Date: Sat, 04 May 2002 15:40:03 -0400 From: Stan Unknown Subject: Chapter 3 of Beating The Odds Chapter Three Tom and Josh walked into Tom's office and Josh shut the door behind them. "Tom, what the fuck was that all about?" Josh asked in almost a whisper. Unlike most people, Josh's voice got lower when he was really angry, not louder. But his voice also took on an almost icy tone to it. "What do you mean? I was just being friendly towards your friend," Tom answered, a confused look on his face. "Come off of it! We both know you were putting the moves on him. Dan is not part of this deal. He is my friend and doesn't know anything about what I do on the side. You stay away from him, you understand?" "You can't talk to me that way in my shop. Who the fuck do you think you are?" Tom asked, as he walked closer, looking menacing. "Tom, you take one more step towards me and your balls are going to be lodged in your throat. I've told you I am a second degree black belt in karate, and I wasn't joking," Josh said, as he assumed a fighting stance. Tom was mad, but not stupid. He calmed down quickly. "Ok, I'll leave Dan alone. But are we still on for Friday? You owe me now, remember?" Josh calmed down too, and stood normally, facing Tom. "I've already agreed to it, and you know I never go back on my word. I'll meet you at the motel at 9, just like we agreed. Make sure and park in front of the room you get, like always." Tom just smiled at Josh and walked forward. "And I'm really looking forward to it, too." He tried to kiss Josh, but Josh pushed him away. "I've got to go. Today isn't part of the deal. Friday, you can do whatever you want. But not today. I don't like you very much right now. And remember, leave Dan alone. And no deals on his car, unless all you are trading is money. You come onto him at all and I find out, our deal is cancelled." "You can't do that! I've paid for all your parts up front and have done all the work on your car. You promised seven 'dates' with me. And you know damn well, $700 is a bargain for everything you just got for your car. You try to do that to me and I'll call your mother and tell her what you do to earn your money." "Yeah, you do that. You tell Mom and I'll call your wife. Who do you think will get in the most trouble? Maybe I'll buy your shop after she divorces you and you have to go through bankruptcy. And I never said I wasn't going to go through with my end of the deal. I'm very happy with the terms we worked out. I'm just saying stay away from Dan if you know what's good for you," Bruce answered softly. Tom took a step back, like he was startled. Then he quickly recovered. "Look, I don't want to fight, OK? I'll leave Dan alone. I just thought he might be interested in me doing some work on his car under the same terms I gave you." "Dan is straight. If you came onto him, he might take your head off. And if he didn't, I would." "Ok, Ok, sorry. I didn't know. I just thought that if you were gay, all your friends would be gay." Josh just grimaced and slightly shook his head. 'How stupid can people be?' he thought to himself. "Look, I am enjoying this enlightening conversation, but I want to go and try out my car. We can talk more on Friday. Deal?" "Sure, Josh, anything you say. I just want a kiss before you go", Tom said as he came up and wrapped Josh up in his arms and kissed him deeply, his hands roaming all over Josh's body. Josh let him enjoy himself for a few seconds and then pushed him away. "This isn't a supermarket. I don't give away free samples. You know that. See you Friday." Josh then turned around, opened the door, and walked away. Tom just grinned as he watched him walk away, thinking of Friday night. ****************** "Move it, crip!" "Yeah, get out of out way!" snarled the kid on the bike who flew past Tim. Tim dodged them as he moved slowly towards the football field. His temper briefly flared, but he had kept it in check for so long, it was more natural for him to just accept the abuse than say anything back. Tim had two problems. The biggest was he contracted cerebral palsy when he was an infant. Up to this point, he had gone through 12 years of occupation and physical therapy and had six operations to try and correct his bone structure. He didn't start to walk until he was 6 years old. And even now, he struggled to walk at times, hampered by the heavy steel braces he had to wear on his legs for support. One thing all his troubles had done, however, was make Tim very strong willed and self assertive. He went where he wanted to go and did what he wanted to do. And right now, he wanted to go watch football practice at the high school field. He was walking through a park on the way to the football stadium. Up ahead, he could see two young boys swinging on the swings happily, their mother close by watching them. Tim smiled to himself as he continued towards them, remembering his childhood that was so much different. As he got closer, the older of the two boys noticed him coming and immediately stopped swinging. His younger brother noticed that his older brother had stopped swinging and stopped also. Tim could feel their eyes staring a hole in him as he became the object of their attention. The older boy ran over to his mother and asked, "Mom, what's wrong with him?" "Billy, quit staring and asking so many questions," his Mom answered angrily. "That isn't polite. Now go back and play or we are going home right now," she added, giving Tim a quick look and then averting her eyes. Tim just kept walking like nothing had happened. But the truth was, this had hurt him far more than the two kids on bikes who had yelled at him earlier. After all, they were just kids and didn't understand how you can hurt another person with your comments. But the mother was different. She was an adult and should know better. 'If she had just explained that I had a disability and what that meant to her kids, they wouldn't stare any more," Tim thought to himself. 'Instead, she just made them more curious and they will just stare a lot more next time they see me'. Tim's anger flared once more, but he did as he always did and made it go back down. He had to hurry. He didn't want to miss any of football practice. Tim thought football was Ok. I mean he liked it, but wasn't an avid fan or anything. But he tried to never miss practice this year. Football practice had taken on a whole new meaning. That was Tim's other problem. He was also gay. And he had really fallen for this new kid who was playing middle linebacker for his football team. Tim didn't even know his name, but he constantly watched him on the field and secretly wished that he could meet him some day. Old rock song. Rolling Stones. Sympathy For The Devil. You can't always get what you want, You can't always get what you want, But if you try sometime, you might find, You get what you need. Tim was about to finally get what he needed. But I get ahead of myself. ****************** "Co co come o o on, Ne ne neal. You you you kn kn know you you hav hav have to wor wor work on th th this pa pa paper," Bruce stammered. "I know. I just can't seem to concentrate." "Bu but you you you know i i it ha has to be be do do done by th th the ti ti time scho school sta sta starts." "I know, Bruce. I know. I promised Mr. Williams and I'm going to do it. Thanks for helping me with this," Neal said, as he smiled at Bruce sitting next to him. "You you are are wel welcome," Bruce answered, smiling back. "Ca ca can we we we ge get ba back to to wor wor work?" "Sure, Bruce. You're the boss. Ok, let me try and re-write the last page like you said. Just give me a few minutes without looking over my shoulder, OK?" Bruce got up and left the room so Neal would concentrate. He heard Neal start to type on the computer keyboard as he climbed the stairs from his room in the basement. 'Neal's a really nice guy,' he thought to himself as he entered the kitchen and poured them both a glass of iced tea. 'I just wish he would study harder. He seems to be distracted every time we work together.' Bruce earned extra money by helping other students with research papers and term papers. He was very smart and enjoyed helping others. It also made him feel good about himself. A teacher at school had talked him into it as a way of giving him more confidence in himself. His idea was that if Bruce felt more confident, his stuttering would improve. But in the last two years Bruce had been doing this, if anything, his stuttering had gotten worse. He had gone to therapists, had undergone counseling, he even went to a psychologist for a short period of time. But nothing had helped. The thing is, it bothered Bruce's parents more than it did him. Bruce had stuttered for so long, it really didn't bother him any more. And lots of people were like Neal and didn't seem to mind it taking him longer to say something than it did others. Bruce sat down and thought about Neal. He really liked Neal. He and Neal had been getting to be lots closer friends in the past few days and he really enjoyed Neal's company. A couple of weeks ago, before he really knew Neal, he had defended him when his best friend Mike had called Neal a fag just for complaining about a really heard foul during a 2 on 2 basketball game. Bruce and Mike had almost had a fight over that, but everyone calmed down before things got out of hand. Bruce heard the garage door opening and knew his Mom was home. We waited on her to park the car and come into the kitchen before he went back downstairs to check on Neal. "Hu hu hi mo mom." "Hi Bruce. How's the paper coming with Neal?" "Pre pre pretty go good. He he he is is re re rewri writing a a few para para graphs. We we are are al al almost fin fin finished." "Good. Well, this is only the third day you have been helping him." "I n n know. Bu but I tho thought that that it it wou would on only take a a day or or two." "Well, don't rush him. He has to work at his own pace. This is still summer vacation." "Ye Yeah, but but he has to to have it it do done before before sch school star starts." "I know. You two really seem to get along good together. Especially since you have only known each other for four days. Neal is a nice looking young man. Do you kind of like him? "MO MO MO MO MOM!!" "Calm down, Bruce," she said, smiling. "I was just asking." "Mo Mom, it it is isn't any anything li like that," Bruce answered, blushing fiercely. Bruce loved both his parents totally, and once he decided that he was gay at 13, he told them along with his older sister Lin. Bruce hadn't told his younger brother Ryan. Ryan had spent the night at a friend's house when Bruce came out to his family and Bruce had made them promise not to tell him. All four of them had talked for nearly two hours. Many tears were shed, but they had come out of it a lot more loving, caring family. And all three supported Bruce's decision. But Bruce just didn't want any help finding a boyfriend. His mom just smiled at him. "OK, fine. I was just curious. I'm glad you like helping the other kids." "Me me too, Mo Mom. I I had bet better go se see ho how Ne Neal is do doing," Bruce answered, as he picked up the two glasses of iced tea and started back down the steps to his room in the basement. *********************** Neal had finally finished his paper and quickly had re-read it to make sure he didn't have any spelling or punctuation errors. Bruce found everything that was wrong and he wanted to make sure it was perfect. Bruce still hadn't returned and he sat back in his chair and started trying to summon up his courage. His mind was racing as fast as his heart. He thought back to the day he had first seen Bruce. He had gone down to the park and was just walking around, enjoying the warm day. He had stopped to watch a few kids playing on the swings and enjoying themselves. Just as he was about to walk away, he heard a conversation over by the basketball courts. Well, it was more like a one way conversation. He walked over closer so he could hear better and saw a really nice looking teen age boy who was completely red faced trying his best to get his point across to another teenager. He was stuttering very badly and it only seemed to get worse as he fought to get his point across and couldn't do it. He was clearly getting frustrated, which only made the stuttering worse, but also fiercely determined to finish what he was saying. Neal couldn't really hear everything being said and he didn't know either of them, so he couldn't just walk close enough so he could hear everything. So he just stood where he was and watched out of the corner of his eye. And at that moment was when he fell in love with the boy he would find out was named Bruce. Why? Even Neal wasn't fully certain. Up to that point in his life, Neal had never considered he might be gay. He didn't particularly like girls, but liking boys had never entered his head. But he was strangely drawn to this determined young man who was so determined not to let his handicap stop him from doing anything. Finally, the two boys walked off in the other direction and Neal went home himself. But he couldn't get him out of his mind. Over the next four weeks, Neal would take his basketball and go back to the park every day, just to see if he could run into the boy and learn his name. He learned the times he would most likely be there and made sure he was there also. They played many pick up games of basketball together and he learned his name was Bruce. Bruce! He even liked that name! But Neal had never really gotten to talk to him and he was becoming frustrated. On day, during a game of four on four, a boy named Mike had knocked Neal down on a vicious hit under the boards when Neal had gone up for a shot. "Shit Mike, you don't have to kill me." "I barely touched you. Just shut up and play, faggot!" Mike had snarled. "Mi Mi Mike, you you hi hit him real really hard. And and you have have no re re reason to to call call him na names," Bruce said loudly, as he got in between Mike and Neal. "What's it to you? You like that little fag?" Mike answered. Mike's words had really stung Neal, and he was almost to the point of tears. Bruce looked at him and saw he was upset and simply smiled at him. Then he turned to Mike and said "You you ca can real really be an an ass ho hole at ti times, can can't you?" Before anything further could happen, the others had separated Mike and Bruce or it looked like they were going to get into a fight. The game had broken up as several of the boys left, disgusted, and Bruce was one of them. SHIT!!!! Neal hadn't even gotten to tell him thanks for standing up for him. But if anything, he was now more determined to get to know Bruce. He started asking his friends if they knew Bruce. He learned some more about him, but not much. This went on for two more weeks, and then he asked his friend Steve. "Yeah, I know him. He helped me out on my term paper last year. You remember? The one you did so badly on that you were going to drop a whole grade in English if you didn't promise to re-write it over the summer?" Steve said. "Oh yeah. I still haven't finished it. How did Bruce help you?" "Bruce may not be the best talker in the world, but he is great in English. Honors all through high school. He charges $5 per hour to help write papers. I made an A- on mine. It brought me up from a C to a B. My parents have already said I can use him again this year when I need to," Steve explained. "I made a D on that paper. Mr. Williams was going to give me a C for the semester unless I promised to re-write it. You think Bruce would help me? I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind paying for it." "I don't see why not. I'm sure he isn't helping anyone else during the summer. He is really shy and hard to get to know, but if I introduce you to him, I'm sure he would help you," Steve answered. "Will you?" "Sure. Come on, let's ride over there now," Steve said, as he walked over and got his bicycle out of the garage. Neal got on his and they rode over to Bruce's house. Neal's heart was beating a mile a minute as they approached and saw Bruce shooting baskets in his driveway by himself. Bruce noticed them ride up and stopped shooting as he watched them approach. "Hi Bruce. Bruce, this is Neal. He could use some help with a term paper from last year he has to re-write before school starts. You want to help him? I told him what you charge," Steve said. Bruce looked at Neal and quickly said "Ok." He looked down at his feet as he blushed a deep red but suddenly his hand shot up and he said "H Hi." Neal shook his hand and smiled at him. "We've played basketball together, but we haven't met before." His heart was beating as fast as it could go. "I I kn know." "Guys, I have to go. If I don't have the grass cut by the time Dad comes home, he is going to be majorly pissed. Later," Steve said, as he got back on his bike and rode away. Bruce blushed again, but finally said, "You you wa want to to play so some hoo hoops fir first or go go get you your pa paper?" "Let's play some first, then I can go get it and you can read what I have done so far. Deal?" Neal asked, smiling at Bruce. Bruce smiled back. "De Deal." They played three games of one on one. Bruce won every game. Neal didn't care. He was far more interested in watching Bruce than the score. "I I'm ti tired. I I ne need a sh shower. Why do don't you you ta take a sh shower, ge get your pa paper a and th then co come ba back?" "Good idea, Bruce. I'm tired too. I'll be back in thirty minutes or so, OK?" Neal asked as he grinned at Bruce. Bruce grinned back. "Fi Fine." He watched as Neal got on his bike and rode away. Neal turned once and waved goodbye and Bruce returned the wave, then went inside. To Be Continued E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions or other 'constructive' comments or advice may be sent to: stan992001@hotmail.com. All e-mails will be answered. You can also visit the young gay guys support group I created after my "Matt and Mike" story at www.groups.yahoo.com/group/gbct or our web site at www.gayteensunite.org. There is a forum section there where you can enter comments about this story for everyone to see. All comments will also be forwarded to the eleven guys from the group that are in the story.