So I told Steven, how great I feel about the entire evening and that I would like to talk to him more and may be meet up sometime. He told me he was free the next day and he would phone me to confirm plans. He closed with a "Good night handsome." He thinks I am handsome. Yay!! I lay on the bed feeling too elated and excited to sleep. I couldn’t get his face off my mind. Not that I wanted to. I hugged my pillow and gave it a kiss. Hey! I am 23, I can do such stuff. I was sure I was dream of Steven. Eventually I did fall asleep. I do not remember the dream very well now. It had something to do with a white horse, a prince and flying away to the stars. Sunday arrived. The weather was lousy. Cold, dark, lifeless. I was too happy to be bothered by that. I woke up pretty late. Looked at my Steven (my pillow) and wished him a good morning. Then I tried to mimic Steven saying "Good morning David" to me. I called my friends and cancelled the evening with them. We were supposed to hang out at Brian and Ken’s place and watch "The Mummy Returns". Yea, they are roommates. I told them about Steven and they teased and taunted me before they let me go. I hummed and danced to my favorite songs while I brushed, treated my hair, showered, dressed. Like the kid from 'Home Alone'. I was almost done with my brunch, when the phone rang. I jumped and grabbed it even before it rang the second time. I calmed myself; let it ring a couple more times before I answered it with a sweet "Hello Steven". "Hey. How are ya?" "Fantastic. Did you sleep well?" I asked wanting him to say he couldn't sleep 'cos he was thinking about me all night. "Like a baby."   Damn. "Listen. How would you like to meet me for coffee at 4 pm?" "I would love to." I said trying to hold back my excitement. We quickly worked out the finer details and he hung up. I was jumping and dancing around the apartment like a kid, whose parents just bought him his favorite video game...or whatever kids love these days. I rummaged my closet and picked out the clothes that I thought were the best I had, pressed them, trimmed my nails, showered, shaved and readied myself. It was almost 3 pm. I gathered my wallet, cell phone, keys, chap-stick, tissues (just in case), watch, gloves and the jacket. I fed the fish and stepped outside the apartment. I was still too excited. I carefully descended the steps and opened the door to step out into the freezing cold. I had to spend almost 30 minutes scraping the ice off the windshield and the windows. It was all very slippery. I didn’t care. I was going to be meeting Steven in less than an hour. I got to the coffee house 5 minutes before 4. I chose a nice quite corner, got myself a hot chocolate and waited. Being Sunday evening, there were not too many people. Perfect. I waited and waited and waited some more. It was 30 minutes past 4. I called Steven’s mobile and there was no response. I left him a message. I waited some more and called again. No response. I was starting to get upset. It was 5 pm and I had finished my drink and almost memorized the menu. I felt everyone was staring at me. I tried Steven one last time. Still there was no response. The cell phone was switched off now. I have never been as disappointed and angry as I was now. I left the coffee place before I started crying. I drove back home, almost unconsciously. Banged the door shut and went straight to my laptop. I deleted the chat transcript I had saved from last night. I deleted Steven’s number from my phone. That is all I could do to vent out my anger. I started crying. Much later, I wiped my eyes, switched my phone off and went to bed. My only choice was to sleep and I cried myself to sleep. The next morning, I woke up pretty early. I had a severe pain in my neck and back. I must have fallen asleep in a wrong posture. My eyes were all red and puffy. I did not feel like doing anything. Luckily it was a holiday and I did not have to go to work. I spent the entire day either crying or watching Golden Girls. Well, I was just staring at the screen, with almost nothing registering in my mind. There was knock at the door. I did not bother to answer it. The banging became louder and I could hear Brian calling for me. I went and opened the door. It was Brian and Ken. They had called me several times and since my cell phone has been off since morning, they had come looking. They realized immediately that something was wrong and opened their arms out for a group hug. Well, it doesn’t need the FBI to figure that out. I was still wearing the clothes from yesterday and looked like hell. I ran into my bedroom ignoring them. They came after me. I was lying on the bed face down. They both lay on either side and tried to find out what was wrong. Finally I was able to pull myself together and tell them about being stood up last evening. The both hugged me told me how men are such pigs and how we cannot trust them. "Honey, he is a two-dollar trash, who gets a cheap thrill by playing such tricks with nice guys like you." Ken said. He was always more vocal of the two. "Shut up Ken.  I love him."  I was serious. "You are kidding. You just met him yesterday." Both said simultaneously. "Actually you did not meet him. You just talked to him on the phone." Ken said being technical. Brian shot a cold stare at him. "No, I am not. I know I love him." I repeated. "OK. You love him. Let us talk about this, but first you have to change and wash up and may be eat something." Brian took over. "Kenny, can you help him wash-up and change. I will go fix him something to eat." "Sure." Ken replied. Fifteen minutes later we were sitting in my living room. Hot coffee and a readymade burger were thrust into my hands. I realized I was starving and it did not take me too long to wolf it down. "He might not love me, but I do." I said, looking innocently at both of them. "No you don’t. You will get over him." Ken started. "I have a friend you should go out with. He is a great guy. He works..." "Ken. Please. I love him." I repeated like a mynah bird. "Of course. You do." Brain interrupted before Ken could dismiss me and go on. "Why don’t we leave it for now and talk about it later someday." Ken suggested that they sleep over at my place. They tried to make me watch a comedy movie. I was not in this world. It sounds so silly to even me now. How can I love someone I have not even met? I just chatted with him and talked on the phone. There are guys who play such games. He sounded so honest and sweet. I think they helped themselves with burgers. Ken crashed on the couch and Brian slept next to me in my bed. The next morning, we all woke up almost at the same time. I was feeling much better. Well, you can cry only for so long and so much. I hugged both them for being such wonderful friends. I called a local diner that had home delivery service and ordered breakfast. We all ate. Ken cracked silly jokes every time he remembered one to cheer me up. I was back to the world of the living. I was smiling and answered the few neutral questions Brian asked. "Want to hang at our place, this evening?" Brian asked casually. "Sure. What time?" "How about 7 pm. I will cook a fancy dinner." "Thanks Brian" I said fully knowing that this sudden 'fancy dinner' thing was to help me forget Steven. "Thanks David. I will get something nice to eat too." Ken joked. "Asshole" Brian jumped on Ken, pushing him to the floor and wrestling him down. They could easily be a couple. We finished breakfast and they both were leaving. "Bye David. See you at 7." Brain said, giving me a hug. "Keep your chin up sweet heart." Ken gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek. They left. I decided that I will never chat with strangers ever again nor will I date again. I was normal most of the time, but something inside me had died. That’s when I turned towards meditation and yoga. I also decided to go back to school, so that I can keep myself busy. The masters’ degree would be an added bonus. I thought about Steven at least once in a day. I did not want to. But I just could not forget him. It was not until I accidentally met Michael at the novelty store, that I started to believe that I wanted to date again. **** The ringing of my cell phone brought me back to the real world. I was still sitting leaning against the door. I grabbed the cell phone. It was Ken. "Where the heck is you?" he yelled. I saw the time and I was supposed to meet them for lunch. "Umm...sorry. Forgot" "Still with lover boy?" he teased. "I wish. But I have something to tell you guys." "O-H M-Y G-O-D." He dragged it out like Janice from FRIENDS. "You got laid last night. Didn’t you?" He was so excited. I blushed. "Come down RIGHT NOW. I want all the details." I was at their place in less than 30 minutes. I am so lucky to have everyone so close by. After the usual hugs and kisses, we sat down in the dining room with staeamy plates of pasta with marinara sauce. I told them the important events of the evening to them. Inviting Mike inside, cuddling up while watching television, the kiss, the love-making, breakfast in bed and the grand finale, where he said, "I love you". It was too much excitement for them to contain. We all gathered into a big group hug with lots of kisses and laughter. When we finally sat down, I said, "And I kept thinking of Steven all the time. I am going to tell Mike about Steven tomorrow, when we meet for lunch." Brain and Ken both looked at me and at each other in total shock. To be continued... Two down. Three more to go. Thanks for all your comments. This was my first stab at writing and your emails encourage and help me. Please send your comments, suggestions and questions to gay_love_fiction (at) yahoo (dot) .com