Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 06:12:44 -0800 (PST) From: Willie Hewes Subject: the learning years (5) Hi fans. Here's episode 5, unfortunately without the promised sex. (My characters seem to be developing a will of their own, should I worry?) I'll try harder next week. Thanks for writing me all, you've been a real inspiration. (what sarcasm?) Please feel free to write me some more if you like my story, or if you have any suggestions to make. williehewes@yahoo.com http://www.geocities.com/willie_hewes __________________________________________________ Part 5 On a Thursday morning, Charlie called me to ask if I had any lectures that day. "No," I answered, "We don't really start 'till next week." "I know," he admitted. "So, ah, you wanna come to town? We could, you know, go shopping, or see a movie. Whatever you want. I mean, if you want to." Shopping with Charlie was fun; he knew where all the weird little shops were, and the second hand bookshops. We shared a bag of cookie-crumbs with syrup, while I tried to determine if people were looking at us. Did we look like just two young men shopping, or could they see there was something going on? I also wondered if Charlie was in love too. I looked at him. He was sucking the syrup from his fingers, looked up at me and smiled. It made me feel all tingly. I couldn't expect him to be as mad about him as I was about him. But he had called me twice already! I had thought about him all the time, and being with him was even better. I felt like doing something stupid, like starting to sing or dance, or jumping into the canal. I guess you could say I was in love, all right. We were in HEMA, looking at stuffed animals when Charlie suddenly whispered; "Hey, Eddy, kiss me." I put a little stuffed zebra back with his friends. "What?" "Kiss me. Grab me by the throat and kissed me. Come on." He wasn't even facing me. I looked around at the other shoppers. No one could hear what we were talking about. "Here? Are you nuts?" "Yeah, just do it, man." He pretended to be looking at a little duckling, but his eyes were on me all the time. "Charlie! Stop it, we'll get arrested!" He laughed. "Eddy, darling, these are the nineties, sodomy is not a crime anymore." "Sodomy?" He had already won me over though. Kissing in the middle of a department store sounded really hot, crazy as it was. Or maybe because it was crazy. I started to count down. "Come on, who cares?" three... "What's the worst they can do," two... "Kick us out? So what?" one... I grabbed the lapels of his leather coat and kissed him full on the mouth. Just like that. It surprises me even now. And it wasn't some little goodnight kiss either; it was a quick, but deep, full-scale French-kiss. I let go and looked around. Some people were staring at us. Charlie ignored them; he carefully examined his stuffed duckling. A clump of girls giggled. I felt embarrassed, but strangely satisfied. I was as red as a beetroot, and smiling. "Come, let's go." I pulled Charlie's sleeve, but we couldn't run right away. He insisted on buying the duck he was holding for me, as a "souvenir". It was very cute, bright yellow and white, with glass eyes. I still have it here with me. *** We went shopping again on Saturday. I bought a new pair of jeans, because Charlie said it "shows off your bottom." In the afternoon, we went to see "American Pie". Dumb film, but sitting thigh to thigh with Charlie in the dark was more than worth the money. Unfortunately, I had promised my mom to be home for dinner, so I couldn't stay. "See you again soon," he said. "I hope so," I answered. School started that Monday. Or, college, rather, but the difference did not seem as big as promised. Oh well. We had a lot of time off "to prepare for the lectures", and that was something I could get used to. What did worry me a bit was that Tish, the girl who was after me during the introduction-week, was in my group. I didn't even know she was doing English! She told me not to worry, though. She actually took me apart to tell me she had understood my "hint", and would try to forget about me. What hint, I wondered. Oh, me sneaking away from that pub-crawl. I wondered if I should tell Tish I was gay. Maybe she'd tell the others. Maybe they'd find out anyway. I was saved from these contemplations by Charlie. He had been waiting for me outside the lecture room. I wondered how he knew where I was; the Biologists were never even in this building. He took care not to let anyone know about us, and was very polite, which didn't suit him well. "Hello Eduard," he said. "Hello Charles." "I was wondering, Eduard, if you might care to come with me this afternoon. We could have dinner together." After a heartbeat pause, he added: "the boys are out tonight." I called my mother from a phone booth, to tell her I was going to have dinner with people from the English department, so we could get to know each other a little. After I hung up, Charlie said in his sexy lowered voice, "You're very sexy when you're lying, you know that?" "Yes? And you're very sexy when you talk like that." "Is that so," he continued, "well, maybe I should always talk like this, then." "Maybe not," I gasped, leaning against the phone booth. "Why not?" "Cause if you do, I'll turn into a sex-crazy maniac and rip the clothes from your back right here and now." He smiled. "I see," he said in his normal voice, "well, we wouldn't want that, would we?" I shook my head, slowly regaining control of my body. This was getting serious. Very serious. My erection was getting painful by the time we arrived at his place. We had been to the corner-shop to buy our dinner, and he was to cook for the two of us. There was no one else at home. From the time we entered the living room, time seemed to slow down. Perhaps I was experiencing what you call a deja vu, but I don't think so. It wasn't like I had already seen it all before, I just knew it was going to happen before it did. We came in, and put the groceries on the table in front of the window. Charlie slipped out of his coat and threw it onto the couch. I looked at it, and knew I was going to put it on. Charlie was now going to excuse himself to go to the toilet. As soon as he was gone, I started to undress myself. I can undress very quickly, and was stripped to the waste before I realised what I was doing. When he came back in, I would be wearing nothing except his leather coat. What kind of devil put that idea into my head? The excitement was almost choking me. I was now naked except for my socks, and quickly put on his coat. The silky lining felt like a caress against my naked skin, the rough leather like a bear hug. There were only four buttons, and I was still closing the last one when I heard Charlie flush. I thought of stains in the lining of his coat. I thought of his face as he came in. And then I thought of nothing, and just waited for him to come in.