Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 13:35:18 -0500 From: fsw99 Subject: Chapter 60 of One Big Happy Family Legal Notice: The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts. The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality. Don't read this story if: **You're not 18 or over, **If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live, **Or if you don't want to read about gay/bi people in love or having sex. The author retains copyright to this story. Placing this story on a website or reproducing this story for distribution without the author's permission is a violation of that copyright. Legal action will be taken against violators. E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions or other 'constructive' comments or advice may be sent to me at fsw99@mindspring.com. Chapter Sixty We didn't bother with breakfast the next morning. I HAD to fix a pot of coffee, but made sure to rinse the pot out and leave it in the dishwasher before we left. Nate's parents had promised to box up all our dishes, etc., after we were gone. In return, I gave them all the food in the refrigerator, and told them they could help themselves to the frozen goods both in the freezer part of the refrigerator and in the freezer in the garage. Good deal for them! All the clothes we had that we didn't take with us, we stored in the closets in the two bedrooms downstairs and in the chests and dressers in both rooms. We had left the house in pretty good shape, but not perfect. They wouldn't have much to do. Jason had picked up Mr. James first, and was soon here to pick us up. He helped us store all of our luggage in the bottom of the huge bus, and we were on our way to Dallas, Texas. ZZ Top is originally from Texas, and they always start their tour there. All I knew is Dallas is a Hell of a long way by bus from Los Angeles. I sat in front in the captain's chair next to Jason, and we chatted as he drove. Mr. James immediately started in on the lessons with the boys, and I could tell that they weren't in the mood this early. "Mr. James, we haven't even had breakfast yet. Can't we at least eat before we have to start studying?" Paul whined. "No! I must find out where each of you is in your school work so I can prepare. I can't properly do my job without knowing this, now can I?" he answered. Mr. James was English, and very abrupt. He was an excellent teacher, or at least his credentials said he was, but I could tell that he and the boys weren't going to get along very well. "Jason, how did you get to be a bus driver?" I asked. "Well, I am taking time off from teaching school to try and write a novel. I have always wanted to try and write, and I thought this would be an interesting way to travel around the country for free and write during my time off," he said. "Really? What kind of books do you want to write?" I asked. "Adventure books, I think. Maybe invent a character like Dirk Pitt from Clive Barker. Something like that," he answered. I started laughing so much, that I started coughing. It took me a minute or two to regain my composure. Jason just stared at me with a worried look on his face and said, "Mr. Miller, are you all right? Should I stop the bus?" I just shook my head no, as I got myself under control. "Jason, what do you know about all of us?" I asked with a grin on my face. "Just your names, and that you are the foster father to several of the boys in the band. Not much, really," he answered. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you tell me a little bit about you first, and then I will tell you more about me and the boys, OK? You are pretty young to have already graduated from college, aren't you?" I asked, grinning bigger. Jason had a confused look on his face, but he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Yeah, I am. I skipped the second and fifth grades. I was fifteen, almost sixteen, when I graduated from high school. I graduated from Duke with a double major in English and Journalism. I taught high school last year, but there were students as old as I was, and I just didn't feel comfortable. I thought I would take a year or two off and try to write. What else do you want to know?" "Duke is a very difficult school. How were your grades?" Jason kind of blushed, and said softly, "I was an honor student. Third in my class." "That's great, Jason. That is something to be proud of, not be ashamed of." "I know. I just feel funny telling people about it. Everyone has always thought of me as super nerd and a book worm, and I am usually very shy around people. My weight problem hasn't exactly helped, either," Jason said. "Well, you are with the right group here. We judge people by who they are, and we don't have any preconceived notions about anybody. I am sure you will get along with the boys and I very well. As for your weight, we are going to be going to a health club several times a week to work out. I think we will need you to take us on the bus. Why don't you join us? We are going to hire a personal trainer or two everywhere we go, and I am sure that working out four or five times a week would help you start to lose weight very quickly," I answered. Jason looked over at me and smiled a little. "Thanks. I think I would like that, Mr. Miller," he said. "I hate Mr. Miller. Call me Stan like everyone else, all right?" I asked. "Sure Stan, thanks," Jason said, then his eyes got really big. "You're not Stan Miller, the writer, are you?" he asked in a low voice. "Yep. One and the same," I said, smiling at him. "Oh, shit!" he said loudly. Mr. James came storming up the aisle. "Jason, I will not tolerate that kind of language around the boys!" he yelled. Jason kind of cringed, and almost ran off the road onto the shoulder. "Sorry," he said, as he brought the bus back and straightened it out. "Sorry isn't good enough. Just make certain it doesn't happen again," he said, and turned on his heals and stormed back up the aisle. I just stared back at him, as he walked back to the boys. Several made eye contact with me, gesturing like `What have we gotten ourselves into with this guy?` I wondered what he would do when Paul slipped up and he heard some of the things Paul can say at any moment. That could cause a real explosion from him, and Paul wasn't one to back down easily. I could see major trouble coming. "Mr. Miller, Stan I mean, I am really sorry," Jason said. "Jason, don't let it bother you. Everyone lets something slip once in a while. I was just thinking about Paul, one of my foster sons. Mr. James is going to flip when he hears what he says sometimes, and it is just a matter of time," I said softly, and started to laugh. I was the boss here, and even I was intimidated by Mr. James. "Well, I am sorry about not knowing who you are, too. I think I have read all of your books, and they do have a picture of you in the back. And then I used Dirk Pitt as a character reference when I first told you about wanting to write." "That is why I was laughing so hard. See, I created my Adam Steele character based loosely on a combination of Dirk Pitt and Indiana Jones. It was just funny to hear someone say they wanted to steal some ideas like I did when I first started out." "Oh, I am sure you didn't steal any ideas from either character." "Sure I did. All authors are influenced by other authors. Maybe I could help you with some ideas, if you would like." "Would you? I would love that. Thanks!" Jason said, beaming. And so, our friendship started. No one would have believed how important Jason would become to all of us in the months to come. And, how much our lives would change. ***************************** We finally arrived in El Paso, Texas, which was right over the New Mexico border, and checked into the Hilton near their airport. It was a nice hotel, but not one of the better ones. The luggage handlers took one look at our luggage, and almost decided to quit on the spot. I finally told Jason to keep his and Mr. James' luggage separate, and have the rest delivered to my room. We would sort it out ourselves. If it is this much hassle, we would just carry our own luggage from now on. I went to get in line to check us all in. The clerk behind the desk looked startled when I said we had eight rooms reserved. He quickly got the reservation, and I gave him my Platinum American Express card to cover the bill. At least all of us were on the same floor. Our rooms were spread out all over the floor, though, so there was no way I could check on the boys easily. We needed to have a meeting. I handed out the cards to everyone, and Mr. James immediately forced his luggage handler to take him to his room. His personality was the same with everyone. No one liked him!!!! "Dad, we have to talk about Mr. James," Paul said, as he saw him walk off. "I know. We all need to talk. About a lot of things. Everybody come to my room now, OK? You can all get your luggage, and then we can talk about what we are going to do for the rest of the day," I answered. We were all in agreement, so the man with all the luggage and half of us got into one elevator, while the rest waited on the next one to come. We got to my room and he unloaded all the luggage. I tipped him $10 and he almost frowned when he saw it. What did he expect, us to carry our own luggage and he still gets $10 for showing us to our room? As he was wheeling the cart out of the room, the rest of the guys came up, and Jason was in the back of the group. "Come on in, guys. Jason, you too. We are all going to be spending lots of time together, so everyone might as well get used to having you around," I said. Everyone crowded into the room, and Jason started to introduce himself to everyone. "Guys, all of you take your luggage to your rooms first, OK? We don't have enough room in here to walk around." They all found their luggage and went to find their rooms. Two by two, they finally returned. Jason came back, too, but kind of stood in a corner, uncertain about why he was here. "Look, we have to have some rules, OK? Once we all go in our rooms for the night, no going out for any reason. If you want ice or drinks, do that before we all turn in. I'm not going to start treating you guys like babies, but I also won't allow you to be roaming the hotel when I think you are in bed. OK with everyone?" I asked. Everyone agreed, but reluctantly. "Either Jason or I will come by and check up on you guys every night at our agreed time. I will put him at one end of the hall and my room will be at the other end in case of a fire or anything like that. We all need to stay together in any kind of emergency, but two groups would be better than anyone being alone. Is that all right with you, Jason?" I asked. "Sure. I guess so," Jason said. "We aren't little kids, Dad. We don't need to be tucked in at night, you know," Paul said. "I know that, and I might stop the bed time checks once we are used to being on the road, but it just makes me feel better for a while. Humor the old man, will you? I asked, kidding. "Ok, fine. We do want to talk about Mr. James, though. He is already driving all of us crazy, and we have only been on the road for one day," Paul said. "I'll have a talk with him. We have to at least give him a chance. One day isn't much of a fair trial, is it?" I asked. "No, but he makes us feel like we are in prison. I can't learn under those circumstances," Paul said. "OK, you have made your point. Do the rest of you feel the same way?" "I do," Jimmy said. The others also agreed. "I will talk to him in the morning about what you said, all right? He just needs to lighten up some. Do you guys want me to see where a gym is around here?" I asked. "Yeah, that would be great. After sitting on the bus all day with Mr. James, I feel like I could punch a punching bag for hours," Paul said. "Me, too. See if you can find out if they have a pool, too," Jimmy said. "Jason, do you have any work out clothes with you?" I asked. "No. I didn't think I would need anything like that," he said. "That's OK. I will also see if there is a sporting goods store near the gym. We can stop there on the way. OK, everyone go get your stuff and meet me back here in five minutes, all right?" "OK," everyone said, as they walked out the door. Jason stayed with me, and I got out the phone book. We were lucky, the gym was on a few minutes away, on the same road that our hotel was on. I called down stairs and got the location of the nearest sporting goods store, and we were soon leaving. We stopped at Sports Authority and we all went inside. The boys wandered over the store while Jason and I looked for a few outfits for him. They didn't have a big selection in his size, but we found three different styles that he liked, added three jocks and thick socks, and then went looking for shoes. That wasn't a problem, as they had a big selection. Jason complained when I paid for the equipment, but I did it anyway. We were all soon back on the bus and heading for the gym. I checked us all in at the front desk and signed Jason up as a full member, also. He really didn't like me paying for that, but I explained that we needed him to drive us on his time off, and it was the least I could do. He finally agreed. We all went into the changing room and changed clothes. We all locked our clothes in the lockers and headed outside. Jason and I worked out on the heavier machines while the boys used the lighter ones. Paul and Jimmy used the punching bag and heavy bag until they were exhausted. Jason and I switched from the weight machines to the treadmills and walked for 30 minutes. Jason was sweating heavily when we finished and looked pretty exhausted. "That's enough for your first day, Jason. You did really good, though," I said. "Thanks. I don't exercise as much as I should, which is one reason I am fat," he said. "You keep working out, and I am sure your weight will start to drop," I answered. We all went swimming, and the boys were soon all ganging up on Jason and trying to dunk him. He continually picked up one boy after another and threw them in the air. Jason was lots bigger than any of them, but ten on one wasn't quite fair, so I swam over and made it ten on two. I got dunked a few times for my effort, but we all had a lot of fun. Jason was quickly becoming part of our group. He was a little bit older than the boys, but the age difference didn't seem to make any difference. They were all enjoying his company, and so was I. We finally got out of the pool and decided to shower and get dressed. Jason was slow about getting undressed. "Any problem, Jason?" I asked. "I'm just kind of shy about taking showers with others because of my weight," he answered softly. "Jason, I told you that you don't have to worry about that with us. We are all a family, and I think all the boys have already adopted you into it. No one is going to care about your weight. No one is sure going to stare at your body. Just try it. It won't be bad, I promise," I said as I pulled down my wet shorts and jock. Jason stared at me quickly, then turned and also pulled his down and off. We wrapped towels around our lower bodies and walked towards the shower. All the other boys were already showering, along with one other man. The man was staring at the boy's bodies from where he was showering when we entered. Jason and I went over to the shower heads between him and the boys and turned them on, blocking his view. I was going to keep an eye on him. Nobody was going to do anything to any of my boys, if I could help it, even stare at them. It wasn't long before we had finished our showers, dried off and put our clothes back on. We found a good restaurant, and went inside. The person taking reservations about had a heart attack when I asked for a table for twelve, but wrote it down and walked to the back to see how they could seat us. I would have to learn to call ahead in the future. We finally were seated after about twenty minutes. Not bad, really. We all had a really nice meal. Jason only had a large salad. He said that he was determined after today to try and lose some weight. At least he loved salads!!! (Don't you, Jason? - hehehehe) We got back to the hotel, and it was already pretty late. We all decided to go to bed early tonight so we could leave early and get into Dallas at a reasonable time. We would have one more day before the guys had to play, and we wanted to see what we could of the city. We all agreed for them to be their rooms at 10:00, and Jason and I started our rounds right on the button. We waved at each other and Jason walked down the hall to where I was standing outside Tim and Tom's door. "I just wanted to tell you how happy I am that you included me in everything today. What you said about my weight made me feel lots better. No one has ever encouraged me to try and lose weight before. I have tried in the past, but lost interest and quit. I really think I can do it this time with your encouragement and help," Jason said. "I think you can, too, Jason. All of us will try and help in any way we can," I answered. "As for including you, you don't have to worry about that any more. I think everyone has already made you part of the family. If you need anything, even to just talk, come see me anytime, OK?" "Thanks, Stan," he said, and briefly hugged me lightly. "I had better go and check on the boys." I could tell that Jason had far more emotion in his voice then than I would have expected. He must have been really lonely growing up, skipping two grades, and always being smarter than those in his classmates. Being overweight can easily make you the butt of everyone's jokes. I was more determined than ever to help Jason in any way I could. Comments can be sent to me at fsw99@mindspring.com.