Ten Years Later
"The Reunion"
By Joey E

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything, let alone a brand new story. Here is the first installment of Ten Years Later. I certainly hope it lives up to my other work here on Nifty. If you are offended by gay love, or under the age of 18 (21 in some areas), then I suggest you leave and never come back. Special thanks goes out to Adam. This is a work of fiction. All similarities to real life are strictly coincidental. Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction in any form is prohibited without the author's consent. That all being said, enjoy the story!

"Hey Paul! How's it going?"

"Not bad, Joe. It's been a while! How have you been, man?" he asked.

"Okay, dude, just same old shit. How's the wife?"

"Dawn is doing well, man. In fact, we just found out we're gonna have a kid."

"Hey, congrats, Paul!" I said, before I started to laugh.

"Yeah I know," he said, laughing along with me. "Who'd expect me to be a father?"

This was the same guy I grew up with, creating chaos together, getting into trouble just like two normal teenage guys should. Although I think we pushed it to the extreme when we had a race against two four cylinder engined cars and I crashed.

"Yeah, but I'm sure you'll be a good dad. You'll be able to relate to the kid on his level," I joked.

"Yeah, tell me about it..."

And on the conversation went until he came to the reason he was calling.

"Hey, Joe, the reason I'm calling was to ask if you were going to this reunion thing?" he asked.

"I just got the invitation today. I am thinking about it."

"Well, good, because I am too. I just didn't want to go to find I knew no one there. But if you're going, I'll go too."

"Well, if you're going, then I'll go," I said, smiling.

"Yeah, I'm gonna try to see if Matt and Jay are going too. Say, what about Ed? Have you talked to him lately?"

"Nah man, not really. Ever since he's been married, he's kinda hard to contact." Ed was my best bud from high school. I was in his wedding and the last I heard, he was in Indiana working on his doctorate.

"Well, dude, I hate to cut this short, but I gotta run now," he said.

"All right, man, I'll talk to you later."

After hanging up, I filled out the reply and enclosed the check for the dinner. I sat back in my chair at the dining room table and my thoughts were brought back to the memories of high school. I smiled as I recalled all the wild things we did and what fun it was being so innocent and young. If only my friends knew what I liked to do now...suck cock, eat ass, and fuck! I laughed to myself at that thought.

The weeks went by and I didn't give the reunion that much of thought. Life went on as usual. Work was hard at the time, so I was mostly focused on that. Before I knew it, I was driving up to my old hometown for the reunion. I was running late, so I drove straight to the reception hall at which the dinner was to be held. I dressed kind of casually, with a pair of khakis and a button-down shirt. I figured I never really was known for dressing up, why start now?

I nervously walked towards the main entrance. I lit up my smoke on the way. I was hoping to run into someone I knew before I entered the building. I met up with some friends who were standing out front. God, they looked older. I on the other hand still looked like I was no more than twenty. I was only 5'4" and 120lbs. My asian background had kept me young looking and pretty much the same over the years. I still retained the build of a thin, but strong little guy.

Paul walked up a few minutes after I had arrived. I hadn't seen him in about a year. Age had put some weight on him. He was around 5'10", 200lbs, short blondish-brown hair, blue eyes, mustache and goatee, and a bit of a beer gut. Not exactly my type of guy to do, but reasonably attractive in his own right.

"Where's Dawn?" I asked, noticing Paul was without his wife.

"Oh, she had to go away for the weekend. We actually double-booked the weekend without knowing it. She had a wedding to go to and I had this reunion. We both wanted to do our own thing. Just as well. I wouldn't have known anyone at the wedding and she wouldn't have known many people here. It's cool though. She'll be back tomorrow."

"Oh, well, I'd just expect you to want to show off your wife tonight," I said, grinning.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm a free man tonight. Come on, let's go find a table."

It was a fun time, actually. I saw some old acquaintances that I almost forgot about. I was surprised at how many people remembered me. We sat down at a table which included friends we both knew. It was quite a sight to see all of us together again. Some were with their wives and/or girlfriends. We all had a fun time, catching up and reminiscing about the good old days.

After dinner, I went outside to smoke a Marlboro Menthol Light. Paul, who also smoked, went out with me. It always seemed that Paul and I had something to talk about. Whether it be about the current times or the trouble that we had gotten into in our past. Unfortunately, his phone started to ring halfway through the smoke.

"It's Dawn, dude. I'll be back," he said, stepping away for some privacy.

I remained where I was, about five feet away from the main entrance of the reception hall when I heard a deep masculine voice that I vaguely remembered.

"No fuckin' way. Joey E?"

At first, I didn't recognize where the voice came from. There was a guy standing outside, huffing away on his cigarette. Oh shit. My first instinct was to turn around and walk away. Of all the people I didn't want to see, this was one of them. His name was Jason. He was a big dumb jock, and hot as hell. Back in middle school, he was constantly picking on me. Not in a physically violent way, but every thing else was fair game. At least he had the decency to torment me when no one was paying attention. I don't recall him ever attracting attention to what he was saying to me. I was thankful for that. We were actually social my senior year in high school, mainly because I was on the wrestling team with him. I wrestled in middle school, but wasn't heavy enough until my senior year to wrestle for the team. I never would classify him as a friend, but he was cool enough. Throughout the wrestling season, he was cool with me. He still made cracks every once in a while at my expense the rest of the time, but I chose just to ignore him. I didn't quite know what to expect now.

"Come on, man. How the fuck are you?" he asked, grinning at me.

"Doing well," I said, trying to regain my confidence. "How are you?"

We shook hands and I checked him out. Age had not been bad to him, in fact, he looked better than he ever did before. At about 6', he was at least 200lbs, with a buzzed haircut, handsome, rugged, steel blue eyes, and a fuckin' great body on top of that. Extremely broad shoulders and a killer ass. I was just surprised that he even remembered me.

"I'm glad to see you made it, bud!" he said, smiling down at me.

"Yeah, I figured what the hell? I might as well go," I said, before I took a drag of my cig.

"Man, I haven't seen you since we graduated! You're still lookin' good, which is more than can be said about half the people here tonight," he said, grinning.

"Thanks. Yeah, I know. When did everyone start to look so old? What have you been up to?" I asked.

"I'm a Phys Ed teacher, bro. And I coach football too."

"Yeah, I thought you would be doing that," I said, not in a mean way. Just a fact. As you probably could tell, he was the star jock stud of the high school. A great ball player and a great wrestler, which is where I really got to know him.

He laughed and said, "Yep. I just made it through college, slipping by. But, our old school was happy to hire me. Been teaching there ever since."

"That's great," I answered. I put my butt out in the supplied ashtray on top of a trash can. "You come with anyone?" he asked.

"No, didn't bring a bitch along with me," I cracked.

He chuckled and said, "Yeah, I hear you. I just dumped my bitch about four weeks ago. So I came here alone."

"Yeah, I hear ya. Well, at least it's cool to see some of my old friends who I haven't seen in ten years."

"Dude, I've been here all my life. I'm just tired of the same old people. Don't get me wrong, I love it here. But some of my buds act like their still in High School."

Just then Paul came back up to me.

"Joe, I'll meet you back inside. Gotta take a piss," he said.

"All right, dude," I replied. I turned back my attention to Jason, not knowing what to do or say.

He put his arm around my shoulder and said softly, "Listen, Joey, I'm sorry about pickin' on you like that in middle school."

I turned my head to look at him and asked, "Huh?"

"Aw shit, you don't remember?" he asked, taking his arm away. "I used to make fun of how scrawny you were, the fact that you couldn't throw a ball, makin' fun of your race...."

"Oh, that! Dude, that was like 20 years ago? Who the fuck cares anymore?"

"Well, I just want to say that I'm sorry."

The beer was starting to cloud my judgement. I knew I was going to be weak in a moment, but I didn't quite want to leave him yet. So I spoke again.

"What made you do it anyway?" I asked, lighting up another smoke.

"Don't know, bud," he said. :"You were like an easy target, bro!"

"Thanks!" I retorted.

He looked at me with a smirk and asked, "So, you gotta boyfriend yet?"

I looked at him in shock. "What the fuck do you mean?" I asked.

"Just jokin' with you bro! I used to say that to you all the time!"

"Hey fuck off!" I said, starting to get pissed.

"Easy, there, Joey, boy. I'm just jokin' with you. Come on, man!"

Great, now I was giving the signs of a closeted homo. Which in truth I was around here. I thought a little before I gave a reply.

"Well, what about your boyfriend?" I asked, grinning.

He laughed and put his hand on my shoulder. "That's it, buddy!"

I looked at him as if he were crazy. This was getting too fucked up for me to comprehend at the moment. First of all, I was talking to a guy I rarely talked to all through school, and second, he was still one of the hottest guy here tonight. Thirdly, I just accused him of having a boyfriend.

"Come on, dude, when we were in wrestling together, I saw you checkin' my bod out. It's cool with me."

Again, I was reminded of the past. It wasn't a nice reminder either. I looked at him dead in the eyes and said, "Fuck you, Jason."

"I'll bet you would," he replied, moving slightly closer to me.

Instead of freaking out and backing down, I moved closer to him, still focused on his eyes. "You wish," I said flatly but firmly.

He reached down and grabbed his cock through his pants, like I had seen him do countless times before in school. How could anyone so hot be such an asshole?

"You faggot," he whispered.

"Go to hell," I said loudly. I broke away, put my cig out, and went back inside.

I went up to the bar and got a beer. I walked back over to my table and sat back down with my friends. As I sipped on my beer, I started to think about what just happened out there. Amongst the insults, there was definitely some flirting going on out there. Had it been anywhere else than a damn high school reunion, I may have taken a different route. But being that I was not out to anyone, nor did I care to tell anyone, I was stuck. I saw Jason come back into the room. He sat down at his table again with some of his jock buddies, laughing and carrying on like he normally did. Suddenly, I noticed, his eyes were on me. I couldn't help looking at him. I knew he caught me checking him out. I turned away quickly and went back to the conversation at my table. But as I was turning away, I noticed a smile form across his lips.

Overall, the night was a success. I drank with some old buddies of mine, got to see some old friends, and even danced a bit. I went out to smoke a cigarette again with Paul. And as luck would have it, guess who else was out there again? I tried not to make eye contact with him, but failed miserably. He grinned at me and nodded his head at me. I looked away, not quite knowing what to do.

"What's wrong, Joe?" Paul asked.

Damn, I thought to myself. So much for being subtle about anything.

"Ah, nothing'. So, what do you say we get out of here soon?" I asked.

"I was just thinkin' the same thing."

"Wanna go race our cars after this?" he asked with an evil grin.

I chuckled and replied, "Yeah, right!"

"Come on, Joe, for old times sake!" he said, now laughing.

Paul and I got in to some real trouble when we were growing up. He and I had a way to come up with crazy ideas that often ended in a big mess. Our last disaster was when we decided to race in an industrial park. To make a long story short, it ended up with me crashing.

Paul's cell phone began to ring before I could respond. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the display.

"Fuck, hold on," he said, stepping away to answer the call.

I took this time to look back over where Jason was standing. Only he wasn't there anymore.

"Looking for someone, bud?" I heard a low voice say from behind me.

I turned around and there he was, grinning like a little kid. I looked up at his blue eyes and smiled.

"Yeah, I knew it, Joe. I knew it. I knew it back then, and I know it now," he said, still speaking very softly. I could almost feel his breath on my neck. He was standing almost right in back of me. If I moved back just an inch, I would pressed up against him.

Suddenly, I came back to reality when two people walked out the door. I turned right around to face him. He casually grabbed himself again, looking straight at me. If this wasn't a come on, I wouldn't know what was. Alarm signals went off in my head. We were a little too old to be playing these kinds of games. Here was the guy who I had my first wet dream about, standing before me, coming onto me. Yet, I couldn't be totally confident that he was doing that.

I put the cigarette up to my mouth and inhaled, never taking my eyes off his face. Just then, Paul came back up to me. Talk about timing.

"Hey, you ready to go back inside?" he asked, not aware of anything that was happening.

"Yeah, sure," I said, turning away from Jason and not looking back as we walked into the entrance again.

Right then and there I decided to not pursue Jason at all anymore. If he wanted to have me, he would have to come right out and prove it to me. Otherwise, forget it. I went back inside and we said our goodbyes. It was around eleven and I was ready to leave. I hate to admit it, but I was a little disappointed when I didn't see Jason come back into the room. I was just about to walk out of the reception room when I was grabbed by the arm and pulled aside.

"What the...?" I asked as I turned around to see who grabbed me.

"What? You're leaving now?" Jason asked grinning at me.

"Dude, what the fuck is up with you?" I asked, not amused.

"Nothin'," he said, casually. "Where you goin' now?"

"I'm staying at my friends' place tonight before I head back to Philly tomorrow."

"Oh, I see. Well, here, bud, let me give you my number," he said.

"Uh, okay..." I said, reaching into my pocket for my cell phone. I navigated through the menus to enter a new phonebook entry.

"Go ahead..."

He told me his number and I entered it in my cell phone. Wow, I thought to myself. I have Jason's number.

"Cool," I said, hitting save before I closed the phone.

"What's yours?" he asked, taking his out.

"Huh?" I asked, surprised he'd even ask.

"Your number, bro. What is it?"

"Oh!" I said. I gave it to him as well. He grinned as he looked back up at me.

He held out his hand and I shook it, firmly. "Well, it was a surprise to run into you here. Call me, bro. We'll hang out sometime. Seriously."

I had my doubts, but I said, "Sure, man. I'll call you up the next time I'm in town here."

At that moment, I realized we were still holding hands. I pulled my hand back, but he wouldn't let go. I looked up at his face again and he had a very serious look in his eye.

"I'm serious. You'd better call me."

He finally let my hand go. I wasn't quite sure what to say after that, so I said nothing. I walked out the door and found Paul. We headed back to his place and had a great night, playing video games and just hangin' out. Our game of Grand Theft Auto was disrupted by my cell phone, vibrating in my pocket. I took it out and looked at the number that came up on the screen. Jason B it read. Oh shit, I thought to myself. Do I answer it or do I just ignore it?

Unable to restrain my curiosity, I answered it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Joey! It's Jason. What's up, bro?"

"Not much, just hangin' here with my friend. What's up with you?"

"Ah, nothin'. Just sittin' here, thinking. I was wondering when you were leaving tomorrow?"

"Uh, haven't given it much thought," I said. I realized that I was breaking out in a sweat, talking to the stud of my dreams.

"Well, if you want to hang out tomorrow before you leave, I'd be cool with that," he said.

"Uh, s-s-ure," I said, stuttering. Be cool, Joe!

"Okay, call me tomorrow. I'm free all day."

"Sure, man. I'll call you tomorrow."

"I'm serious, Joey."

"All right, dude, I will," I said, not knowing if I would or not.

"Later, bro."

"Bye,"I said.

"Who was that?" Paul asked, grinning.

"Brian," I quickly answered. "Wanted to know if I wanted to hang out tomorrow."

"Cool. How is he? I haven't seen him in ages."

"He's doing well. He's back at home now from college. I haven't seen him in a while either."

Brian made the perfect excuse. He was my best bud who lived up the street from me at my old house. We grew up together, but we never went to the same school. He went to private schools and I went to public schools. Brian was actually no where near us, but Paul didn't need to know that.

We resumed our game and went to bed shortly after. As usual, I slept on the couch. As I drifted off the sleep, I thought about the crazy events that unfolded. All of those memories were opened after being shut for ten years. Jason was on to me. And I think he wanted a piece of me too.