Stories of an Old Boy: Matty's Turn

Phillip's POV

I think that humans these days are doomed to scroll through Netflix menus forever. At least it seems that way, right now.

You see, Gareth suggested we watch a movie, but for the past few minutes, he's just been scrolling through everything there is to see on Netflix. Every time he runs across something, he's like, `Maybe…​nah…​not feeling it... no way.' I swear, if he doesn't pick something soon I'm going to just crash out of sheer boredom.

"I always think I know what I want to watch until I actually open Netflix," Gareth says, sounding a little annoyed, but clearly hamming it up a bit.

I look at him with a smirk, "You're the one who suggested this, y'know." I say.

He rolls his eyes, "Yeah, I know," he says mockingly, "I just had a brain fart on what I wanted to watch." He looks at me and sticks out his tongue.

"Well, maybe your next brain fart will poop out an idea," I say with a silly grin.

He snorts a laugh, "Dude, that's gross."

"You laughed, though," I say, putting my arms behind my head .

"You're a dork," he says, still smiling.

"Takes one to know one," I reply with a smug smile.

"Jerk," he says looking away, trying hard not to smile.

I just chuckle, "Just pick something."

"Ugh! I don't know…​how about this one?" he asks.

"`Naruto Shippuden: The Movie'? I've never actually seen much Naruto," I say.

"You haven't?!" he says, shocked.

"Not really," I say with a smile, "I mean, I kinda know the basics about the character, but even when I do watch anime, I usually go with shorter shows. And that one's been on forever."

He giggles a bit, "Actually, with the movies, you don't need to know that much. If you know about the character, that's really all you need. You don't really need to know everything that's happened in the show or manga or whatever."

I shrug, "Sure, I guess I could give it a try."

He clicks on the movie and it starts up after a second or two of loading.

"We can always change it, if you don't like it," he says.

The movie starts, strangely, by showing us that the main character is going to die, so it's got me interested to see what they actually do with it. Pretty sure they don't actually kill him off, but it sure looked convincing. The movie looks pretty good, too. Going from a fiery, intense monster fight to a night scene at a temple.

A little ways into the movie, I feel the bed shift as Gareth moves a little. I look to see what he's doing just in time to see him lean on me, putting his head on my shoulder. He wiggles a bit more as he moves close and huffs a deep breath out through his nose.

Part of me is really confused by the sudden contact, but part of me feels…​curious, I guess. I mean, Gareth hasn't really shown much concern for personal space before; it doesn't bother me too much or anything, since he doesn't take it too far most of the time. And I guess I'm okay with this. Maybe he needs it after talking about his dad? I can understand that. Besides, it's not like my mom never hugged me or whatever, so I can deal.

We continue to watch the movie like this. I can smell Gareth's shampoo--clean scent mixing in with his own scent. I wonder what shampoo he uses? I'm half-paying attention to the movie, occasionally distracted by the little things Gareth does, like jiggle his leg (and feeling it rub on my leg) or play with the fabric of his pants or adjust his glasses. I take a quick look at him and he's paying attention to the movie. Well, seems to be. I decide to do the same and drive out whatever is in my mind. Stupid hormones.

The movie does get to be pretty good. And the action scenes sort of ramp and get bigger and better as they go.

About halfway through the movie, I take a moment to stretch, letting Gareth know by moving my shoulders so he can move a bit. I stretch the tension out with a quiet grunt and bring my arms back down. Before I get my arms back down, Gareth abruptly scoots back to my shoulder, making it so my arm is going down around him. I freeze before my arm goes all the way down, bringing it down after a moment.

Now I'm really curious if he's up to something or not. It's kinda weirding me out, because that makes two cute boys in about as many weeks who acted at all like this around me. The big difference is that Matty's more direct. Gareth seems to be beating around the bush…​while banging on a gong.

Whoa, Phillip. You might be getting ahead of yourself. You just said a minute ago that Gareth isn't hung up on personal space. That doesn't mean that he's acting weird or wants anything more than to be held, so just stop freaking out. I mean, I already hugged him, so him being close doesn't bother me--just the opposite, actually--but this just seems pretty weird.

Out of the corner of my eye, though, I see Gareth looking at me. He's trying to be all discrete, but I can tell he's got something going on in his head. He tries to sneak a glance over at me before rolling his eyes and looking off in the other direction.

Really? Did he think I didn't notice that? He makes me look cool. Well…​hard to deny that he doesn't make me smile, though. Even when he's trying to be cool. It does help me to relax a bit, but I'm still freaking out over what he definitely has on his mind right now.

"So," he says, pausing a moment, "do you like the movie?"

"Uh, y-yeah. It's pretty good," I say. "Looks really good, too."

He nods, "Yeah, it's a pretty cool movie. It's got a lot of action and stuff, but it's kinda relaxing to watch."

I just grunt in agreement.

"Y'know what else is relaxing?" Gareth asks. Well, blurts out, really.

"What?" I ask, staring forward at the TV.

"Getting a scalp massage," he says. "It always helps me relax or feel better when I'm stressed."

I look at him. He flashes a quick glance at me and turns back to the TV.

Well, he's definitely not the smoothest or most subtle guy. It's getting more obvious what he wants. I guess I can humor him. Actually, since he's practically asking for it, let's see if I can beat him at his own game.

"Oh? You like scalp massages, huh?" I ask. I try to be all cool about it, but my voice has this small tremble to it making that impossible. Yeah, I'm probably just as awkward as he is.

"Yeah, so…​I mean, it's definitely a good way to relax…​for me, I mean," he trails off.

"Oh. Okay," I say as coolly as I can before turning back to the movie.

"And you know," he suddenly picks up, "it’s been kind of a long week, right?"

I nod, "Uh, y-yeah," I say with a slight squeak. Hold it together, now. "Yeah, I guess so."

There's a pause between us. Gareth fidgets a bit, nervously adjusting his glasses.

"So, I guess it'd be helpful if I were to get one right now…​from you, I mean," he says, sounding a little urgent. Then he clears his throat and shrugs, "That is, if you don't mind."

"Uh, okay. Sure," I reply, probably sounding really nervous.

I slowly move the arm wrapped around him and bring it up to his head. After I swallow to get my anxiety in check, I start running my fingers through his hair and rubbing them on his scalp.

Gareth quietly lets out a sort of…​vocal sigh, I guess, not really a moan or whatever, and says with his eyes closed, "It does feel good."

I grunt in agreement and keep fiddling with his hair. It's really thick, but also soft enough that I can enjoy the feeling almost as much as he does. The feeling changes as I go from the top of his head, then down the more shaved sides of his head and back up. The bristly texture is a cool feeling and makes the rest of his hair feel even softer. A couple of times, I feel a light shiver from Gareth--probably getting goosebumps from the treatment.

"You're pretty good at this," Gareth sighs, eyes opening up some.

"Thanks," I say with a small smile.

"And, hey, maybe there's a good side to being as ticklish as I am," he says.

He doesn't say anything for a moment.

"What's that?" I ask.

"I'll bet it makes stuff like this feel good all over," he says.

I'm not sure if that's actually true about being ticklish, but i'm sure it was just the best thing he could come up with. And hey, I've got a cute boy right here in my arms, so maybe I should just keep playing along.

"Huh…​think so?" I ask, voice wavering, yet again.

Gareth lets out a small nervous laugh, "Yeah, well, I don't know for sure," he says.

He waits a few seconds then keeps going, "It'd be pretty neat to find out, though."

I try to figure out how to respond. I'm so not used to taking the lead here and I feel like he keeps waiting for me to. I take a breath in and out. I think of the coolest thing I can say.

"I think I can help with that," I say. Okay, so not that cool. Totally doesn't help that my voice cracked when I said "help." Ugh! Someone just kill me.

"Great!" he exclaims, brightening up a bit. But he quickly relaxes and tries to make this unexcited face. "I mean, cool. If you want to, I guess."

I move my hand to his back, moving down to the hem of his shirt.

"I'll try my best not to tickle you," I say with a smile.

Gareth nods and leans forward slightly.

I move my hand under his t-shirt and place my hand on his lower back. His skin is soft and warm. He flinches away a bit, but doesn't really laugh or anything, so I keep going. I start to run the nails of my fingers in kinda circular patterns lightly scratching him like I was going for an itch. My mom's done this to me before and it feels really good.

Gareth moans quietly in agreement. I can feel his back go from tensed up for the scratch to relaxed from the relief of having an itch scratched. I also switch back and forth to just rubbing my palm in a sort-of massage. I can feel some of the muscle under the heat of the skin as I rub and a few odd bumps here and there, probably just a mole or two. It takes a couple of tries to figure out how light my touch should be, since he does flinch like it really tickles more than feels good. Eventually, I figure out a good way of doing it.

At this point, I'm waiting to see what he does next. I mean, I'd like to do more, but I'm not sure how cool he'd be going further.

He sits up and I take my hand out of his shirt, wondering what he's doing. I get my answer when he moves over, scoots back--almost completely into me--and sits in front of me. He reaches behind him to grab my arms and pulls them over his shoulders on either side. I resist for a second until Gareth does a gentle tug on my arms and I relax so he can move them. He's basically got my arms draped over his shoulders and is squeezing them lightly to his chest. Yup. No personal space hang ups. I curl my arms so that they don't go too low, taking him into a gentle hug.

"You like this?" I ask, sounding a little amused.

"Oh, I was, uh…​I figured it'd be good to…​y'know try another angle," he says with a shrug.

"It's kinda hard to do anything if you're holding my arms prisoner," I say with a smile.

"I know," he says with a small chuckle, "I, uh…​just like hugs…​so, can't I just do this for a minute?" he asks.

I pause for a few seconds.

"Y-yeah…​okay," I say.

He's being so obvious right now, I swear. `I just like hugs'? I'll give him that he likes being touched and held, but he's practically screaming that there is more to it than that.

Gareth starts to rub his hands on my arms. His hands are mostly pretty soft and feel nice.

"Your skin is soft," he says.

Yeah. He is not just in this for hugs.

Occasionally, I feel him run his fingertips on my arm, giving me a feel of the tough calluses on his fingers from all the guitar playing he's done. Pretty sure his are tougher than mine. I really should practice more…​I wonder if I could get some help from Gareth or his brother?

Gareth brings me back to reality as I feel his hands run all the way down to mine. He runs his fingers around my knuckles and randomly traces whatever parts of my hand he can reach before taking one of his hands and locking his fingers with mine. His hands are just a little smaller than mine and fit right inside them. He kinda lifts up our hands a bit to look. I decide to rub his hand with my thumb; he leans back slightly. It's kinda strange how much he explores all these feelings of being touched. It's cute and hot, too, but I'm going to try and think about something else. Thankfully, his back is all that's leaning against me. No telling what he would say if he were to scoot his butt back a few inches.

He loosens his grip on my hand and arms with a sigh.

"Still want more?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says.

I start to rub my hands along his chest, using the same pressure I used earlier on his back. Gareth breathes out again and closes his eyes. I feel the firmness under his shirt, the fabric a little thinner than a plain old T-shirt.

"It's nice," he says.

"The rubbing?" I ask.

"Yeah," he says, "I've always liked touching and being touched. Not just like this, I mean," he says, craning his head back a bit. "A hug, a massage, a hand on my shoulder…​it feels nice, but it's also like…​being recognized, I guess, or being noticed."

"Hmm," I grunt.

"I-I'm sure that sounds silly or whatever," he says.

I can tell he's about to launch into one of his usual rants, so quickly answer, "No. I don't think it does. Just never really thought about it like that, I guess."

For a few moments, we sit there. I run my fingers over his chest and stomach and he takes a moment to watch the movie. Not sure why, I certainly haven't been paying attention the last few minutes. Instead, I lean back against the headboard a bit more so I can slide down and relax a bit.

I feel Gareth move to sit up a bit, eventually. I straighten up, too, and stretch out some of the stiffness from sitting in weird positions. As I do, Gareth reaches down for his shirt and pulls it over his head. He gets it halfway up his head when I hear, "Dammit."

He fumbles around in front of him and moves his glasses to the side. Finally, he manages to get the shirt over his head and off. His skin is paler than mine, but I doubt he rides his bike everywhere or goes swimming as much as I have over the summer. He's got a few little moles dotting in random spots on his back. He's also got a couple of pretty big, mostly-healed bruises on his side.He turns to me,

"That's better," he says, putting his glasses back on.

I just blink stupidly.

He giggles, "Sorry, I was just trying to cool down, but I'm fine now."

"Okay," I say, dumbly. "Oh hey, those are some pretty big bruises. You alright?"

"Huh?" He looks down to check himself out. "Oh, those. I forgot they were still there."

He rubs them gently, then looks up at me with a smile and a nervous chuckle, "I, uh, fell out of a tree a few days ago. Thought I landed okay to not break any bones, but I did get the wind knocked out of me. The bruises showed up the next morning. They looked much worse then."

"Well, be glad it wasn't any worse," I say, "I broke my arm once falling out of a tree, so you're pretty lucky."

"Yeah. Definitely got off easy," he says. Then he scoots back to me in the same position and gently lead my arms back to where they were before, only there's no shirt in the way now.

Okay. No personal space and very comfortable with that. I think I can adjust to that. I mean, I've been friends with Matty and he's…​well, similar enough. Who am I kidding? This kid takes the cake. Matty's nowhere near as touchy as Gareth. But I'm still not sure if he wants…​more. I mean, for all I know, he's totally cool being held while we watch a movie. Matty would've at least made a move by now and kept me from guessing.

Well…​he did say he was down for whatever. Maybe I should be the one to push things forward? We've gone this far already.

I'm thinking and moving my arms mindlessly around his smooth chest. I'm definitely worrying too much. He'll say something if he wants to stop. Right now, he seems very interested in anything I do to him, so I'm going to try and enjoy it. It does give me a chance to better appreciate Gareth's body, since I've never really gotten a look at it before.

His build is pretty average…​maybe a bit on the stocky side. But he's not, like, fat or anything. I guess he's just broad--a little wide in the shoulders and hips. Like, broader and a little taller than Matty, but also about as broad as I am. He'll probably beat me when he gets taller. So far, the only hair I've seen is on his head.

Okay, screw it. I'm going for it. After being around Matty, it certainly doesn't feel as weird to have this kind of fun with a friend.

"There's something else I can do," I say, "if you really want it to feel good." I move my arm lower and rest my hand on his stomach, gently tapping my fingers on the tiny amount of fat cushion that's there.

"Huh? Like what?" he asks as he looks up at me, sounding a little clueless, but still eager.

Does he not know about this stuff? How on earth do I explain it? God, I made a huge mistake. Okay, Phillip. Deep breath. Just see what he knows.

"Well…​you know, more…​adult things," I say, pausing to look at Gareth.

He still looks totally confused.

I take a breath, "Y'know…​fun things you can do when you start to feel really good when you," I swallow, my mouth starting to dry, "touch yourself? Or when someone touches you?"

Gareth replies slowly, "You mean like a massage?"

"I mean…​you know how your dick can make you feel really good?" I pause: confusion. "Like, when you rub it and stuff?" Real eloquent explanation, there.

"O-oh," he says, eyes going wide, "You mean, like…​masturbation and…​stuff," he says.

"Yeah, I mean…​I-is that okay?" I ask. Honestly, I'm just relieved that he knows. This is already tough enough as it is.

His eyes go wide and he nods enthusiastically.

"Yes, it is," he says, before he calms down a bit, "I mean, if you wanted to. I've never really done anything like this, but I know it's kind of a big deal, although I'm sure it's really just kinda learning about this stuff first hand. I mean, I don't want you to feel like you've got to, but I'm sure it'll feel really good, so--"

"Gareth," I say with a smile.

"Huh?" he replies, looking up at me.

I just raise my eyebrow, still smiling. He's still acting somewhat like himself, so it's helping me relax a bit.

He makes his usual reaction of realization and lets out a quick, nervous laugh.

"Right, sorry," he says.

"It's okay if you're nervous," I say, "I understand. I'm still new to this myself. But, you're right about one thing."

Gareths looks at me questioningly.

"It does feel good," I say. Then I move my hand lower, cupping and stroking the fabric around his crotch. "Especially when someone else does it for you," I say.

His breath hitches a bit and he leans back.

My curiosity gets the better of me, so I start to unbutton his pants. After I unzip them, I look at Gareth. He seems more than a little tense; his chest puffing up in deep breaths, lips pressed tight, and his eyes fixed on my hand.

"Just try to relax," I say quietly.

"Right," he says, puffing out a breath as his chest relaxes a bit. "It's hard not to be a little nervous. Like I said, I've only ever…​y'know, done this to myself a few times…​and no one's ever done it for me."

"I know how you feel," I say, "but I promise it will make you feel really good."

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He exhales, then pushes his pants down to his knees, putting his tighty whiteys on full display. I take a nervous gulp, realizing that he's almost completely naked and that I'm about to do this. I might be nervous, but there's a part of me that's urging me to keep going.

I move my hand under the waistband of his undies. Kinda tough to do, since he's still leaning back on me, but I manage to lift and slowly peel them back just enough to pull them under his nuts.

"You're uncircumcised," I say, staring at his dick.

"I-is that bad?" he asks. "I mean, I remember my dad and brother told me that some guys get their foreskin cut off, but I didn't think I'd be that weird or whatever..."

I shake my head, "It's not bad at all. Mine's not completely circumcised, but it's still cool to see one that is totally uncircumcised."

And I really did enjoy looking at it. He hasn't popped a boner yet, so his dick is just poking up, sort of angling down a bit. It's not as huge as some of the guys I saw last night--he's smaller than me right now, so probably only about 2 inches long, maybe an inch wide all the way up--but it's not tinier than other guys, I guess. And like I said, he hasn't gotten hard yet, so no telling where we end up.

I work my hand past his waist, feeling the skin of his soft, smooth pubic area. I start to feel up his dick. Gareth sucks in some air and lets out a quiet grunt at the feeling. I take his foreskin between my fingers, just kinda examining it. It's bunched up at the top of his head in a tight bundle. I'm not an expert or anything, but it kinda looks like a lot. Well, I guess any foreskin would look like a lot to me. I give it a light pinch and feel the texture and flexibility of the skin. Gareth starts to breathe through his nose; loud enough to show he's nervous, but controlled enough to show me I'm not scaring him or something. I move down to his nuts and gently roll them in my hand. They're nice and soft, tucked up against his dick, but developed enough that they're starting to fill out. Really, they're big enough that they kinda look a bed that his dick could rest on. That's a weird image…​anyway, I think they're just a little bigger than Matty's, but still fit in my hand. When I roll his nuts around, I can feel their slightly oval-like shape. I can also feel the resistance in my gentle pull; this is the first time anyone's done this to him, after all. Gareth lets out a low hiss and leans back.

Finally, I take his dick between my fingers and start to slowly jack him off; not peeling the foreskin, but applying a little pressure and moving just a little bit just under the head. Gareth's dick immediately reacts and I feel it start to swell. Gareth has started to grunt and moan a little louder as I do. I start to slowly peel his foreskin back on one pull, trying to loosen its tight grip. It gets a little easier with the little bit of precum he starts to make coming out. When I get it peeled, I can finally see the head of his dick; bell-shaped and light purple with a shine from the light precum that coats it.

After a few moments of that, Gareth is at full attention in my hand. I let it go for a minute to look at it. He's about double in length from what he was before, foreskin still wrapped around the tip, but just barely. Actually, it looks as long as mine looks like when I'm erect--maybe just a little shorter. And it hasn't gotten any thicker, either. It only narrows just a bit going up the head, which is the only part that gets a little thicker, but the shape is pretty even overall. Still, I definitely love staring at it and stroking it. Right now, I'm just slowly stroking, moving the foreskin all the way down before bringing it back up and doing it all over again. Gareth sure seems to be enjoying it. He gives off muffled grunts and occasionally a soft moan at the feeling.

"How's this?" I ask with a smile, though I obviously already know the answer.

"So good," he says in an almost grunt. "Like an even itchier itch than usual. I've never felt this good before."

"Then I'll make it even better," I say.

I pick up the pace on my stroking, trying not to put too much pressure on yet. I'm only a bit more experienced than he is, but I know that will end things way too early. Gareth moans and leans back again, his bristly hair rubbing on my chest while he lolls his head from side to side.

I decide to switch to my left hand, so I can free up my right to start stroking his hair. I run my fingers up the bristly side and comb through his soft, thick hair on top. After a few strokes there, I decided to move on, gliding my way down his shoulders and chest. Gareth flinches and grunts a bit at the tickle, but doesn't collapse in a giggle fit, so I keep going.

Eventually, I decide I need to move around and make things a little easier for me. I mean, I don't want to, all things considered, but it's starting to get uncomfortable to hold him at this angle and jack him off.

"Sit up," I say, "I need to move."

I stop jacking him off and Gareth replies, almost sounding like he's waking up, "Huuuh? Oh! Uh, sure," he says. He puts his hands down on the bed and scoots himself off and up.

"I think I needed to change position, too," he says with a giggle. He groans as he takes a big stretch. He twists a bit, his right side facing me. Now that he's closer, I notice a few cuts or scrapes high up on his ribs.

"Man, you get hurt a lot," I say.

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow.

"The scratches?" I say pointing at his ribs.

"Oh, uh…​they're from roughhousing with a friend," he says, matter-of-factly. "We were outside wrestling and he kinda made a dick move and started fighting back with this, like, bush branch or something. It had a few sharp thorns on the end, so they left some pretty deep cuts."

"Your friend sounds like an asshole," I say, just a little angry that he'd go that far. I mean, what the fuck?

He chuckles a bit, "He apologized. He just grabbed it in a hurry and didn't pay attention. He felt really bad; he didn't know he was hurting me that bad."

Then he makes his silly grin, "This is why I never go outside. Nature's trying to kill me."

I just chuckle and roll my eyes, "Maybe just be more careful?"

He does a mock salute, "Yes, sir!"

I shake my head with a smile, "Here, switch spots with me."

Gareth waddles over, pants still halfway down his thighs. I get a chance to check out his butt for a second or two. It's wide and round, forming a small bubble sticking out. It's kinda cool to actually see it. I guess I've been a little curious…​I wonder if I have a thing for asses? Also, at just the last moment, I spy a dark brown mark on Gareth's right butt cheek; a birthmark that looks just slightly raised, about as big as my thumb. Gareth practically plants himself against the headboard, wiggling in for comfort.

"First things first," I say, grabbing his pants by the waist. I look up at him and he nods. I pull them the rest of the way off his legs. His legs are just a shade or two paler, but similarly proportioned to the rest of him.

I grab his dick again. It twitches in my hand and Gareth grunts a little. I just slowly go back to jacking him off like I was before. Some of the precum has dripped down his shaft, making it a little easier; plus, the feel of his precum is kinda cool. I take what little there is left on the head and rub it down his shaft. Then I go back up and slowly run a finger along the ridge between his head and the foreskin, winding up at the spot just under the head. He lets out a moan that turns into a whimper as I do.

"Gah!" he exclaims, taking a second to calm himself. "Phillip," he says, taking another pause and leaning his head back. "It feels so good." His muscles tense as I take another pass and he sucks in a hissing breath.

"I'm glad," I say, rubbing my free hand up and down his smooth, solid thighs.

I move that hand up and start to gently play with his balls again while teasing his dick head. He grunts a little and lets out a moan at the sensation. I figure it's time to have him feel as good as he can. I start to jack him off a little harder and faster, stroking his balls as I do.

"Mmm…​oh," he's really moaning now. His hips have started to thrust a little bit for the first time, his smooth skin bumping against my hand.

I move my other hand off his nuts and start to feel myself through my pants. Hard as a rock and wanting to get out. But this is Gareth's time right now, so I just rub myself a few times to help the pressure.

Gareth breathes heavier, letting out the occasional grunt or moan. A few moments later, his moans get louder and faster, and his hip thrusts a bit harder; he thrusts with his hips stuck in a slightly arched position. I move my hand back to his nuts, which have retracted back inside of him, so I just stroke the area where they went in.

Finally, Gareth looks in my eyes before squeezing his shut and letting out a big grunt. He thrusts up one more time, arching off the bed higher than he was before and I feel his dick start to twitch as he cums. He shoots up a few shots of watery, clear cum, arcing up just a bit before it lands on his pubic area. With every shot, he lets out a grunt through clenched teeth. A few more twitches squeeze out some more clear cum that just drools out from the head getting all over my hand and making his shaft even wetter. I'm still pumping him softly, wanting to squeeze everything I can out. He starts to relax a little bit, but his dick is still kicking, but only in a dry cum, twitching what feels like a dozen times before it stops and I let him go.

Gareth slumps down on the bed, panting, with a smile on his face.

"That felt…​that was," he starts with a dry crack in his voice. He makes a quick swallow and says, "That was amazing."

"Thanks, glad you liked it," I say with a simple smile.

I take a second to admire my handiwork, the watery cum shining on Gareth's skin as it starts to roll off him.

"Hey," I say, "do you have any, like, tissues or something? To help clean you up a bit?"

He gestures around lazily, "Just hand me my undies," he says.

I grab the underwear and hand them to him. He just kinda lays there for a second before he adjusts his glasses and sits up, delicately wiping up the semen that splattered on him. He gets to his dick, only just now starting to go down a bit and wipes it off. He hisses a bit as he does.

"Man," he says, "this part is not amazing."

I laugh a little, "Yeah, the super sensitive dick after is the worst part."

"Seriously," he says as he finishes cleaning up his dick. He slowly gets up and walks over to the hamper by his closet, underwear in hand, giving me another chance to take in his wide butt. I mean, it's not freakishly wide, but wider compared to someone like Matty or the twins. Matty does have him beat on size, though.

Gareth tosses his undies in the hamper and walks back to the bed. He slumps down and adjusts his glasses.

"That was seriously intense," he says.

"Still not over it?" I ask with a smirk.

"How could I be?" he asks, head slumping back against the headboard

Then, I see his eyes open up.

"What's up?" I ask.

"I was, uh…​well, I was wondering…​do you want me to do this? To you…​right now." He pauses, looking a little irritated. "Grr! I mean, do you want me to do this to you now?" He finally gets it out in a complete thought.

"Uh…​sure. That sounds good," I say.

"Cool," he says. "I mean, it doesn't have to mean anything. Not unless you want it to, I guess, but I just thought, `I'm sitting here and feeling so good, shouldn't I see if Phillip wants this too?' I mean, I'm sure it seems pretty selfish that I didn't say anything sooner, but I guess I just didn't want you to think I was- -"

"I'd like that," I interrupt, "Thanks."

He breaks out of his trance and looks at me, smiling sheepishly a half moment later.

I just smile at him as I pull off my shirt. After I do, I catch Gareth just looking at me, staring blankly at my chest.

"What?" I ask.

He just shakes his head, "Nothing, it's just," he stops.

"Just what?" I ask.

"I-I think you look pretty cool. That's all," he says, looking away.

I'm a little surprised that he'd come out and say it, but I respond, "Uh…​thank." I toss the shirt on the floor and start to go for my pants. But before I start to take them off, I change my mind.

"Do you want to take them off?" I ask, pointing to my pants. "It's only fair, since I took off yours."

He nods eagerly, "Uh, yeah…​sure...I mean, since it's fair and all, I guess."

I stand up out of the bed to make it a bit easier for him. Gareth practically scrambles out of bed and stands in front of me. He starts to reach for my pants before he pulls away and starts to kneel down. He reaches out again and fumbles with the button on my pants, but soon manages to unbutton my pants and run the zipper down. He lowers my pants, leaving me in just my red boxer briefs, erection straining to get out. There's also a small wet spot where the precum is leaking out.

Gareth stares at me for a second. He's probably never seen another guy naked before, so I'm sure he's going to do this once in a while. Not that I've got that much on him. Well…​if I weren't counting last night, anyway.

"You can keep going," I say calmly.

He snaps out of it and nods, grabbing my underwear by the waist band and slowly pulling them down. Fortunately, I adjusted myself earlier, so he doesn't snag my boner on the way down or anything.

He finally gets them all the way down. He stares again, this time focusing on the dick pointing at him.

"Whoa," he says. "You have pubes," he says with awe.

"Uh, yeah? All guys get them eventually, right?" I ask with a smirk.

"I-I know, it's just …​different," he says.

He starts to reach out his hand, but starts to hesitate. He bites his lip and looks up at me. He doesn't say anything, but I can tell that he's asking permission.

"Go ahead," I say. "It'd be pretty silly if I let you get this far and not touch me," I finish with a small laugh.

Gareth chuckles nervously, "Yeah, I guess so."

Gareth swallows, then looks back down at my dick. He starts by touching the head with his index finger, getting my dick to twitch. He jumps a bit, but soon goes back to touching, then running his finger over the rest of it.

It's a very ticklish sensation. Different than the sort of contact I've had from Matty. Matty always feels like he knows what he's after. With Gareth, the touch is, well…​like he's trying to explore. Like he doesn't understand what it's like. I guess most boys our age don't. But even his own knowledge of this stuff is somewhat isolated. Not too different from mine until recently, I guess, but I've at least been able to know myself a bit better than he knows himself. What on earth am I getting at? There's a cute boy touching your dick. Try paying attention.

He moves on to the small bush of pubes above my dick, fingers running through them. The texture of his calloused fingers running through the short, coarse hairs there is a strange feeling. Then, he reaches down to my balls and starts to delicately tickle them with his fingers.

"Whoa!" He exclaims. "I could feel them, like, shrink...or retract or whatever," he says, still running his fingers there. "I mean, I know mine do that, but it's kinda different when you see someone else's nuts do it, especially when you're not used to touching other people's nuts, but it's kinda nice touching yours because they look so cool," he pauses, looking up a little surprised. "I mean…​I'm not trying to, like, be all weird or come on strong, but I just think you look good, but it's not like I wanna--"

I just put my finger over his mouth, then take my other hand and run it through his hair. He closes his eyes as I do.

"Don't think about it so much," I say. Wow. Follow your own advice, maybe?

I let him go and he nods, then finally wraps his fingers around my dick. It's a fairly light touch; like he's afraid to do something wrong. He then tightens a bit as he starts to get into it more and clumsily starts to jack me off. Well, it's not like it's really painful or anything. Especially compared to that time Matty nearly sucked my ball off. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but that's what it felt like.

Gareth starts to get a better feel for things as he goes. His hand moves in more careful, deliberate movements. Since my dick still has a little bit of foreskin, Gareth's probably gotten used to it being more like his dick than he thought. I can tell he still feels nervous, though.

I move my hand down to his head and gently rub his scalp. Gareth closes his eyes for a moment, his hand coming to a stop.

"Keep going," I say.

He starts back up. He's definitely more relaxed and into it than he was before. I just needed to help him stop thinking about things so much. He even starts to rub a finger on the head with some strokes, sending a shiver up by back as he does. His free hand starts to rub my legs; he tries to feel anywhere he can, rubbing all over my leg. I guess since he's so touchy, it makes sense that he'd try to feel just about anything he could.

"You mind if we lay back down?" I ask.

Gareth breaks his stare and looks up at me. "Oh, yeah yeah," he nods quickly.

We both climb back onto the bed. I prop myself a bit against the headboard, my dick pointing up. Gareth scoots down and climbs between my spread legs. He goes back to jacking me off and I lean back to enjoy it.

A few moments into it, though, I look down to Gareth and see that he's gotten hard again. Actually…​wait, did he ever get soft?

Gareth looks up at me questioningly. "What's wrong? Am I not doing something right? Because if I am, you can just--"

I shake my head, "No, it's not that. I was just wondering, did you get hard again or have you been like this the whole time?"

Gareth looks down at his dick, then back to me. "Uh, yeah, I've been hard the whole time," he says, like it's no big deal.

My eyes go wide, "Seriously?"

Gareth's eyes shift a little, "Y-yeah, it does that. I usually have to masturbate two times just so it can start to go soft."

"Whoa," I say, staring off a bit.

"I-I mean, is that weird?" Gareth asks, looking a little worried. "I dunno, I just kinda always thought it was normal or part of growing up or whatever, like, y'know, every guy had to do it like that to get it soft, but it always kinda felt a little too weird or like--"

I shake my head again, "Gareth, it's fine."

He looks at me hesitantly, "You're sure?"

"Yeah," I say. "Honestly, it's kinda impressive. Mine takes more work to get hard again."

He blushes a little, giving a shy smile, "Yeah, I guess…​kinda irritating, sometimes, but…​mostly fun I guess."

I smirk a little, "Then let me help you with that, since it bothers you so much."

"Okay," he grins, but then looks a little confused, "Uh, how do I do this so we both can do it?"

"Here, like this," I say. Eventually we get positioned so that we can jack off each other. We're both on our sides, head to crotch, and we start to jack each other off. Since he's a few inches shorter than me, it's not perfect alignment or anything, but I've done this with Matty before and he's even shorter. I can see Gareth get into it a bit more. He looks at me with an excited smile. I can't help but smile back.

A few moments into it, I decide to try something that I tried for the first time last night. I gently peel his foreskin all the way back, his light purple head coated with the little precum he makes. Then, I take a breath and move down just enough so I can lick his cock head.

Gareth lets out a surprised moan and looks at me, completely wide-eyed. "What did you just do?" he says with awe.

I just grin and say, "Oh, nothing. Just this." I take another lick on his head while he's watching and he moans again. "Do you want me to do more?" I ask, moving my tongue in quick swirls around his head.

Gareth tries his best to reply between his groans, "Nnngh! Yeah! It feels--ahh!--really good."

"You got it," I say happily, before I put the whole head into my mouth.

Gareth gasps at the sudden feeling, groaning out his held breath.

I'm still new to blowjobs, so I try to keep it simple. I swirl my tongue around his head and pull back some before I go back down. After a few repeats of that, I try to take him a little deeper, going slowly. I play it safe and go about halfway down his shaft, sucking a little harder there; Gareth moans happily to let me know he's enjoying it. I slowly bob up and down on him a few more times before coming back to his head, giving it a few licks, then sliding off so I can catch my breath.

Gareth looks at me, a little disappointed. "Why'd you stop?" he asks impatiently.

I chuckle, "Hey, that's hard work. I have to catch my breath a bit," I say before going back and swirling my tongue around his head. Gareth shivers in response and I notice that he's kinda stopped jacking me off. I start to pump my hips and try to remind him to do it.

He gets a look on his face like he's snapping out of a trance and picks back up what he was doing. "Sorry," he says shyly.

I just smile and go back to sucking and licking on his head. A few more minutes into it, I start to get a little better at it; he's a little thicker and longer than Matty, but it's not a huge adjustment. I start to bob up and down faster, pausing to lick at his head every once in a while. I can see that his balls have also gone into hiding, so he's probably close to shooting.

He groans even louder, sounding a little surprised. Looks like I was right. I pick up speed and suck a little harder, and bring my hand in to pump more.

But before he can say anything, his hips lock and he lets out a grunt. I slide back enough so I can take what he shoots, his thin, watery cum sliding around on my tongue. My hand keeps pumping him, trying to milk out anything he's got. But since he just came earlier, it's not a lot, so the rest of it is just dry twitches right on my mouth.

Fortunately, Gareth didn't let up on me and his hand is almost a blur as he helps me finish.

I let out a grunt as I start to cum. I did just come last night, so it's not as thick as usual, but I still manage a few forceful shots that hit Gareth on the face and chest as the rest droop out in lazy shots. Even though Gareth is still reeling from his orgasm, he watches me cum, eyes wide open in awe--except for when he's flinching from the cum hitting his face.

Finally we both finish and we let got of each other's dicks. I look at Gareth and giggle at his cum-splattered face. "Sorry about that," I say, "I cum a lot."

Gareth wipes a hand through a glob of semen by his mouth. "Yeah, no kidding," he says with a little laugh. He eyeballs the semen on his fingers for a moment, curiously rubbing it between his fingers.

I hop off the bed, grab my shirt, and toss it to him. "Here, use this," I say.

He grins sheepishly and wipes off his chest and face until he's clean. The one area he can't clean, though, is his glasses, which have a few small spatters on there.

Gareth crosses his eyes a bit to check them out. "Oh, great. Gonna need the cleaner for that one." I giggle at the visual, as Gareth rolls and moves in his bed to reach for his nightstand, taking a small bottle of liquid and cleaning cloth as he cleans his glasses. Meanwhile, I take the discarded shirt and delicately clean myself off.

Gareth sits on the bed for moment after he finishes cleaning his glasses. He looks a little lost in thought.

"Hey," I say, getting his attention, "you okay?"

He nods quickly, "O-oh, yeah. I'm fine, I'm just…​thinking."

"Yeah?" I ask, leaning back against the headboard. "About what?"

Gareth rubs his arm a bit, "I dunno…​there's just a lot to think about after all that."

I look at him, a little concerned, "Are you regretting it, or...?"

"No, no!" He quickly cuts me off. Then his eyes dart around, "I mean, I really liked it. It felt really good…​even better than those sex talks make it sound like it will be," he says--he still looks around as he reflects. "Although, it's also, just, different from how they tell you. I mean, I was mostly ever just told about, y'know, my body and stuff. Like, my parents were all like, `sex is between you and someon you love,' but I'm not really sure how they'd feel about me liking boys and stuff. I mean, I guess they did kinda explain things from a `this is how babies are made' kinda angle, so--"

"Gareth," I interrupt calmly.

"Huh?" he says and looks at me. "Oh, right. Sorry," he says a moment later. "I guess what's important is that I really liked it and…​well, yeah," he finishes, trailing off a bit at the end.

I pause for a moment before responding. "Okay, I understand." There's another pause. "But, just so you know," I say, and he looks at me with a raised eyebrow. I smile and say, "I really liked it, too."

Gareth looks pleased and says, "Thanks, Phillip."

A few moments of quiet later, we start to get ready for bed. Gareth slips on some clean undies and goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth. While he's gone, I go for my bag and take my medication. I should tell Gareth about this at some point. I know a lot about him, after all, and besides — I'd hate for him to feel like the weird one or whatever. After that, I slip on my undies, the toilet flushes, and Gareth comes back into the bedroom with a yawn. I go and do my usual routine in the bathroom and come out a couple minutes later, ready for bed.

"Do I need to grab some sheets for the floor or is the guest bedroom ready?" I ask. I don't want to just jump in bed with him. Well, I do want to, but he might need his space…​not that that's ever been an issue before with him.

Sure enough, he says, "A-actually, I was thinking…​well, that we could share the bed. I mean, if you wanted to," he says casually. Well, it would be casual if it weren't for the fact that his eyes keep darting back and forth between me and the bed.

I shrug, "Sure. As long as you don't mind."

"No, it's cool," he says, trying to sound cool and trying too hard in the process. "I just figured it'd be rude to be like, `Thanks for jacking me off, now get out,' y'know?" he asks with a grin at his own joke.

I laugh a little, "Thanks." I hop in bed next to him.

We both comfy under the sheets. Gareth takes off his glasses and puts them on his nightstand. With his glasses off, I notice that his eyes look bigger. It's probably the prescription or something, but they just seem bigger. His face looks even warmer without them, in a weird way.

He looks at me, squinting a little. "I'm glad you decided to spend the night," he says. "I haven't had that much fun in a long time," he beams.

I smile back, "I'm glad. I'm having a great time, too."

He reaches over and turns off the bedside lamp. There's a small light in the bathroom, but otherwise it's dark in the room.

A moment later, Gareth pipes up, "Hey, Phillip?"

"Yeah?" I say.

"Can I ask you a favor?" he says.

A favor? "Yeah, sure. What is it?"

I feel the bed shift as Gareth turns back to me. I can't really see his face too well.

"Well, you know how, like, when we were watching the movie you were holding me?" he asks, voice quiet.

"Yeah?" I say. I'm pretty sure I know where he's going with this.

"Could," he starts, then pauses. "Could you do that again?" he asks.

My heart beats a little faster in my chest. Both at the thought of having him that close to me again and the worry of his mom checking in on us and seeing something she might not want to.

"Is that okay? I mean, your mom won't get upset or whatever?"

I make out his head shaking. "No," he says, "we'll be fine. She usually gets home a little later. Plus she doesn't really check on me or whatever."

"Sure, I'd like that," I answer, more hesitantly than I’d like.

"Thanks," he says warmly.

I feel the bed shake a little again as he scoots closer. Then, he scoots almost into me, making it so we're spooning. I move my hands around, tucking one under his head so it doesn't get squished, and take him in a hug.

"How's that?" I ask. I start to move my hand a little to rub his chest.

He hums, "Perfect." He takes a deep breath and lets out a long sigh. "Thanks a lot…​for everything."

I pause for a moment before answering. "You're welcome." I give him a small squeeze and we both lay there silently.

There's something about all this that feels right. I've liked spending time with Gareth since we met--not that it was that long ago or anything--but tonight…​I don't know. I like being around him and I'm glad he wanted to play around some. But I wonder if I'm starting to see more…​I mean, he's cute, but...

I wake up to the sunrise coming in the room. Pretty groggy, but I'm not a morning person. After a second, I realize Gareth isn't in bed. I slowly get up and start to wake up enough so I feel ready to get up. I throw on a shirt and shorts and sit back down on the bed for a moment. Then, I smell the smell of frying bacon coming in from the kitchen. Gareth's mom must be cooking breakfast. Man, that sounds so good right now. I get up and stumble to the kitchen.

As I round the corner, I see something I wasn't exactly expecting. First, it's Gareth who's doing the cooking. He looks like he's been busy, actually; he's cooking bacon and eggs, but he also seems to have started prepping a little toast and hash browns on the side and has even set the table ahead of time. There's also the smell of coffee in the air, just barely noticeable with the smell of bacon. The second thing is that he's wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt.

He turns to me with a grin. "Good morning," he says cheerily.

I nod, "Mornin'."

He laughs a little, turning back to the stove. "Did you sleep okay? You look a little out of it."

"Yeah," I say with a yawn, "I'm just not much of a morning person." I stop to watch him move around the kitchen and touch up his food. "But I guess mornings aren't a problem for you."

He shrugs, "Most of the time, yeah. But I've gotten kinda used to it so I can help cook and stuff."

"Yeah, I know you said you could make your own food, but I didn't think you could cook like this," I say. "Did your mom teach you or something?"

He shakes his head as he turns the bacon over, "Dad did, actually. It was his job for a long time, so he showed me the basics." He smiles a little, "He actually used to say the weirdest things when he'd teach me, too. One time, I burned my finger on the oven and he says," he squares up a bit and makes his voice go a little deeper, "`Ah, careful, son. I said you were here for dinner, I didn't say you were dinner,'" Gareth's voice picks back up in a light giggle. "And there was this other time he was flipping bacon and said, `Remember, my boy: the only time you should ever make bacon without a shirt on is when you're in the bedroom.'…​I still don't know what he meant by that," he shrugged. "Oh! And there was this other time he asked me to get some cream for the eggs, but it had spoiled. I showed him and he said, `Ych a fi! There's a ripe odor that'll knock you over and backwards,'" he said with a laugh. I laughed with him, but also noticed that he had spoken with some kind of accent when he talked like his dad.

"Hey, what was that accent?" I ask.

"What?" he says, still laughing a little.

"You were giving your dad an accent. Was he from another country?" I ask. It seems like a dumb way to phrase it, but whatever.

"Oh," he says, "yeah, he's from Wales. He moved here way before I was born, though. He had Owen and everything then he and mom met and had me. It's funny, Mom said that most people kinda lose their accent when they live over here for a long time, but Dad never really did, I guess," he shrugs. "I heard it so much that I just kinda started to pick it up. Owen's accent when he imitates Dad is even thicker than mine," he laughs. "I can even say a few words and stuff in Welsh. I mean, I guess you heard one already."

"Yeah...'Ock i vee.' What does that mean, anyway?" I ask.

He giggles a little, "`Ach a vee,'" he says. "It's basically a funny way of saying, `yuck.'"

"Huh…​that's weird," I say.

He shrugs with a smile, "That's nothing. There's this town in Wales that's got, like, sixty letters in it. Yeah, they really like consonants over there."

We both laugh over it and I help him finish breakfast by moving the food and drink to the table.

While we do that, his mom comes in from her bedroom, already dressed for the day.

"Well," she says a little sleepily, "do I smell breakfast?"

"And coffee," Gareth says with a small smile.

"This hotel is wonderful," she says. "Comfy beds and breakfast from some handsome kitchen staff." We both laugh a little as his mom goes to pour herself some coffee.

Finally, we all sit down and enjoy breakfast. It's a mostly quiet breakfast, surprisingly. Well, his mom makes small talk and stuff, but Gareth is mostly eating or offering more food or drink refills.

"Phillip, I'm sorry that I had to dash off for work yesterday," she says, "those big settlements always mean a lot of hours at the office." She smiles apologetically.

"That's okay," I reply. "Gareth and I had fun. We played games and ate pizza."

"Well, good. Pizza is perfect sleepover food," she says with a chuckle.

"Oh! And Gareth showed me his guitar and played a few songs," I said. "I thought he was really good."

"You got a private concert, huh?" She asks. "That's something not even his brother and I have seen for a while," she says. She looks at Gareth who is looking a little embarrassed, "But he is definitely very talented, so I'm glad someone else got to hear it and tell him so."

She changes the subject and asks me a few little things after that; what my family's like, favorite class and stuff like that.

"And how did you two meet? I know you have classes together, but when did you become friends?" She asks.

"Gareth came over one day during lunch and sat with me. None of our friends were there that day or anything, so it was nice," I say.

She smiles a little, "No surprise to me. Gareth's never been the shy type."

I look over at Gareth who rolls his eyes a little.

"Gregarious Gareth, his dad called him," she said, smile growing wider. "What was the word he used...?" She asked herself.

"Chopsy," Gareth offers quietly, as he plays with his food.

I look at Gareth questioningly. "It means really talkative," he says with a small smile.

"That's right. It used to tickle his dad, listening to him go on. He'd listen to every word. He'd say, `You never know, Annie, there might be something important in all that talk from our dwt. If there is, I won't be the one who misses it'," she said.

"Mooooom..." Gareth groans quietly as he slinks down a little in his chair.

She gives a knowing smirk. "Okay, I'm sorry for embarrassing you. Those little fun memories just like to bubble out sometimes," she says with a chuckle, followed by a moment of silence at the table.

Since she brought up her husband, I decide to speak up a little. "Gareth was telling me about his dad yesterday," I say. "I'm sorry."

She gives me a warm smile, "Thank you, sweetie. It's very nice of you to say." Then she stares off a bit, "I miss him every day…​but life does go on. A little differently, sure, but after a while, the memory is a little less painful and more comforting." She pauses, but then chuckles, "Oh, but listen to me go on. You boys don't want to hear about all that. Tell me about some fun you two had this week!"

So Gareth and I shared a few funny stories from school, which she laughed at, in that way that moms do. Not long after, we all finish breakfast and I offer to help clean the table.

"Oh, thank you, sweetie," his mom says with a smile, "but you've done more than enough already. You two run off and spend some time together until your mom comes to get you, okay?"

So, we go off and play games for a bit after I get my stuff together and ready. Gareth gets a little more dressed than he was with a smaller shirt and some pants. Gareth's pretty quiet, though he did look like he was trying to say something more than once before he thought about it. We don't talk about much else until I finally get the call from Mom. So, I go and wait outside on the porch and Gareth waits with me. He still looks like he's trying to say something.

Finally he clears his throat and says, "So, um…​Phillip?"

"Yeah?"

"So, I really liked what, you know, what happened today. I mean last night. Well, what we did and all that. It was…​it was nice." He laughs a little bit at the end.

"I liked it, too," I reply with a smile.

"Yeah." There’s a bit of awkward silence before he adds, "Like, really good. Like, I never really had a friend who I could be like that with — or, I mean, that I could, you know, do things like that with."

I don’t really know what to respond with, so I just smile and shrug. "I didn’t at first, but yeah, a friend showed me a lot of that, so…​yeah."

"Really? Who?" he asks. "Do I know them?"

Do I tell him? Would that break some kind of trust thing with Matty? Does he care? I mean, I could just tell him that…​wait. We just messed around, too; he wouldn’t say anything, 'cuz then I could just tell about him and me. Eh, why not? "Yeah. You know Matty, right?"

He frowns. "Is that the boy you were with the other day?"

"Yeah, at lunch?"

"Yeah. Cool." He stares off, kinda looking forward, darting his eyes around--something I've noticed he does when he's thinking out what he's trying to say.

"Why, what’s up?" I ask, not sure what’s going on that would make his wheels spin so much.

"Y’all are pretty good friends, right?" he asks. "Not that I’m, like, trying to say, that I’m jealous or anything—​he’s pretty cool from what I can see, and it’s awesome that you can have a friend like that, so--"

"Gareth." I raise an eyebrow and smile at him like I always do when he rambles.

"…​Right. So, yeah. He seems…​pretty cool."

I nod, "Yeah, really a unique kinda guy."

More awkward silence. "So, do you think that maybe…​you would wanna hang out again? Or, or maybe all three of us could hang out, since he’s, you know, cool, and you and he…​"

I stop staring at the road when he stops talking; I look over and see a red-faced Gareth take a deep sigh through his nose. "Anyway," he says suddenly, shaking his head as if clearing out a clog in his thought train, "maybe we could hang out again. Maybe…​do this again. I dunno, maybe even hang out with Matty. But—​but it wouldn’t have to be as, as…​you know…​as last night was." He gestures and emphasizes it dramatically enough that I do, in fact, know. "But we could hang out and maybe just play games, if that’s cool with you and him. I mean, if he plays games. I dunno really what he does, but we could do that, or play music, or--"

"That'd be great," I interrupt with a smile. "Even if Matty doesn't want to join in, then I still want to hang out with you."

"Great," he says with a relieved smile.

Not long after our talk, Mom pulls into the driveway. I get up to go, smiling at Gareth as I say goodbye.

"Bye, Phillip! I, uh…​I can't wait until we do this again," he says with a nervous laugh.

"Me neither," I say before I hop into the car and Mom drives off.

TO BE CONTINUED

Hey guys! Thanks so much for keeping up with my story and for being so patient with me while I write this chapter out. So, Phillip and his new, close friend got very close. What's going on? Will they get closer?! Well, I could tell you…​but where's the fun in that? ;) As always, reach out to me if you want to talk about the story. I'd love to hear what you have to say! Heck, I've been blown away by the feedback so far, so keep it coming!

Until next time. --Neveranywhere