Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:14:16 -0500
From: Barry Mattison <stories@barrymattison.com>
Subject: College in the Desert-Chapter XIII

College in the Desert-Chapter XIII
Vacation Begins!
AUTHOR: Barry Mattison

WEBSITE/EMAIL:	http://storiesbybm.webs.com     stories@barrymattison.com

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INTRODUCTION:

This is a fictional story about how two young guys met at college, started
a friendship that quickly became a long term relationship, and endured all
the good times and the bad times of that relationship over the coming
years. The characters in "College in the Desert" are all fictional and any
semblance to real persons--living or deceased--is purely coincidental.

DISCLAIMER:

This fictional story is written for the gay reader in particular and
describes scenes of male nudity and sexual acts between two or more guys
that some readers may find inappropriate and/or unsuitable for their
reading. Please do not read any further if you find such reading offensive
or if it may become property of anyone under the age of 21. "College in the
Desert" is copyrighted by Barry Mattison with permission to publish given
to the Nifty Alliance Archive and is exclusively for the readers of this
website. Copying, distribution or re-publication of this writing in any
other web site, private or otherwise, is a violation of local, national and
international copyright laws and will be pursued to the fullest extent
allowable by law.

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Chapter XIII-Doug and Justin Take a Vacation
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Picking up from the last chapter, the boys were surprised when I brought
them to a building downtown that I had had refurbished into a new Dojo for
Justin for teaching his Aikido classes away from the school. We owned the
property now as an investment, and as a start to our future together --
wherever that may be leading us.

Juss was thrilled to have his own place now where he could arrange classes
according to his school schedule, and hopefully mine. We lived only about
six blocks away so during the warm summer evenings I could walk down and
take the classes or help out with paperwork, or just sit and watch him and
his sexy body move gracefully around the mats, hanging onto students as he
showed them a new move, correcting their movements, or throwing them easily
about as they tried to take him down.

Standing there watching him look about the fully furnished Dojo I dreamed
his dreams with him; we often connected on the same "plane" now in our
thoughts, completing each others sentences or communicating complete
thoughts without even speaking. Whatever others call this, or how they
reacted to it, we were oblivious to them all.

After Juss got over the initial shock and disbelief of having his own Dojo,
he walked over and gave me a kiss and a hug, and a big, "thank you dear."

"You're welcome. I thought you might like this. You'll have your own name
out front and everything. The property is a good investment for our future,
besides, I got it at a good price so if we decide sometime in the future to
move to another state we can either keep it or sell it for a profit and
reinvest the money wherever we move to. For now I thought it would be
perfect since it's close by the house and school. We'll just have to figure
out when we can have our time together, but we can discuss that on our
vacation to the coast...we leave tomorrow!"

"Oh wow, I almost forgot about that. These last few weeks have have flown
right by fast and so much has happened. So Jeff, what are you guys planning
while we're gone for a week? We can give you some ideas when it comes to
sex."

Jeff looked at me. "You guys have something special in mind?"

"We'll leave you guys a few more Christmas presents before we take
off...you'll be busy while we're gone 'fer sure."

"Sounds great. Speaking of taking off, if you are ready, can we get going
now? Don and I have to be at his parents house tonight for a few minutes
and then we're going out for a while. You guys wanna' come with?"

"Let's get back to the house first and we'll decide by then. We still have
to pack because we're leaving tomorrow, sometime late morning. So Juss, is
this place going to work out for you?"

"I love it dear. It's perfect and it's ours. Maybe, eventually, I could
start several places and have a franchise going. That would provide steady
income in addition to the rental of the properties."

"If that's your dream, then I want to help it come true for you. That's
part of being in a relationship. I want to make you happy everyday of your
life," as I slid over beside him and kissed him, wrapping my arms around
his waist.

"Ready everyone?" I asked, as I headed towards the door.

Justin locked the door, stood back to take one last look at his new
investment, and hopped into the front seat. "Okay, move 'em out."

"Roger."

One of the smart asses in the back seat made some kind of comment, but it
fell on deaf ears as I was already thinking about the trip tomorrow and the
things that had to be finished before we could leave. I tend to be a little
anal about over-packing, pre-planning, second guessing, time frames,
arrival and departure times...all those things that, in the end, don't
really even matter. It was a fault of mine and something I knew I needed to
work on. Justin on the other hand was almost the opposite in that he could
care less if he was late getting somewhere, had enough clothes; pretty much
the opposite of all those things that I worried about. I was always kidding
him that he was so laid back that he might fall over backwards.

This trip I was determined to try and follow his lead, meaning, be more
laid back, less stressful...see how it worked out for me. So when we got
home we talked about the subject and I gave him the lead...nervously...and
let him finish making the arrangements and confirmations. Knowing me and
how stressed I would be, after finalizing everything he sat me down and
went over his version of our vacation.

"I just wanted to show you what I came up with for a schedule of sorts for
our week away to the coast. I liked all the plans you made except for a
few, which I put my alternates in yellow beside so we could decide as we
went along. You know I like to do things a little more 'off the cuff' so I
built in some extra time by cutting out some places that I knew I wouldn't
really be interested in seeing -- a compromise of sorts -- and added a
few things that I thought we would both have fun doing, like taking surfing
lessons."

"Sounds like you did a perfect job to me. I trust you anyway. Thanks for
settling my nerves about the whole thing. You know how I am, but I know
that we compliment each other perfectly and when there are obstacles, we
can talk them out, compromise and move on. I think I like your way better
hon."

"Thanks babe for letting me set this up. I'm sure we'll make lots of
changes, but it is nice to have some organization to things. That way the
reservations are confirmed and tickets are paid for on time. Those are the
things that I'm not so good at that I need you to help me with. I love
being in love with you. It seems as though we've been together forever,
doesn't it?"

"I know. And it only gets better. I can't wait to get in the car and...oh
no...did you get the...I didn't get it...I can't believe..."

"What are you mumbling abo...oh no...the rental car! Are we both idiots or
what."

"No, just in love...and idiots," I said. I started laughing, followed by
Juss as we raced for the phone book. Fortunately there was a small
convertible available. We had wanted to be able to drive the coast with the
top down, be able to smell the salt air and feel the sea breeze blowing our
hair into tangled messes like the dudes on tv. I made arrangements for the
car to be dropped off at the house the next morning at ten.

"Cool, got the car we wanted. If we had tried to get it earlier there
wasn't one available. Guess it worked out for the best. Who knew?" See
Juss, I didn't even get all bent out of shape about it either like I
usually would. You're rubbing off already."

"It's my sexiness rubbing off," he said as he licked his right index finger
tip, touched it to his right butt cheek, now stuck out prominently to the
side...sssssssssszzzzzzz.

"I'll test that temperature later tonight if you don't mind, the old way,
up your rectum with my dick."

"Oooooohhh, me scared."

That's all it took. I tackled him -- gently of course -- to the floor
and started tickling him. It didn't take him long to cry "Uncle" this
time. He knew by now that it was a losing battle because I wasn't
ticklish. I also knew that he could have wiped the floor with me at any
time, but we had this game down pretty good.

"Okay, we better get packing," I said as I stood up and offered him a hand
up. "I was thinking we might pack light. Some clothes for day and night,
socks, underwear...or not...swimsuits, just in case we have to wear them,
toys, lots of toys to play with. The essential body stuff like deodorant,
toothpaste, et cetera, and whatever else I figure we can buy when we need
it. What do you think?"

"Sounds like we're going for a month to me, but if you wanna' take all
those clothes we can."

"You need ticklin' again?"

"Nope, I don't think so. Besides, this time you might find yourself upside
down looking at the carpet you little squirt."

"Let's save that for the trip. I'm getting all horny now. Hey, let's take a
run down to the gay store and get a few things for the boys to play with
while we're gone. Maybe pickup something for us to play with on our trip."

"Beat 'ya to the car."

In a few minutes we were at one of the local bookstores. They carried
everything, from videos to fetish leathers to handcuffs. Somehow I had this
feeling that Jeff had this leather side to him. I picked out a leather
harness that had a strap that came down the center of your chest with a
cock ring on it and straps that went around the waist and continued up the
backside. For Don we couldn't figure out anything. Then we saw the
vibrating dildo's, WET Liquid, one bottle we picked up for ourselves, the
vibrating cock ring for the boys to play with since it brought us such
pleasure, and a few other toys for us to play with on our trip -- you'll
have to wait and see -- and experiment with. That last event with the
vibrator opened both of our minds to experimenting with all kinds of new
adventures. There were a few of the kinkier barriers that I wasn't prepared
to cross, but I was prepared to discuss those with Justin. I figured that
this trip was our opportunity to really get to know each other on such an
intimate basis that we would never have to have problems or arguments over
most issues that seemed to plague other couples.

I called Jeff on the way home to see if they wanted some fast food brought
in, but they'd eaten already, so we thought we'd stop at Sonic on the way
home and grab something quick and eat there. As we were pulling out of the
little mall this four wheel SUV, a small one, came racing up on my
bumper. I knew they were going way over the speed limit by how fast they
had appeared on my bumper. I was doing the speed limit, but this idiot
insisted on riding my bumper literally within a foot or two. Traffic was
fairly heavy so I had no idea where they were going, but they definitely
were in a hurry and very annoying, honking the horn, riding my bumper,
racing up, then backing off. It was almost like a road rage thing, but I
hadn't even done anything as far as I'd known. Finally I tapped my brakes
as a signal for whomever to back off. This really ticked them off because
she -- I could see a face in my rear view mirror -- she was so close
now -- bumped my rear bumper, right in traffic!

We were only moving about fifteen or twenty miles per hour due to the
traffic, but this crazy bitch was either drunk or high on something. I
decided to just ignore her because we were turning right in a minute to go
to the Sonic eat out, but as I turned, she was right tight to my bumper. I
still continued on and turned across the road and into Sonic -- all the
way across two two-lane roads -- and she followed us. I parked in a space
at Sonic and she pulled around into another space, but we figured maybe she
was headed there too as she didn't get out or anything, so we ordered, ate,
and prepared to leave.

As we pulled out, so did she, right behind us again. This time I'd had
enough. I stopped the car, jumped out and walked back to her car. Her
driver window was open.

I said, "What the fuck is wrong with you lady?"

She appeared all tweaked out to me and was shuffling around in her
pocketbook, then looked up at me and said, "I'll shoot you if you don't get
back."

I said, "Fine, I'm calling 911, don't you leave." I had her license number
and I called 911 on the cell phone. Within a minute there were three cop
cars surrounding us with automatic rifles out and pointing at all of
us. They called all of us out of the cars and kept their guns pointed at
all of us. One cop frisked me for weapons and asked me if I had any weapons
in the car. I said no and that he could look if he wanted to, which he
did. Then he asked me for my ID, then asked me what happened. I told him
the whole story.

Meanwhile another cop had Justin out on the other side doing the same
thing. After all this time I had forgotten that Justin was also my
bodyguard...and an undercover cop. After a few minutes they pulled the
girl, maybe in her early thirties, long dirty hair, definitely tweaked out
on something, out of the car and put her in handcuffs, then put her in the
back seat of one of the the police cars. The cop that had questioned me
came over and said we were free to go, but strongly warned me never to
confront somebody like that again unless I had a death wish. Apparently she
was armed, had some warrants, and I presumed from her actions, was high on
something. Both officers that had talked to us again reiterated to me how
important it was in the same situation, to sit tight, call 911, and just
wait. It wasn't worth dying to confront someone like that again. I promised
I wouldn't do it again. We hopped in the car and left the scene...in a
hurry!

It was when we were headed home I realized how much I was shaking. I looked
at Juss and could tell he had been a little shaken up, but I had just been
threatened by some bitch with a gun. I couldn't even speak; it was all I
could do to hold myself together to make it home.

After we got inside the house Juss knew how scared I was. I don't think he
connected the past with what had just happened, but my mind had. Even
though they were, I think, in no way connected, I was shaken to the bone
and in terrible shape. Memories of what Jeff and I had been through came
flooding back through my mind, gaining momentum and clouding my judgment by
the second as one built upon the other until reality was swept away by the
past. Juss put his arms around me and tried to calm me down, but I was way
beyond that point.

"Jeff...JEFF!"

"What?" he answered from upstairs.

"Get down here, Doug needs us all, now."

Juss got me to sit down on the couch. I was staring at the wall, still
shaking uncontrollably. Slowly I curled up into a ball as the realization
of what had happened began to sink in. Meanwhile Juss filled the others in
on what had taken place. All I heard was a bunch of babbling.

"Don, could you call your father and see what you can find out, I'm calling
our Dr. and see if he'll come over and give him a sedative to put him out
for a while. This will be too traumatic for him to handle; I think this
incident has triggered something about the incidents from the past that
have happened and his mind has made connections between them."

Later, after a long night's sleep, I found out that Jeff had called
Dr. Stahid, who was nice enough to come over right away. He had been there
when Jeff had been shot, when I sat day and night by his side, when I had
been traumatized by the shooting incident in our home, had stitched me up
from the cuts and wounds received from my self-inflicted abuse during the
period when I couldn't deal with being raped one night...he was always
there for both of us through everything, quietly being our shoulder to lean
on medically. This was just another event in a long list when he was always
there for us.

Apparently, the boys had carried me upstairs and put me in bed where doc
gave me a shot of something that put me out for most of the night.

As they were talking downstairs, Justin explained how the incident went
down, and doc convinced us that after a good night's sleep I would be a
little wobbly, probably need some attention from Justin, but should be all
right by the end of the day. He knew I was a pretty strong willed person
and could handle things like this in my own way. The phone rang and Don got
up and walked away for a moment to talk to his dad.

"Hi dad. What'd you find out?...yeah...she was?...no
kidding...good!...he'll be glad to hear that...he's going to be okay, the
doctor is here now. He gave him a sedative to make him sleep for the night
so he wouldn't keep mulling this over in his mind and try to connect it
with the past, but this is good news. Thanks dad for helping out so
quick. He and Justin are heading out of town to the coast for a week's
vacation tomorrow so that'll do him good. Okay...I'll let them know, love
you too, bye...oh, Jeff says love you too."

"Hey guys, good news, at least for Doug, and you too Jeff. This gal wasn't
connected with any gangs or any of the past problems, but she did have a
few warrants for some serious drug dealing. They found quite a bit of meth
and paraphernalia in her car, and something else that is a little scary;
apparently she had been on her cell phone most of the time she was
following you."

"I noticed she was on the phone all the time when she was behind us,"
Justin said.

Don continued, "She was calling her brothers, two of them, to come 'take
care' of the two of you guys because of the drugs. She was tweaked out as
you guys thought. As the cops were finishing up her brothers pulled up, saw
the cops cars and tried to take off, but they caught them after a short
chase. When they searched their car they found another major cache of meth,
paperwork, names, lists of dealers who owed them money, several guns, lots
of cash, and lots more paraphenalia. Seems you guys got caught in the
middle of quite a large meth ring that's been operating right under the
locals PD's noses. Now, dad's not very thrilled about how it went down and
he's glad everything worked out okay, but he's gonna' kick both your asses
if you ever walk up to a car like that again. I think the best thing is to
not say anything to Doug about all this and just let it rest until the
right time comes along and Justin can tell him about it.  Agreed? He also
wants us to be looking over our shoulders just in case she passed Doug's
plate number along to her brothers and they managed to call anyone else
before they were arrested."

Jeff looked down at the floor. "Just when things had quieted down
finally. Why did Doug do something stupid like that? Now we've got more
trouble to worry about. I can't be mad at him. He literally brought me back
from the dead and has saved my butt too many times for me to be upset, but
Justin, please don't let him do something like that again. I don't want to
lose him." There were tears in Jeff's eyes as he turned away, thinking
about who knows what.

"I promise I'll watch him better from now on. He just did that so fast and
unexpected it caught me off guard. He can be pretty focused when he wants
to, and fast."

Everyone agreed that it would be for the best and considered it
dropped. Justin would make sure that we didn't have the TV on or let him
see any newspapers before they left in the morning.

After a short "settling down period, everyone slowly relaxed, except
Justin, and wandered off to to bed,

When I woke up in the morning I had this huge headache, but couldn't
remember much of what had happened the night before. Justin gave me a few
pills the doctor had left, knowing I'd have a headache, that really
helped. I knew that today was the beginning of our vacation and started to
get excited about getting going.

"Hey Juss, what time is the car being delivered, I can't remember for some
reason."

"I think sometime around ten this morning. It's about eight now. I have
everything all down in the garage ready to load up and I've had a shower
already. Why don't you hop in the shower, maybe it'll make you feel a
little better."

"Good idea. Thanks for getting thing ready. I shouldn't have overslept like
that. I'll be ready shortly. What time are we planning on leaving? And
where are those things we got for Jeff and Don? I wanted to wrap them up."

"I already wrapped them and put a 'special' note on them from the both of
us. Now go get in the shower and relax, I've got it all covered."

I walked over to Juss, wrapped my arms around him and dropped my head on
his shoulder. He pulled me into him and held me protectively, warmly,
gently rubbing his thumb in circles at the base of my skull and around my
neck to help with the headache. He talked softly into my hair as he did so,
telling me how much fun we were going to have and how much he loved me. I
reacted by pulling him a little tighter as he massaged the tight spot at
the base of my skull, moving up and running his fingers through my
hair. Not only was my headache starting to go away, but his gentle massage
was putting me to sleep. I could sense his love, his tenderness through his
touch and it felt good. But it was time to take my shower, so I gave my
lover a sweet kiss and headed -- reluctantly -- to the shower, morning
glory and all.

"Cute tush," he mumbled as I felt a little breeze on my butt on my way past
him.

It wasn't long before we were on the road, the wind blowing in our hair,
headed for the California coast. I was glad we had been able to get the
convertible, and there was even room for us to sit together, as we were
now. Juss was driving as I still had a bit of a headache, but that was fine
with me as I was comfortably cuddled up to Juss with my head on his
shoulder, half asleep. I could vaguely hear people making comments as they
passed us and the occasional honk of the car horn, but I could care less. I
was happiest when I was close to my honey and for the first time since we
met we were together, just us, for a whole week on vacation.

"Hey babe," as I looked at Juss, "where do we stay tonight?"

"Every place we stay at is a small Bed & Breakfast that caters to Gays &
Lesbians. Tonight we'll be off the road by five o'clock at a little B&B out
in the country near the coast that has an excellent rating, pool and
jacuzzi...all the amenities. We should be there in about four hours. You
feeling better now?"

"Much better now. My headache is all gone and I feel great as long as I'm
with you. I like having you in charge of things. It feels good for a change
not to have to worry about details all the time...you do such a great job
dear."

"Thank you babe. Why don't you lay down on the seat and rest your head in
my lap, get comfortable for a while. Then we'll switch and you can drive
for a while. I have the nagivator on."

"That's a good name for that thing the way it keeps babbling on and
on. Laying down for a few sounds good though. You can run those sexy
fingers through my hair for a while."

"Love to."

So off the freeway we went and drove on a parallel road for an hour or so
with the wind blowing Justin's hair and Justin playing with my hair and me
blowing ...er...did I mention that Justin is a very good driver."

Soon we stopped at a corner gas station to fill up, grab some coffee,
stretch and change drivers. I could tell Justin was tired of driving and
needed the break, so with me driving now and Justin laying on the seat,
resting in my lap, off we went. I was following the navigator so the
driving was easy. It had cooled down some so I put the top up and pulled
Juss closer to warm him up a little. I had my hand up his shirt feeling his
six pack, rubbing his muscles, occasionally reaching down and rubbing his
half-hard member through his jeans.

I'm not such a good driver though and didn't plan on getting us killed the
first day out on our vacation, so I had to satisfy myself, and him, with
fooling around here and there just a little, tempting as it may be.

Eventually the headlights shone on the sign of the B&B as we pulled in and
parked. I had to shake Juss a little to wake him from his slumber. We
walked in and checked our reservation. After signing in we took our
overnight things into our room on the first floor and crashed on the bed
for a few minutes to rest after driving so far; following a short rest we
went to meet our hosts and learn the "ropes" of B&B travel. We found them
in the great room talking to a few other guests, couples of all ages, and
were immediately welcomed into their conversations and I was struck by the
sense of instant family and warmth, an unexpected and welcome sensation to
a couple of new travelers.

"Welcome to our home. I'm Dan and this is my partner, Ted."

"I'm Justin and this is my best half, Doug. We love your place, what we've
seen so far. The room is beautiful and the bed is very comfortable."

"We have a jacuzzi out in the center courtyard with the pool, drinks are
available there as well, the company is great, and evenings can also be
spent in the theatre room watching a movie. Breakfast is served at 0700 to
0900 off a menu, in the center court, and is included in the price of your
room. So enjoy our hospitality and if you have any questions please feel
free to ask."

"Thank you for your enthusiastic welcome. This is the first time we've
stayed at a Bed & Breakfast. Is there someplace close by to grab something
light for dinner?"

"We have some sandwiches prepared for you in the kitchen. Please help
yourself and just place the plastic utensils in the garbage when you're
done please."

"Wow, thanks. We're pretty hungry after a day of driving and only a few
stops."

"Okay. Hope to see you at the jacuzzi later then."

I thanked them as we headed for the kitchen to grab those sandwiches.

"This is really a nice place," I said to Juss as we walked towards the
kitchen. The hosts are very friendly and I love the atmosphere. I can't
wait until we get to our destination tomorrow -- an entire week in a
place like this. I hope the hosts are as nice as these guys."

"Me too. It was rated very high in the Damron Book of gay travel. It's
right on the beach with no traffic...perfect."

I reached for his hand and held it as we grabbed the sandwiches and headed
for the room. On the way we swung by the pool and jacuzzi to check them out
and see if there was anyone else there. There was one other couple about
our age in the jacuzzi and we decided to join them, if they were still
there after changing into our suits. We said we'd join them in a few if
they didn't mind after we finished our sandwiches and went and changed.

They both looked at each other, then back at us and laughed. "You don't
need to change into anything. These gay B&B's are totally clothes
optional." They stood up and sure enough, clothing was optional, and very
nice.

"Ummmmm....okay. Sounds good to me, okay with you Juss?"

"Works for me babe."

The guys told us there was a list of rules on the wall right by the air
switch, and by the way, would we mind turning it all the way around again
while we read the rules.

"No worries guys."

After we read the rules for the pool and jacuzzi it boiled down to, 1)No
Sex in the Pool, and 2)No Sex in the Jacuzzi. We could deal with that. Our
room was just off the pool area, a nicely landscaped, rectangular area
surrounded by custom rooms with unique entrances, making each room look
like a tropical hut. The entrances came out almost to the pool area,
surround by a sandy beach with more landscaping lit by subtle lighting from
underneath. The whole effect was that of a Hawaiian beach at night minus
the luau, apparently held on Saturday night we found out later.

We finished our sandwiches, stripped down -- slowly -- to our new
thongs and moved in close to each other...ending up in a sensuous, slow
kiss; it was a long, stimulating kiss, like normal, and like usual, we
found ourselves tight together with full blown hardons. We decided to grab
our clothes and drop them in the room, leave everything else to give us a
chance to cool off before puttin' on a show in front of strangers. After a
short time in the room...watching one of those talk shows...we took off our
thongs, wrapped the supplied pool towels around us and went back out to the
jacuzzi. The two guys were still there so we decided to join them for a few
minutes. Neither of us liked the water too hot, having gotten used to the
grotto of our own pool, so we didn't plan on staying long.

We dropped our towels and stepped into the jacuzzi. At first it felt so hot
we could hardly sit down, but as we got used to it we started to relax.

I introduced us. "Hi, I'm Doug and this is my partner Justin."

"Nice to meet you guys," one guys responded, rising up to shake hands,
giving us a look at his sculpted chest and abs, trailing down to a trim
waist -- at least that's what I was looking at -- covered by a bunch of
bubbles at the waterline...I'm Jake and this is my partner Tom -- and yes
guys with the wandering eyes, same shape as I am in case you were
wondering."

"Sorry about that bro. We're not used to being around too many other
couples other than my bro and his lover that we live with."

"It's no problem, besides, neither of you are slouches either. Justin there
works out at something pretty hard and you obviously take good care of
yourself. And your thong show didn't leave anything to the
imagination...nice packages!"

"You're going to embarrass us if you keep it up. How long have you been
together?"

"We're celebrating our fifth anniversary this week with this vacation. And
you?"

"This is our first trip together. We've been together for, let's
see...about six months or so. We just got engaged at Christmas, showing
them our rings. We haven't planned where or when we'll get married
yet. Like I said, this is our first trip together and first chance to spend
time away from friends, school and work."

"That's great. We're happy for both of you. You look like a cute couple and
definitely in love...that's obvious. We wish you all the best. Where are
you headed from here?"

"Up the coast tomorrow to another B&B just south of San Jose for the rest
of the week on the beach. We're really looking forward to some R&R for the
week. What are you guys doing for your anniversary?"

"We're going farther up the coast, Monterey Bay for the week of
sightseeing...if we get out of the room."

"Us too."

We all laughed. It seems as though we hit it off real well with Jake and
Tom. They were fun to talk to and told us what it was like to be in a long
term relationship and some of the things to look out for...like how to
handle money, bills, cars, even how to handle friends. They were a great
help and we asked them a lot of questions. After a while though we had to
beg out of the conversation as the combination of heat and prune hands was
finally getting to both of us, as it was the other guys too.

After saying good night we rinsed off under the shower and then headed into
our room for the night. We planned on getting on the road early, so I
wanted to get to bed. The heat has made us both tired to after brushing our
teeth and washing up we jumped into the most comfortable bed we ever slept
in.

I snuggled up to Justin and wrapped my arm around him, kissed him above the
ear and told him how much I loved him. He turn his head backwards, kissed
me and did the same.

As we lay there Justin quietly started talking, asking a few questions. I
wasn't sure if I was up for talking, but this was the reason we came on
this trip, to get to know each other better, so I raised myself up on my
elbow as he rolled over onto his back. I placed my hand on his chest and
gently rubbed it as he asked me a few questions.

"You've never really told me much about your family. I don't even know if
you have any parents or not."

"I'm sorry dear. Yes, I do have parents. I grew up on a farm back in New
England where my grandparents live next to us. It's quite typical in New
England that families don't move far from each other, as evidenced by my
brothers and sisters, except for a couple. I come from a large family and
have four brothers and three sisters, practically a whole school class by
itself. Most of them still live with a few miles of my parents, again
typical of New England family tradition. I'm the 'Black Sheep' of the
family by moving away because I wanted to see more of the world than just
my hometown. By then I'd already been cross country one time camping with a
friend to deliver a car and visit my uncle who lived in California. We took
over two weeks to do the camping trip, visiting everyplace we could since
the whole trip was paid for by the customer. I got to spend some time with
my uncle, who was a nut case and I loved every minute of it. I think There
was a little of him in me, except for the smoking and the cancer, from
which he died of shortly thereafter.

After that trip I got back and pretty much left home. My father and I have
never really gotten along. I guess it's a case of seeing eye to eye on
things. I'd been out of the home, seen bigger and better things now and
realized that staying near home was a dead end for me. So I moved to the
next town for a few years and worked a few jobs there before finally moving
out west and meeting up with Jeff."

"Jeez, that's a lot right there to think about. How about now. Do you get
along with your family?"

"Oh yeah. We've always been very close. If one of us gets hurt or in
trouble all of us are right there to help. It's not a matter of any one of
us hating one another or anything; that's something else about our family
that's sort of typical of Vermonters in particular, and that's that they
are not very vocal about things. Short on words and explanations and long
on expectations. Read my mind type of thing. It's like, 'you know I love
you, why do I have to say it?' sort of thinking. It makes it hard to
communicate, especially for me because I am very open and demonstrative
about my affection and thoughts. If I love someone, I tell them because I
believe they need to know how I feel. How would you feel if I never told
you I love you, or held your hand? You'd probably question whether I really
did love you. Sooner or later you might leave, or we'd be fighting about
it...somehow it would manifest itself. Well, that's how I grew up and
that's how they still are. Even when I go back to visit I find it hard to
be me because they make it so awkward to express the real me."

"Oh babe, you'll never have that problem with me. I love to touch and feel,
and in turn to be touched, and felt, and kissed, and told how much you love
me...every day, every hour, every minute...as often as you want to. I love
the attention you shower on me and I love to shower it right back on you
because I was raised in a loving, caring home where my parents always told
me how much they loved me, and how proud they were of me all the time. Just
the opposite of the way you were brought up. I love you so much and I'll
make up every one of those 'I love you's' that you missed while we're alive
together, starting now. I LOVE YOU!"

Juss rolled up on his side, put his hand with those long, slender fingers
gently behind my head and pulled me towards him. Our lips locked together
in a gentle embrace as tongues plied for space. There was no dominance
going on...I wanted him to take me, to dominate me in every way that night,
and in many ways, for the rest of my life. I had been tired of fighting
alone...now I had someone to stand beside me and I was ready to step aside
and let him take over half of the job.

It felt good to release all of that to someone who really cared enough
about me to help change how I felt about myself. I had a feeling that this
was going to be an excellent vacation and couldn't wait for tomorrow, and
the next day, and the day following that..."

---------------------------------------------------------

Well, the guys are finally off on vacation and starting to get to really
know one another. This is going to be an exciting trip as I keep getting
more and more feedback from my readers who are enjoying the story. Thanks
to everyone who contributed advice, suggestions and thoughts for this
story.

Barry