Date: Mon, 06 May 2002 17:43:28 -0400 From: Stan Unknown Subject: Chapter 5 of Beating The Odds Chapter Five "Jimmy, you aren't going to try on all of that, are you?" Todd asked. "Yeah. Why not? I want to see how it looks on me before I buy it, don't I?" "I guess. You just have more clothes than me and my two bothers have combined." "Thanks, Todd. I just like to look my best. Is that a crime?" "No. Look, I am going down to the food court. I want to see who else is here. Is that Ok with you?" "Sure. I'll meet you later, OK?" "Yeah. Bye." "Later, Todd." Jimmy went into the changing booth and took his time in selecting what he wanted to buy for today. He knew Todd was right. He had lots more clothes than he would ever wear. He had lots of clothes at home he had bought that he still had never worn. He always kept at least one full outfit and sometimes two in his locker at school, just in case he spilled something on him or he had an emergency. For Jimmy, looking his best was what was most important to him. He finally finished trying on the new clothes and picked out two new outfits to buy. He felt really good to be able to present his own Platinum American Express Card to the sales clerk who was ringing up his sale. The clerk was several years older than Jimmy was, but had to kiss his ass or he could lose a commission on the sale. Jimmy liked being in charge, and was not afraid to let everyone know it. As he smirked at the lowly sales clerk who was doing everything he could to please him, he thought about what had happened at Saks last month. The clerk had dared to ask for additional identification when he was about to charge only $400 on his A/E card. Jimmy had pitched a fit and demanded to see a manger. Once Jimmy had provided the necessary documentation, he had walked away from the purchase, knowing that the sales clerk would suffer the consequences later. And he had been right. The manager had taken the clerk aside and had verbally chastised him. And then after Jimmy had watched from where no one could see him until the manager and clerk were out of sight, had simply walked over to the same unoccupied register, picked up the same clothes he was going to buy before, and got into another line. 'Hey, served him right,' Jimmy thought, as he took the bag from the clerk. 'If you don't like doing this kind of work, you should find a better job.' Jimmy took his bag and made sure there was nothing else he wanted as he casually left the store to join Todd. But then he saw another teenager also shopping for clothes. 'Woah, let's check out this guy,' he thought to himself, as he watched the young man walk towards the changing room with a pair of pants in his hands. Jimmy watched until he had entered the changing room. He considered picking up one more pair of pants to try on, then thought better of it. There would be lots more good looking guys to look at in the mall. He was whistling one of his favorite songs as he left the store. ****************** "Brian, can you come down here please?" "Sure, Dad. I'll be right there." Snake: "I have to go. My Dad wants me for something." Jim: "Ok. Maybe we can talk some more later." Snake: "Yeah, I'll be back as soon as I can. Bye" Jim: "Later." Brian told all his other friends goodbye and quickly and shut down his ISP connection. In less than thirty seconds, he was going down the stairs. He was in a really good mood. He had enjoyed talking to Jim. He was eager to do whatever his dad wanted him to do so he could get back and talk to him some more. Brian walked into the den and was shocked to see Coach Williams sitting there. "Hi coach. What are you doing here?" "I came to talk to your dad, Brian. I haven't had much luck in talking you in to playing on my football team, so I thought I would try talking to your Dad." Brian's eye's went wide in surprise. Then he got angry. "Coach, I've already told you as nicely as I could that I'm not interested. Going behind my back and talking to my Dad isn't going to change my mind." "BRIAN! Watch what you say! You apologize to Coach Williams right now!" "Dad, I won't! I've told him over and over that I like playing in the band and he just won't leave me alone!" "Brain, sit your ass down this instant and listen. The coach is an old friend if mine. We started together my senior year of high school here. He thinks he could make you into a great player with a little work. Well, a lot of work, but I know you're plenty strong enough to do it. We've worked out enough together where I know you would be really good. And I've made up my mind. The band is for girls and faggots anyway. You're going to play football." Brian's eyes got even bigger at the mention of faggots being in the band and his father deciding behind his back that he was going to play football whether he wanted to or not. The pressure that had been building for a long time came to a head. "NO I'M NOT!" he shouted. His father shot to his feet. "DON'T YOU YELL AT ME, DAMN IT!! YOU AREN'T TOO OLD FOR ME TO TAKE MY BELT TO YOU LIKE I USED TO!" Brian had inherited his father's violent temper. But he calmed down just enough to stop shouting. He knew from the past that if they both kept shouting at each other, a physical confrontation was inevitable, but he hoped he could avoid it. Not that he was scared of his father any more like he had been when he was smaller. He knew he was both bigger and stronger now, and also lots quicker. "Dad, I'm way too big for that and you know it. But there is no way you can make me play football if I don't want to. You don't run my life." His Dad was beyond reason. He unbuckled his belt and took it off. "YOU APOLOGIZE TO ME AND COACH WILLIAMS RIGHT NOW OR I WILL WEAR YOUR ASS OUT!!!! NOW, WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE?" Brian was about to explode. He wasn't going to back down this time. He struggled with the last of his resolve to keep himself under control. "Dad, you hit me one time and I'm going to forget you are my father for right now. I don't want this to happen, but if it does, you are going to be really sorry. I don't know if I will be able to stop myself once I get started and if I have to go through both of you," he said, looking quickly over at the coach, who had also risen to his feet, "I WILL!!" Brian's face had gotten really red, as had his Dad's. The coach knew it was his fault and tried to defuse the situation. He stepped in between them and said, "Come on guys! Don't do this. We can work this out." Brian focused his anger where it should have been all along. "WORK IT OUT? YOU FUCKING CAUSED ALL OF THIS! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER?" "BRIAN!!!!" his Dad yelled and tried to get to him with his belt held over his head, but the coach stepped towards him and kept him from getting to Brian. In the process, he pushed him towards the front of the room, and Brian pivoted deeper into the center of the room to give him space in case he had to take on both of them. And for the first time in his life, he was ready to fight for his right to decide what he could do and what he didn't have to do. His father had always demanded that he be a he man like he had been. If Brian's friends didn't come up to his standards, he simply told Brian he couldn't be friends with them any more. No matter what Brian had said in his defense, nothing ever seemed to work. His father controlled his life. It had taken Brian a long time, even in the fourth grade, to convince him that he wanted to play the trumpet. For once in her life, his mother had come to his defense and had talked his father into buying him one. His father had told him to his face that this was just a fad, and Brian would never stick with it. That had just made Brian more determined, and he had practiced so much that he was now the top trumpet player in the band, even though he was just a sophomore. And there was no way he was going to throw away all of that practice from the last five years. Brian didn't exactly hate his father, but they also didn't exactly have a warm father-son relationship. And what they had was rapidly deteriorating. Brain was about to explode inside. He no longer knew exactly what he was doing. He picked up the first thing he could find to help defend himself, which happened to be the poker from the set of tools from in front of the fireplace. "You'd better bring more than a belt with you this time, Mother Fucker!" he screamed, holding the poker out in front of him. Brian's mother came running into the den to see what all the yelling was about. "BRIAN!! Put that down. Fred, you too!" she screamed. Brian's Dad and the coach had seen Brian pick up the poker and had backed up a little bit. They stared at him and saw the wild look in his eyes. "Brian, you go to your room this instant!" she yelled. "NOW!" "Yeah. You're grounded for a month. So don't even think about band camp next week," his father yelled. "FINE!! But no one's going to make me play football if I don't want to. NOBODY!" Brian yelled as he backed his way out of the room. As he got past the two men, his mother said, "Brain, give me that. What's gotten into you?" Brian handed the poker to his Mom and said, "Mom, Dad said he was going to make me quit the band and play football whether I wanted to or not. I'm through with him telling me who my friends can be and what I can do. If I have to live like that any more, I'd rather run away or kill myself." He turned and ran out of the room and up the stairs before anyone could say anything else. Once inside his room, he slammed his door shut and locked it. Brian's rage was about to explode inside of him. He ran over to his closet and got out his baseball bat that he kept there, just in case his father broke the lock and came after him. He was going to be ready for anything but he was not going to take another beating from that man, EVER AGAIN! As he calmed down little by little, he knew that this wasn't over. His father was just like the damn coach. He never took no for an answer either. Brian knew he would just keep on and on until he got what he wanted. He started to get depressed again. 'God, I hate living like this. There is no way I'm playing football. No way! But I just don't think I can stand to hear dad bitch at me about it. I really hate it here,' he thought to himself. Then he remembered his pills. He walked over to the closet and got them out of their hiding place. Tears were running down his cheeks as he sat down on the bed and opened the bottle of liquor. ********************* "Woah! This thing is lots faster," said Dan as Josh floored the Trans Am entering the highway. "Yeah, the chip and exhaust has really made a lot of difference," Josh said as he smiled at all the new power his car now had. "Man, all the girls are going to be all over you," Dan gushed. "Yeah, I guess," Josh answered. "Hey, why did you and Tom go into his office a few minutes ago?" That kid of startled Josh. "Why?" "No reason. I'm just curious." "Like I told you, we were just talking over the terms of our deal. He's going to let me pay him $100 per week." That's great. He seemed really friendly. Maybe if I talk to him, he could cut me a deal like that." "No!" Dan looked over at Josh in surprise and said, "What? All I said was I wanted to see if he would also work on my car." "I asked him for you. He said $800 for the exhaust was the best he could do, and it had to be cash up front." "Shit! I was afraid of that. It'll take me forever to save that much money." "Sorry bud. At least I asked him. Tom can be a little weird at times. One minute he is really friendly and then next he can be kind of mean. I think it's best if you stay away from him. Maybe I can find someone else that can give you a good deal." "You know other people that own car shops?" "Dan, in the business I'm in, you meet lots of people who own businesses. And people who know lots of people that owe them favors. I'll ask around, OK?" "Sure. And thanks." "No problem. Let's go back, pick up your car, and drop it at your house. Then we can cruise around a little bit. How does that sound?" "Fine with me." ********************* Kevin had slowed down to a jog as he ran home. He was enjoying his run. He ran in front of a house where a father was playing football with his three sons. They were all trying to tackle him. They finally succeeded and fell to the ground in a big pile. The three boys all jumped on top of him until he rolled over and started tickling them. All of them were howling with laughter. Kevin smiled as he watched them from across the street as he ran by. They all seemed to be having a great time together. But that made him think of his own father and his smiled faded. Why did all of this have to be going on? He quickened his pace and sprinted the remaining four blocks to his uncle's house. He got some strange stares, but he couldn't have cared less. He unlocked the door and took off the shirt around his waist. He got a towel and dried off his short hair and body. He was finally feeling human again. 'Why does all of this have to happen? Why doesn't Dad love me?' he thought, as he walked to the refrigerator and poured himself a large glass of milk. There were cokes in there that his uncle had bought just for him, but he was so used to nothing but milk, he never looked for anything else. He thought about calling his Mom to see how she was, but it was late enough that his dad might be home and he didn't want to take that chance. So he sat down in the den and turned on the TV. It didn't take Kevin long to find something he hadn't seen before. Everything he watched always seemed to be new. It wasn't long before all thoughts of his Dad were forgotten and he was intently watching the comedy re-run that was currently on. ******************* Jimmy had finally driven back to his house. He shut off the motor but did not get out. His mind was going as fast as his heart. He couldn't get Kevin out of his mind. Nor did he want to. He kept thinking about seeing Kevin without his shirt and the mere thought made him start to get hard again. He had a semi-boner all the way home and now it went back to fully hard. He thought back to looking up and being inches away from Kevin's face. If only he had had the courage to reach up and kiss him right then. He could have said that he had not known that he was doing if Kevin had gotten mad. Temporary insanity. It worked in courts! And Kevin couldn't have exactly beaten him up after knocking him down in the first place, could he? But, like always, he didn't have the guts to do anything. Tim knew he was destined to be a lone for the rest of his life. He didn't have the guts to tell anyone he liked them and who would want someone with a disability anyway. That sobering thought ended his erection. He forced Kevin out of his mind and got out of his car. As he started to walk into his house, his mind went back once more to watching Kevin sprint away from him after Tim had gotten to his car. Tim knew that would be as close as he would ever get to Kevin again. 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.