Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2021 05:45:43 +0000 (UTC)
From: austintc@aol.com
Subject: Austin and Andrew, Chapter 12

This is a true story, taking place in the early 1990's.  After originally
meeting over the phone, Andrew and I decided to meet in person over
Memorial Day weekend in 1990. As the year drew to a close, the love
affair that started between us during the summer was at a pivotal point.
Andrew had just interviewed for a job at the company where I worked, and
our relationship hinged upon him getting the job and moving to Rockford.

Please feel free to contact me, Austin T. Charles at austintc@aol.com  I
appreciate all feedback on my story!
Also, please consider donating to Nifty.org!  Without their support,
aspiring writers like me would not be able to tell our stories!
http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html ; Thank you!

Austin and Andrew, Chapter 12

With one week to go until Christmas, almost every moment of every day my
thoughts were consumed about whether or not Andrew would get a job offer
from the company where I worked. It wasn't easy to think about anything
else, since so much of our future together depended on him getting the
job. We had both agreed that if he didn't get the job, we were pretty
much going to be over as a couple, and the strong love we had for each
other would be set adrift. He couldn't continue to make the six hour
trip from his parent's home in Minnesota to my home in IL, and traveling
to see him would be impossible for me as well, since my work schedule
demanded that I worked three out of four Saturdays every month.

We had talked over the weekend in our usual manner -- Andrew traveling to
Owatonna, the town closest to his parent's house -- by calling me
collect. It had been two weeks since the interview, and the first thing I
asked him was if he had received another call yet, to which he replied
that he hadn't.
Our talk on that Saturday wasn't long.  Andrew had Christmas shopping to
do, and I had errands to run as well, including Sunday morning church
with my friend.  Once again, I told him to call me as soon as he got an
offer, if he did.  He promised that he would.

The week began with a significant snowstorm, which meant that my Monday
morning of work started at 3 AM. I hadn't slept well Sunday night,
knowing that my phone would ring early, which it did. I went to bed early
Monday night, and enjoyed a full night of sleep.

Tuesday was uneventful, as was Wednesday morning. Less than a week to go
until Christmas Day. That Wednesday evening, December 19th, 1990, was the
day that changed the course of my life.

Andrew got a job offer at the company where I worked.

He would be moving to Illinois, to Rockford.

Our dream of being together would finally come true.

When Andrew gave me the news over the phone that cold December day, I
cried tears of joy.  Never had a I wanted or yearned to be with another
human being as much as I wanted to be with Andrew.  Despite seemingly
monumental odds, our plans and wishes were finally going to come true.

And just as we had overcome those odds to see our dream come to fruition,
the reality of what was yet to come suddenly slapped me in the face
harder than the brutal cold December weather that hit the area shortly
after Christmas that year. It was now time to uphold my end of the deal:
I would have to sell my house so we could get an apartment together.
Living together in my little one bedroom house would have been great had
both of us been out, but since that was not something either of us was
ready to do, the only viable options available were that I was to sell my
house, or Andrew get an apartment on his own. I presented that option to
Andrew and I was quite surprised by his response.

"No, I am not going to get an apartment on my own.  The only reason I'm
taking this job in Rockford is so we can live together. We either get an
apartment together, or otherwise I'm not going to take the job."

His ultimatum seemed harsh but made sense. It would be a leap of faith on
his part as well, so both of us would be making a sacrifice for "us" to
work.

So, hand in hand together, we jumped. Although the idea of selling my
house caught my parents by surprise, I told my father that the proceeds
from the house would go to him, since I owed him money from a failed
farming adventure that he had gotten me into. They seemed skeptical, but
cautiously bought into the idea. For my dad, it was all about getting the
money that I owed him, and he really didn't seem to care, or at least he
didn't show that he cared. My mother was ever consumed in my younger
sister's life, and since she didn't like the idea of me buying the
house in the first place, it didn't seem to bother her in the least bit.

In early January, Andrew and I rented an apartment together. I met his
parents when they brought a load of his furniture down from Minnesota to
Rockford. They were super nice people, and according to Andrew, liked me
from the moment they met me.  No assumptions of their oldest son moving
in with a strange man -- they accepted me -- which was a huge relief on
both of our parts. We sold them on the story that I had posted something
at work about looking for a roommate, and since Andrew "asked" about
finding an apartment with a roommate, the company gave him my name and
number.

Our first night together in the apartment was just as intense as all of
the other times we'd been together. We woke up the following morning in
each other's arms, still almost in disbelief that we'd pulled off the
ultimate plan. That first weekend together was incredible, and we
seemingly made up for those nights we had been apart. We both came so
many times that we lost track, and almost felt like calling in sick just
to rest our aching balls.

It was definitely like a honeymoon. I no longer faced the heartbreak of
seeing him drive away not knowing when we'd be together again. The first
few weeks went great. He began working at the company, and I continued
working a lot of hours and tried to keep up with moving my things to the
apartment and kept up my house the best I could. After we moved in the
apartment, I never spent another night at my house. I no longer cared
about things that were once so important to me. What mattered now was
being with Andrew, feeling him next to me every night as we drifted off
to sleep after another lovemaking session.

But just as wonderful as that feeling was, as the days turned to weeks
and soon, we'd been together close to a month, I felt a nagging shadow
of doubt and concern clouding my sunny happiness, as the expenses of
paying half of the rent and utilities for the apartment, along with the
expenses of my house began to place a serious burden on my financial
well-being.  It was a burden I hid from Andrew and myself at first, but
as time passed, the hole got deeper.

He did ask me on occasion how the house was coming, was it ready to be
listed yet and all, and I did tell him that my plan was to sell it myself
with the company lawyer handling the paperwork -- a free service the
company provide to us. As February turned to March, I was now two months
behind on the mortgage payment and had already had the phone and cable
shut off. Thankfully, I did manage to get a substantial amount of
overtime, but it still wasn't enough. When I finally approached Andrew
about maybe helping me cover my part of the rent for the apartment, he
vehemently denied my request. I was shocked and almost hurt, but realized
I'd gotten myself in the mess and would have to get myself out.

Near the middle of March, I accepted an offer on the house. I was happy
to get the process going, and seriously looked forward to giving the
entire profits to my dad, to finally pay him off.  The closing was quick,
and by the end of March, my very first house was no longer mine. All of
the hours I had spent working on the house, building a beautiful garage,
doing an expert landscaping job, and spending time in the one place I
called my own, was now gone. For the first time in my life, I was now
living in an apartment. I had to give away my cat. My dog, who I had
raised as a puppy and had for 14 years, died alone in the house one day
while I was at work. Little did I know then that my world as I knew it
was only going to endure more heartaches and pain.

The proceeds from the house were not enough to cover my bills and what I
owed my father. So of course, I paid my bills first, and to his dismay,
only gave him half of what I owed him.  He was okay with it, or so he
seemed.

The real kick in the nuts came in the middle of April. My grandmother,
whom I adored and loved more than my own mother, succumbed to heart
disease. Her enlarged heart was beyond repair, and after a week in the
hospital, she died. My world fell apart.

I had somewhat expected Andrew to be a little more sympathetic to my
loss, but I really believe that he didn't know how to respond. He
hadn't met my grandma, and despite being close to his own grandparents,
he didn't give me the emotional support I needed.

As we inched closer to our one year anniversary of meeting over the phone
in the middle of May, my grandmother's death, coupled with a hectic work
schedule finally caught up with me. I awoke one morning to a high fever,
so thinking nothing of it, I called in sick and stayed home.  A few days
passed and I still was not feeling well.  I went to the company doctor
who took a blood sample and a day later informed me I had contracted
mono. I kept working, but dealt with a sore throat for eight weeks,
losing my voice twice over that time. I was constantly fatigued. But
despite not feeling well, Andrew's wants and needs which were once all I
lusted for, now became more like a pain than pleasure.  To make matters
worse, our lease was up for the apartment, and we decided to move into a
larger apartment with a two car garage and a large yard that was part of
a duplex. The landlord was supposed to paint it before we moved in, which
he did not. We almost backed out of the lease, but he made us a deal that
if we painted it, he would take the cost of the supplies off the first
month of rent, which we agreed.  He even made me a deal that if I mowed
the yard and kept up with it, he would knock off a certain amount each
time I mowed.  Since he also worked where we both now worked, it seemed
like a great deal, and eventually the moved turned out to be a great
move.  We both enjoyed having a larger apartment, and I enjoyed having a
garage where I could actually use my tools.

It had been a very hectic two months. We now found ourselves in early
June, settled into the new apartment. I had bought us tickets to see a
Cubs game in Chicago.  Andrew was a Minnesota Twins fan of course but had
always wanted to see a Cubs game.  So, on a Tuesday night, we headed to
Chicago for the game.  I still was not feeling one hundred percent, and
tired easily. But it didn't stop us from going to Boystown after the
game, which was only a few blocks from the baseball stadium. We found a
gay bar -- Roscoe's -- and wound up dancing and drooling over the cute
boys there until almost two A.M.! It was what we needed, and since we
didn't get back home until four in the morning, we both called in sick
and spent the day in bed.

A week or so later, I finally was granted a transfer to the company's
new facility, which ironically was only two miles from my old house in
South Beloit. After six years, I was finally leaving the grounds
department.  No longer would I get to work outside with the fourteen and
the fifteen year old summer help, but I would no longer have to get up in
the middle of the night to plow snow. I was transferring into the
shipping and receiving department, and part of my new job was to drive
the company van between the two facilities as a courier. I was very
excited, as was Andrew. Perhaps things had turned the corner for me
personally, and life would get better.

We decided to take our first major vacation together.  Since we'd both
talked about our love of the outdoors, and a desire to see some of the
country's national parks, we settled on driving out to Yellowstone
National Park for three days, then up to Glacier National Park for two
days before returning home. We camped the entire time in my tent but were
ill-equipped with sleeping bags.  The first night in Yellowstone we
pretty much froze in the tent. Nestled between two mountain ranges, the
first come first served campground was beautiful, but we had no idea of
how cold it was going to get that night.  As we snuggled together on my
sleeping that was opened up with blankets from home, our body heat did
keep us mildly warm. I had had sex in a tent before, but that night we
opted to just hold each other close and try to stay warm. After that
first night, the temperatures were warmer at night, and we were warm
enough to pleasure each other in our usual manner: me lying on top of
Andrew while my copious amounts of precum and saliva slickened our
bellies enough to shoot our five day loads all over his belly. It felt so
damn good to get some relief, and I was still so damn horny that I licked
up most of our loads from his stomach and chest, then shared it with him
in a deep, mixed cum kiss.

The trip to both parks was phenomenal. After all I had gone through in
our first six months together, this seemed to be the only thing that
cured me of mono. It was relaxing for us to get away from home and travel
to a place where no one knew us.  We eve took a "side trip" on our way
to Glacier, spending a night in Spokane, Washington, where we spent the
night in a hotel. We cruised around the town for a bit, and found a gay
bar, and spent a couple of hours dancing, having a drink or two, and just
checked out the crowd for cute guys, for most of the cuties that were
there it was unbelievable to us that they were gay. That night in the
hotel we had a marathon love-making session that was more reminiscent of
our first few times together.  We showered together where we took turns
blowing each other.  Then after moving to the bed, Andrew shot his load
deep inside my bowels, then sucked me off, giving me a mind blowing
orgasm that deposited my seed deep down his throat.

As much as we loved seeing the beautiful sights in Yellowstone, in both
of our minds, Glacier was ten times better.  We took a day hike of about
two miles up hill to this lake that was dropped in between snow-capped
mountains on all four sides.  The alpine forest of huge spruce and pine
trees that the trail meandered through gave us a hike to remember.  I
recall stopping at one area where some of the biggest ferns I've ever
seen blanketed the entire forest floor for as far as we could see. In the
middle of this blanket of ferns ran a crystal clear pristine stream. We
both stood on the wooden pedestrian bridge just lost in thought admiring
the natural beauty that in no way could man ever recreate.

All too soon our trip came to an end.  We vowed that the following year
we would go all the way to our so desired destination: Seattle.  Both of
us talked many times about how cool the area must be, and we had hoped
that the following year we would be able to make the trip. Returning home
to our duplex apartment, I only had one more week to work on the grounds
department.  Thankfully, my difficult co-worker was off that week, and I
no longer had to deal with his moodiness. I had enjoyed most of our six
years together as co-workers, but he had serious marriage issues, and
that summer, the ten kids who worked over the summer with me were left to
bear the brunt of his anger and frustrations, with most of us wondering
what we'd done to piss him off.  I was never so glad to get out of a job
in my entire life and was anxious to start working as a driver at the new
facility.

Job-wise and money-wise, things were better. I liked my new job, and we
liked our new apartment. But just as I thought things between Andrew and
I were going well, a new disturbing pattern emerged in Andrew's
behavior. About an hour before sunset every night during the week, he
would up and leave by himself. He did not offer for me to go with. He
just left. Some nights he would be gone for two or three hours. Those
nights I went to bed alone. When confronted as to where he would go, he
just shrugged it off as "I just go drive and listen to the radio." I
became highly skeptical that this was the case, but for some reason I
never followed him.

I was greatly bothered by this. I began to question my decision of
selling my house to move in with him. I needed him there for my emotional
well-being, and he chose to leave each night instead. Yes, we had an
awesome trip to Wyoming and Montana.  One of the best trips I'd ever
taken. But in the reality of the day to day living life as a couple, I
had become to regret moving in with him.

To help deal with my emotions and the stresses in my life, I turned to
alcohol. Almost every night for the remainder of July and early August, I
drank to deal with my depression. We stopped having sex, and I was
concerned that we were nearing an end in our relationship. The alcohol
helped, but deep inside I knew it was not the answer, as I feared I would
become an alcoholic like my father, and this was a road I certainly did
not want to go down. My father's drinking ruined my life as well as my
mother's life, and I did not want to ruin mine -- or Andrew's -- even
though I was uncertain as to how long we would be together.

About a week later, I decided to follow him as he left for one of his
nightly drives. He had driven to one of the parks in town along the river
that had a reputation of being a place to hook up with other guys.  He
parked his car and began walking south on the bike path, which ran south
along the eastern banks of the Rock River. I parked my truck and began to
follow him. About a half mile south of the park, he walked to the tree
lined riverbank in a secluded area in a different park. I sat about a
hundred feet away from him, seeing what was going to happen.  Nothing
happened and no one approached him, so finally I summoned enough courage
to walk up to him and confront him. I startled him, and he got up quickly
and began to walk south along the trees. He was quite angry that I'd
followed him, but it finally became the key to us talking about the wall
that had grown between us. Andrew did realize just how much I was
drinking each night, and we had a good talk where he confessed that he
missed his home in Minnesota, and only went driving around to find an
area where his favorite AM radio station from home came in. He also
confessed that all he did when he came to this spot was to think about
home and our relationship. I wanted to believe him, and since I didn't
see him with anyone, I was fairly confident that he was telling me the
truth. We agree to go back to the apartment, where we had an encore of
the lovemaking that we had that night at the motel in Spokane.  We agreed
that maybe joining the YMCA together would help us to not only get in
shape but to also find ways to enjoy each other a little more and
strengthen our relationship.

The membership at the Y did help.  We found ourselves getting in better
shape, but also noticed a new trend. We began to both figuratively drool
over the cute guys that worked out and played basketball on a nightly
basis. There was one guy in particular who we'd nicknamed Duke boy,
since he always wore a Duke University tee shirt.  With his sandy blonde
curly hair, his lean, muscular body was turn on for both of us, and
fueled many fantasies as we sucked and fucked to the notion that Duke boy
joined us in a three-way, which of course never did happen. But it sure
made for some awesome fantasies! We both agreed that we had secretly
lusted after cute, eighteen year old guys.

Finally, we settled back into life as a committed gay couple, and tried
to put the trials and tribulations of the previous difficult year behind
us. Going to the Y together seemed to help a lot, and Andrew ceased
leaving home at night for his solo drive alone. Life settled in as we
waited for the new year to arrive. Little did we know at that time that
the following year would be one of more traveling and confrontations that
challenged the mostly solid relationship that we had enjoyed up to this
point.