Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 03:31:12 -0600 From: M. R. Masterson Subject: MISSING PIECES: CHAPTER 1 BY M. R. MASTERSON Missing Pieces By M.R. Masterson CHAPTER 1 This story is a work of fiction, plain and simple, if it sounds familiar to you, good, that means I kept it real and relatable. IF you are offended by homosexuality, or sexual conduct between people under the age of 18, please do not read further, you will not like what you read. This story is intended for mature audiences only. If you are too young, too sheltered, or live in an area where gay smut or depictions of gay youth is banned, please do not read this. The author is not responsible for your reading habits or tastes. Free Speech Biach. Info: This story is about two young men who are missing out on some of the best things in life until they meet each other and their lives are drastically altered One is trying to find himself, his courage, his personality, his truth, and his reason for being. The other boy is trying to find home, he has never known the feeling of being home, or of security. They find what they are looking for in each other. As their love grows, so do they grow, into amazing young people who inspire their families to live life on a grander scale. IF YOU HATE WHAT YOU SEE HERE Please go bask in your miserable hater-ness. IF YOU LIKE OR LOVE THIS OR OTHER NIFTY ARCHIVES STORIES AND WANT TO SEE THEM AROUND... D O N A T E So starving artists and starving archivists can continue doing what we do for free. I am a Janitor at my day job and literally sing for my supper at night, then, I write my imaginative smut to escape from that reality. I donate what I can when I can to do my part to keep this awesome stuff alive in this kinky wonderland. ** ** ** ** ** ** Contact Info. authormrmasterson@gmail.com Follow for updates and bonus info and what inspires me : https://www.facebook.com/authormrmasterson CHAPTER 1 Jamey Denton, and his father were best buds. They were both quiet intellectuals, and they had a way of understanding each other that made verbal communication unnecessary most of the time. Allen was an author, journalist, and the editor for the town's news paper. Laura, Jamey's mother was a photographer and band teacher at the high school, and she gave piano lessons at her studio on weekends leaving the house nice and quiet. Jamey was good with words and communication, once you got him talking. Teachers liked to call on him in school because he always had something interesting to add to the discussion, but several times there was concern expressed about his social skills as he tended not to associate with his peers at all of he could help it. Jamey's favorite time and place was when his father was working from home in his office. It was a safe haven from his older brother's rude obnoxious mannerisms and the tribe of 8 to 12-Year-olds that followed his popular and socially gifted younger brother around. Occasionally Jamey's father had tried to get him to open up about his life at school, but it usually ended up being about what books he was reading, and what he'd learned in class. Even as an extreme introvert himself, Allen was worried that his kind and soft spoken son was too reclusive. One day though he had asked the right questions. "Come on, Jamey, you gotta at least PRETEND to be interested in human interaction, are there any girls you think are pretty?" Allen asked. "Yeah, but it doesn't matter to me, they are all either mean or silly, they all annoy me, they won't leave me alone." Jamison said, rolling his eyes. "You know that is because they want your attention, girls your age play games to see who can get a reaction out of a guy, if you don't give them any attention, they up the intensity." Allen persisted. "Is that why they won't leave me alone? Dad, you are quiet like me, how did you get them to stop bothering you?" Jamey asked desperately hoping there was some trick, or maybe a deterrent or repellant of some kind. "I kissed them." Allen joked. "And I dated one of them at a time until she lost interest... then by about sophomore year in high school, they eventually forgot I existed, except for your mother. She was quiet like me, we'd sit and read for hours, or she'd sing to me and I'd just listen and fall more and more in love with her. We understood each other." Allen said. "The thing is, if YOU never interact with anyone, THEY can't understand HOW to interact with YOU." He said. "I am not interested in interacting with any of them, people my age are annoying." Jamey said frustrated. "So there is no one at school who is quiet and calm like you?" his dad asked skeptically. "Well... there is Gage Daniels, he is pretty smart, and quiet. He just moved here. He looks sad a lot, his dad left, that's why they moved here, his mom and him moved around a lot, but live with his grandma now." Jamey said Then he added excitedly, "He had a cast on his leg last week, but it's off now. His eyes are bright green, and his hair is blond and shiny he has a gap between his front teeth that makes him look a little goofy, but I think... I mean... all the girls think it's super cute" Alan looked and his son and thought for a while. He suspected Jamey was gay, either that or he was just not sexual at all. He seemed interested in spending time with this boy though, and at this point, Allen and Laura were at their wits end trying to get their son to make friends his own age. "For someone who always has their nose in a book, you seem to have noticed quite a bit about this boy." He said. "Well," Jamie said blushing "He sits next to me or in front of me in most of our classes, because our lasts names are close on the alphabet... Daniels, Denton,... and in PE, I walked with him around the laps because he had a big cast on his leg, and I am always slow anyway." "Do you know who his grandma is? I don't recognize his last name but I might know his mother if she is from here." Alan asked. I know that his grandma is Alice, from the bakery in town." "Well, that makes sense now. His mother must be Annie Benson. She just moved back to town with her son, and she's helping Alice out at the Benson's old fashioned Bakery" Allen began "She was good friends with your mom in high school. Annie used to tease the heck out of us when we started dating because she never saw two people sit together and say nothing for as long as your mother and I would." "Haha, you guys still do that, it's like you are having a contest to see who can stay mute the longest." Jamey recalled. "I always win, as soon as a tune starts playing your mother has to sing along." Alan laughed. "Darn, talking about that bakery made me hungry, should we go get lunch?" Alan said baiting his reclusive son to leave the house, He knew Jamey liked "Granny Alice's" chocolate cheesecake. Their soups in a bread bowl and paninis were legendary lunchtime staples in the town all on fresh makes artisan breads. "Yeah, I guess that sounds good, mom has 3 lessons today so she won't be home till 8." Jamey said. "How do you keep track of her schedule?" his father asked perplexed. "If I don't know when dinner is going to be ready, the locusts will devour it all before I get a bite." He said seriously with a sigh of pure frustration. His father burst out laughing. His son had inherited his twisted inner sense of humor. The "locusts" were his brothers and their friends. "I know the struggle buddy, that's why I have this beer belly, beer and cold cuts for dinner too many nights lately." He said *** *** LATER THAT DAY *** *** Once at the bakery, Alan spotted Annie and they started reminiscing, he and mentioned that his son had met her boy at school and introduced Jamey to her. Gage came out from the back of the bakery, wondering who his mother was so chatty with. He was protective of her, and had a people sense that told him who was bad news. He was picky about who he would talk to, and if he didn't talk, his mother knew there was a reason. He saw Allen, and Jaime just as Jamey was shaking her hand. "Pleased to meet you Ms...." "Oh I go by Benson again now... Gage has his father's name, he passed away when Gage was just a little guy, when I remarried never took my second husband's name, then after the divorce... I figured it was going to be less confusing living around here if I just used the name people knew me by anyhow." "Pleased to meet you, Ms. Benson, I am Jamison Denton." He said using his full name. His father did a double take. His son was not known for much in the way of greetings, or even acknowledgment of new people. "Hey Annie, I thought I'd like to do a story about the bakery, and you returning to help carry on the historic staple of this town's lunch scene... it might be good for business if you have a minute." Sure, Gage, why don't you and Jamey help your grandma in the kitchen while I talk to Allen for the paper, He is an old friend from school... "Okay, come on back," Gage said waving James through the doorway. First he stopped to introduce himself to Jameys father. Why, he wasn't sure, and his mother took it as a sign that he thought the Denton's were "good people" as he said. "I'm Gage Daniels by the way he said shaking Allen's hand." "A couple of proper gentlemen we are raising Annie, he said." As both boys retreated into the back of the building. The two parents talked mainly about their kids, and life and Allen invited Annie, Gage, and Alice all over for dinner the next night, promising to cook dinner himself so that he wasn't making more work for his wife of course. They had resolved to try and get the two boys to be more sociable. "I am afraid Jamison takes after me, Alan said. Teachers thought I was boarder line autistic until they actually had a conversation with me." He said. "I remember, Laura was the only one who spoke the right language to get you to talk." Annie teased. "That's not entirely true, when I used to come in here I used to talk to your grandmother for hours. I don't know what it was about her, she never talked down to me, always had an ear for serious conversation." He said "Gran knew the secrets of everyone in this town. Her friends always joked that she should have been a bartender, Gage has trust issues, he is an intuitive child, if you get more than two words out of him, you know he trusts you." Annie said. Jamey had enjoyed helping Alice and Gage in the kitchen. His mother never allowed anyone in the kitchen with her, a dad only cooked when Mom was overworked, he was a good cook but if you distracted him he was likely to start something on fire. Gage was diligent to instruct Jamey to do exactly as Gran had taught him, and while they were working in the kitchen he didn't seem so sad and nervous as he had at school. Behind the counter , it was just the three of them, and the teenage waiter/ bussboy who Jaime liked to watch running around with plates of food, almost dropping things and concentrating hard on the slips of paper with people's orders scribbled on them in His or Annie's handwriting. He was kind of cute in a clumsy sort of way. Jaime thought about that, he knew that thinking another guy was cute was an odd thing for a boy, but he couldn't help noticing what he noticed. The slight gap between Gage's two from teeth, his green eyes, and golden blond hair made him look younger, but he was obviously too tall and thin to be younger than 13. His feet seemed too big for the rest of him too, and his legs too long. Jamey had caught himself checking out his new friend's cute butt too, which was a definite problem if anyone noticed. Gage wasn't like anyone Jamey had met his age. He was content to hang out with adults and do calm precise things rather than be the usual young teen creature most kids at school were. Jamey wanted to say something, bit even he had trouble putting it in the right words to avoid making it sound awkward or like he was pointing out some oddity. Finally he just settled for giving the kid a quick flour covered hug as he got ready to join his dad back in the dining room for lunch that was getting cold. "Thanks for having me back in your kitchen, I don't like the kind of stuff most kids do, but this was fun." He said walking away before either Gran or Gage had a chance to say anything. Gage blushed a little, which his Grandmother noticed. She wasn't as chatty as her mother had been, but she noticed everything. Later as they were cleaning up the kitchen, Alice spoke to her daughter. "That Jamey is sure a decent young man, and he enjoyed being back in the kitchen as much as Gage does. I enjoyed having them both. Those two seem to understand each other. Jamey has always been so shy and quiet, just like his dad, but he's got his mother's big open heart, you know he gave Gage a big hug and thanked him for having him back in the kitchen. Oh MY lord, it was just the cutest thing, it made Gage blush, but he trusts Jamey, that much is obvious. There are so few people who get close enough to get to know him." "I know, those two are a lot alike, for different reasons. Gage is scared if getting hurt or betrayed, or someone hurting me. And from the sound of it, Jamey is just 13 going on 35, he's an old soul like his dad, doesn't want much to do with what he sees in kids his own age. It takes someone calm enough to slowly break through to both of them. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of the Dentons, I miss Laura and Alan, and the boys need someone other than adults they can relate to, they invited all three of us over for dinner tomorrow, since the bakery closes early, I plan on making it and bringing something special to the table." "I think I have just the thing, something from my father's old recipes." Alice said. Smiling with a mischevious grin. **. **. AT THE DENTON HOUSE**. ** "Alice, Annie, and Gage showed up right as scheduled, wearing nice clothes as if it were a formal event. Obviously not expected as the Denton children wouldn't be dressed up, and Alan and Laura were in their usual business casuals, though Laura tended to wear nice dresses or something stylish anyway. It was just `The way things were done' in small town when old friends got together after having been too long apart. Annie spent a lot of time filling Jamey's parents in on the last 15 years of her story, which consisted of a series of poor choices in dating and marriage and moving around the state a lot. After they were done eating, the two boys quietly went into Jamey's room to talk about something other than ancient history. "So, you guys moved around a lot I guess?" Jamey asked. "Yeah, mom kept saying that she was looking for home, but home isn't a place, it's people, and you have to find people who feel right. That's why she came back here." Gage said "Does it feel like home here?" Jamey asked him. "I wouldn't know, but I like it here. So far it still feels like grandma's house, I keep expecting that it's just a short visit on the way to somewhere else. I hope it's not. Mom needs old friends like your parents to remind her who she is without...ugh... the boyfriends." "Sounds like she has bad luck." Jayme said "Bad taste is more like it. She thinks I don't like any of them because they aren't my father. I never knew him though, so that doesn't make sense. I just know they aren't good for her, ya know, I just sense things about people." he said squinting his eyes as if he could see something others could not. "I notice things most people don't, I guess I understand that. My memory holds a lot of little details, dad even has me proofread the paper for him because I catch little things. Just a sec. I will show you what I mean." He got a piece of paper and drew a picture of the food storage shelves at the bakery, right down to the misspelled labels on some of the bottles and the places where the heat from a grease fire or two had scorched the wood, and an old nail that Grandpa used to hang his apron on. Gage watched him draw, not the least bit bored. It was nice just being near Jamey as he did something amazing and precise, gage thought. He liked Jamey, he wasn't as noisy and undisciplined as most kids. When Jamey started another drawing, he started to giggle because he knew it was Kevin, the busboy almost dropping something that looked like a very realistic plate with a bowl of his grandmother's soup on it, right down to the finely shredded fresh basil, toasted parmesan miniscule specs fine ground pepper that garnished the top. I can't draw like that, but I can tell from a person's voice or their movements If they are good people or not. I heard my mom talking to your dad, and I wanted to see who he was because I hoped he was her next boyfriend... hah, but that is silly." "They were all really good friends in school, but only mom knew how to speak dad's language. He always said it took somebody special to cut through the static. I know what he means. At school, there is so much running around and mindless babble. The fact that you weren't like that, that's why I bothered talking to you." Jayme said, hoping Gage wouldn't think he was weird. "Mom says I'm shy," Gage said, "I'm just careful who I talk to. Most people aren't worth bothering with. I wait until I get a sense about someone. Like your dad, his voice, and his slow precise careful movements, it is like your drawings, detailed and honest." Gage said. "And what did you sense about me?" Jamey asked. Gage concentrated "You have a good heart, but that most people don't know how to see it, and a smart mind, but most people don't take the time to listen... and more, but I don't know how to word it...but I like what I sense about you. You are someone special too. Jamey nodded, understanding. "My dad and I don't use words much between the two of us. We are good with words, but he and I observe and express things like you sense things about other people. You don't have to say everything in words to understand it. You just have to listen and hear what people aren't saying sometimes." Jamey said. "You will make a good counselor some day. Gage said. "That is literally what they get paid for." He said laughing. "But you could sell your pictures too, he added" Jamey blushed, which reminded him of earlier when he'd hugged Gage at the restaurant. "Was it weird that I hugged you in front of your grandma, or that I did that at all?" Jamey asked. Gage giggled like a kid half his age, then saw Jamey looking a bit nervous. "Yeah, it was kind of weird for me, I know it's okay for friends to hug, but we haven't been friends that long, and I have never hugged a guy before that I wasn't trying to get away from because he was one of mom's overeager boyfriend's. I don't remember my dad. I guess I just never expected it, but it felt right. It made Gran smile. She likes you." Gage said "Everyone likes Alice." Jamey said, "She is part of the town's character, like she is EVERYONE'S grandma." "If that's true, then I like this town, and all of its characters so far." Gage said, giving Jamey a bigger hug than he had received earlier. Now that there was nobody watching them, he didn't care if it was weird. Afterward they both started to blush for a different reason. They made eye contact for a second, and what they didn't need to say said it all. Jamey got his sketch pad, and clammed up, he didn't say a word as he started sketching a picture of Gage, with such detail it was like nothing he'd done before. He carefully removed it from the sketchbook, and handed it to him. Here, if you don't want it, your grandma might. He said looking bashful. "I made sure to keep the gap in your teeth, I know you don't like it, but the girls do, and I do too, it's part of your charm." Jamey said. Gage looked at it, noticing the attention to detail right down to the look in his eye as he'd realized what they both had after they hugged. "I think I'll keep it. I look like I am... I don't know... happy... is it weird that that is different from the way I normally look?" They heard footsteps on the stairs. Gage took the picture and carefully folded it into thirds like a letter, and put it in his pocket trying not to crease it. Annie told him it was time to go home. She smiled at Jamey and then at her son. She had enjoyed their visit, and so had everyone that night, and they planned to make it a weekly thing. The adults and his oldest brother Bill would play card games and tell jokes. And their otherwise reclusive kids could do whatever the two of them liked doing, Justin would probably skip it half the time running around with some neighborhood kids. Gage gave his mother a big hug before getting into the car to leave the. Denton house. She looked at him like he had been body snatched. "You haven't hugged me like that since you were 6 years old." She said. "Mom, I don't know about you, but this place feels like home to me." He said getting in the car. Gran had followed them out of the house. "You listen to that boy! She commanded her daughter. He needs a home more than he needs another stepdad." She said. Alice drove them home. Annie rode in the back seat with her son, making him hug her the whole way home. He would be turning 14 soon, but that night he didn't mind his mother being extra sappy. END CHAP 1 This is the third writing project I am working on in Nifty. my other works include Starbound in Sci-fi and fantasy, and "None, More Than I" in Adult/youth Contact Info. authormrmasterson@gmail.com Follow on Facebook for updates and bonus info and what inspires me : https://www.facebook.com/authormrmasterson I LOVE HEARING FROM READERS. That being said, I do this for fun, it is a labor of love. If I start to feel obligated, it will end, but I will probably be adding a chapter to each of my ongoing projects each week. I work on whichever project I have the inspiration for at the time.