Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2015 11:56:11 -0500 From: Jay Howard Subject: ben and zach ch13 The usual disclaimer applies here, If you don't like stories about gay people having sex or if you're not old enough to read them please don't read any further. This story is a work of fiction if there's any similarities anyone or another story, it is a coincidence and not done on purpose. Don't forget to donate to Nifty in order to keep it up and running because it is a great site and it would be really shitty to lose it. Enjoy and thanks for reading. If you would like to send me feedback on the story or to just tell me you like/read it send me an email to j.j_howard@aol.com. I read them all. I'm sorry for the long wait between chapters, but things are a little less hectic in my life and now I have more time to write. This one is another heavy one and it focuses on the story more than sex. Don't worry, that doesn't mean the sex is gone from the story all together. I also wanted to get your opinions on a new story featuring Benny's cousin Ian. I will make it so you don't have to read Ben and Zach to understand it. I've really been toying around with the idea and I have a few drafts worked up. Just let me know what you guy's (or girls) think. This hurts more than the breakup. Did he want to get back with her the entire time? Is this the real reason he broke up with me? I can't be mad at him for moving on but this really makes me wonder if he was even over her. If it is I feel really stupid for believing him. "Is everything ok?" Brett asks me. "I just have a headache that's all." I lie. Knowing Brett, if I told him he would want to go talk to Zach and it would only make things worse. When we're done gassing up the jeep and buying snacks to last the rest of the trip we leave with Landon driving. The rest of the of the car ride is filled with really bad singing and some laughs, but in the back of my mind all I can picture is Zach and Lisa. Tony's grandparents don't live that far from me so we go to drop him off first. We pull up and his grandmother is in the yard waiting. "It's about time!" She says, giving him a big hug. "Hi Gram." Tony says. "Dinner will be done shortly. I made your favorite." She tells Tony. "Great. I missed your cooking." He says. "Who are your friends?" She asks. "This is Benny, Landon and Brett." He tells her. "Thank you for letting Tony ride along with you." She says. "It's not a problem really." I say. "Yeah, Ben is the reason he missed his flight after all." Brett laughs. I shoot him a dirty look and he gets the hint. "Sorry." He says. "Would you like to come in for a cold drink or something to eat?" She asks. "No thank you, we should get going." I say. "Well, maybe next time." She says. "Thanks again for the ride." Tony says. "No problem." I say. We get back in the Jeep and leave. When we get to my house Brett and Landon move their bags to Landon's truck they go home. I go inside and see my dad, Liam and Todd are working on dinner. "Hey guys." I say, dropping my bags. "Bunny you're home!" Liam jumps off the step stool next to dad and runs over to me. I pick him up and give him a big hug. "Hey buddy. Did you have fun at the beach today?" I ask him. "Yeah, Todd fell asleep and we buried him in the sand." He laughs. "I'm still finding sand in places." Todd adds. "Where is everyone?" I ask. "Your mother and the girls are out getting something for desert and Travis is on a date." Dad says. "I'm gonna drop my stuff in my room and get cleaned up, then I'll help finish dinner." I say. "Sure." Dad says. I go down to my room and take a quick shower. I go to my closet to get some sweats to put on and the first thing I see is a few of Zach's shirts. I know he's at work so now's the perfect time to return them. I take a shopping bag from the bottom of the closet and go around the room and collect everything of his including the stuff he bought me except the reading tablet. I put in cash to pay him back. When everything's together, I take it and go upstairs. "Where are you going?" Dad asks me. "Just getting rid of stuff I don't need anymore." I tell him. I walk next door and to the back of the house. I leave the bag on the steps and turn to head back home when I hear a car pulling up. "Fuck." I say to myself. I look up and see Zach getting out of his Mustang and walking toward me. He looks so hot in his work clothes. The first thought in my head is to grab him and pull him inside and right in his bedroom but then I picture Lisa with that stupid smile on her face. "Hey." He says. "I was just dropping off your stuff." I tell him. "Oh, do you want to come in so we can talk?" "There's nothing to talk about." "Yes, there is..." He starts. "The picture did all the talking and I heard it loud and clear." I say. "Ben, please just come inside." "Is there a reason you couldn't have told me the truth when we were in your kitchen? Or at least text me before I see it all over Facebook?" "Yes, but I can't tell you... Not yet." "What's the matter? Can't think of a good lie to tell me?" "Babe..." He steps toward me and puts his hand on my waist. I push him back almost knocking him over. "Don't touch me!" I say loudly. "Please you have to trust me on this." "I did trust you when you said you'd tell me the truth and never hurt me." "I..." "Don't say anything else, please. It's just going to make things worse. I hope you're happy with Lisa or whoever you end up with." "I want to end up with you." I can feel my eyes starting to water. I don't want to cry in front of him so I turn to go home. He grabs me, spins me around and kisses me. I push him away and slap him hard across the face. When he lets go I run across the yard and inside my house passing my mom and sisters. I go down to my room and slam the door shut. Twenty minutes pass and there's a knock on the door. "Ben, can we come in?" Mom asks on the other side. "Yeah, come in." I answer. The door opens and she comes in followed by my dad. He has a plate of food with him. "We thought you'd want to eat alone." Dad says. "Thanks." I take the plate and set it down on the bedside table. "Ben, I think you know what want to talk to you about." Mom starts. "Yeah, I'm sorry." "We're not the ones you should be apologizing to. You didn't just slap him you busted his lip open." Dad says. Fuck, I didn't know I hit him that hard. I just wanted to get him to let me leave. "We didn't raise you to put your hands on people no matter how mad you are at them." Mom says. "I know. I'll apologize to him." I tell them. "Good. We want to talk about one more thing." Dad says. I know exactly what they're talking about and I feel my face get hot. I pull my sweatshirt up a little and cover my neck. "Now there's nothing wrong with a little fun, we just don't want you to do something that you might regret in the future." Dad says. "I get what you two are saying." I say. "I bet you have guys lined up for a chance to date you." Dad says. "Neil!" Mom says, tapping his arm. "What? He's got my looks and I was practically beating the girls away with a stick." He says. "Whatever you say honey." Mom rolls her eyes. "I have one in mind but I want to take it slow. "That's probably a good idea." Mom says. "Goodnight Ben we'll see you tomorrow." Dad says. "Goodnight love you guys." I say. "Love you too sweetie." Mom says. They go upstairs and I take grab my phone. I text Zach and tell him how sorry I am about slapping him and hurting his lip. I know I should say it in person, but I don't think I can see him right now. A few minutes later I get one back saying `Don't worry, I deserved it.' I don't know what to say back so I don't say anything. I just put my phone away and go to bed feeling like crap. Zach's Point of View. I hate this. If only I could tell him the truth, he would understand that I never meant to hurt him. He'll know that I'm just a chicken shit instead. Then again, that might be worse. I feel like shit and there's no way to fix it. "Zach are you up?" Dad asks on the other side of the door. "No." I answer. "Zach are you up?" Dad asks knocking on the door. "No." I say. The door opens and he comes in. "Zach, I've tried to give your space with this whole breakup but this has been going on long enough. I'm not going to put up with your attitude. It's really time to get up and move on. I know it sucks but you have responsibilities like cleaning this room for starters. It looks like a bomb went off in here." "Just shut the door so you don't have to see it, there problem solved. Is there anything else you need?" "Yeah, you have a job in case you forgot." "Well I quit." I turn the other way and cover my head with my blanket. "Nice try." He grabs the blanket and whips it off me leaving me in my underwear. "Get out of bed now and get downstairs. You might want to put on pants first." He turns and leaves the room taking my blanket with him. I get up, go in the bathroom and look in the mirror. I look like shit, my hairs a mess, I haven't shaved in days and I have huge dark circles under my eyes from not sleeping. Dad's right I need to get over this. I take my hair trimmers and trim it a little so it's easier to shave. When that's all done, I shave the rest off before getting in the shower. I scrub the three days' worth of stink off me and wash my hair twice then get out. I throw on some shorts and go downstairs to the kitchen. I sit down at the counter. "Zach, I know something is bothering you and it's not the break up. Is there anything you want to talk to me about?" Dad asks. I look at his face and I can tell he's worried about me. I just can't bring myself to tell him what's really going on. He'll be so disappointed in me and I don't think I can handle it right now. "No dad, there's nothing else going on." I say. The microwave dings and he takes out a plate and sets it in front of me. Its's chicken parmasean and garlic bread. "It tastes better fresh, but I hope you still like it." He says. "I don't mind. Where did you order from?" I ask. "I made it myself." He says. "No way really?" "Yeah, I've been taking cooking lessons during my lunch breaks." I cut off a piece of chicken and take a bite. It's surprisingly good and a lot better than what we're used to. "Wow dad this is amazing." I say. "I'm glad you like it. Tonight I was thinking meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes." "That sounds good to me." I say. "Good, I'll be back in a couple hours. There's a list of things I want done on the fridge." He says. "Ok." He grabs his keys and goes to the door. "Hey Dad" "Yeah?" "I'm sorry for acting like an asshole. I love you." "I love you too." He says and leaves out the door. I finish my food and rinse them off before loading them into the dishwasher. I grab the list of chores from the fridge and get to work. I do all the sweeping, dusting and vacuuming for the downstairs, then move up to my bedroom and bathroom. When that's all done with I take all the trash and recycling from the kitchen to the garage. I open the garage door to drag the trash cans to the end of the driveway and see a black car pulling up. The driver's door opens and Natalie steps out. "Whoa, what are you doing here?" I ask, walking to her. "Daddy called me and told me you were going through some stuff." "Oh." "Yeah, I was getting a little worried since you haven't called me in a few days. Do you want to talk about it?" "Come on, let's go inside first." I say. We go inside and go into the living room and sit on the couch. "So what's going on?" She asks. "It's just feels like everything is going wrong for me and I just didn't know how to deal with it." I tell her. "Well, start from the beginning. Why did you break up with Benny?" "We started arguing about me telling my friends, some personal stuff. When he told me it bothered him I thought he was talking about us not being public. The more he tried to get me to listen to him the more I got mad. I told him if he wasn't happy we should just end it all together." I say. "So what he was really trying to say was he was worried about what they would say when we do come out as a couple?" She asks. "Yeah, I was just too stupid to understand." I answer. "Why did you feel the need to tell your friends that?" She asks. "Well a few days before that we were hanging out and Todd's name came up. They were talking about how he might be gay and how fucked up it was that he was in the locker room. I got freaked out and told them about my new girlfriend and how I couldn't keep her off me." Hearing the words out loud makes it worse. I fucking hate myself for not sticking up for my best friend. He's been there for a lot since I moved here and I couldn't stick up for him once. "To make things worse, Lisa went and started telling people we're back together and posted a pic of her half naked on my bed. So now Ben thinks I was cheating on him with her." I continue. "How did that even happen?" She asks. "I'll explain." XXXXX The day after the break up... XXXXXX "Zach I'll be back by 11:00. I'm going out for drinks with a client. Just call me if you need anything." Dad says. "Ok dad." I say, not looking up from the month old OK! magazine I'm looking through. "Don't forget to walk Sam." He tells me. "I won't." I say. He leaves and I throw the magazine on the coffee table. I slip on my flip flops and grab Sam's leash. He's already at the door wagging his tail. I hook him up and we leave. He goes to run towards Ben's yard, but I stop him. "No buddy. We're going the other way tonight." I say. He looks disappointed, but he quickly forgets about it. We walk for a good thirty minutes before we head home. Coming up the driveway, I see someone waiting at the back door. "Ben?" I ask. "Ugh, no." A bitchy voice says. I know that voice. I get closer and see it's Lisa. She's standing there with her arms crossed. "What are you doing here?" I ask. "I just stopped by to talk." She answers. "I don't think we have anything to talk about." I say. The look on her face tells me that she isn't going to just leave. I walk past her and unlock my door. "Make it quick." I say. I unhook Sam and he runs off towards his water dish. I go to the fridge and take out two waters and some leftovers from my lunch the day before. "Do you want any?" I ask trying to be polite. "No." "What do you need to talk to me about?" I ask. I take a big bite of my meatball sub. "I'm not sure how to..." She stops and she runs out of the room covering her mouth. "Lisa, are you ok?" I ask. I follow her into the half bath off the kitchen, she's kneeling in front of the toilet throwing up. I don't know what else to do so I grab a wet wash cloth and put it on the back of her neck like my parents do to me when I'm sick. "I'm sorry." She says. "Don't be sorry. Are you sick?" "It's the food, the smell got to me." She says. "What?" I ask confused. "It happens a lot when you're pregnant." She says. "You're pregnant?" I ask shocked. "Yeah." "Are you sure? I mean, did you take a test?" "Yeah, I took like ten." She says. "Holy shit." I can't believe this is really happening. I start to feel sick myself so I put the washcloth on my own neck. "Well, did you go to the doctors? Are you healthy?" I ask. "Not yet I wanted to tell you first. I have an appointment Monday." "Do you want me to go with you?" "Would you?" "Of course I will." I help her stand and notice she has thrown up on her dress. "Come on, let's get you some clean clothes." I say. We go upstairs to my room and I grab her the first thing I can find an oversized sweatshirt. "Thanks." She drops her dress and she's not wearing underwear or a bra. Her stomach is sticking out a little so she must be at least a few months along. I couldn't help but see her breasts are a little bigger than I remember. I feel myself getting a little turned on. I turn around and face the other way, giving her some privacy. "It's not like you haven't seen it before." She says. She comes up behind me and goes to slide her hand in the front of my shorts. "It looks like you miss me." She says. "Don't you think we've done enough already?" I ask, moving away. "Fine. Can I have something to wear on the bottom?" "Yeah, hold on." I go to my closet in my tv room and grab her a pair of sweats and a water from my mini fridge. When I get back she has her phone out texting. "Who are you texting?" I ask. "My mom she's wondering why I'm not home from work yet." "Here's some pants and a water to rinse out your mouth." "Thanks baby." "Please don't call me that I'm not your baby." "I'm sorry." She covers her face with her hands and starts to cry. "It's just being in your room again and... " I sit on the bed and put my arm around her. She rests her head on my shoulder and cries. I'm scared out of my mind and happy at the same time. I've always wanted to be a dad but not this early and not with Lisa. "It's ok, we're going to do this together." I tell her. When she's calmed down enough, we make plans to meet at her doctors. Her appointment is the same time as my lunch break so it works out. "Thank you Zach. I'm sorry about all of this." She says, "It's not anyone's fault. It just happened, probably when you were switching birth control or something." I say. "That must be what happened. I should get going, my mom is pissed that I'm not back." "Ok, call me if you need anything." I say. "I will." She gets up and slips the sweatpants I gave her on. She takes her dress and leaves the room. I put my food in the fridge not having much of an appetite anymore and go straight to bed. I just lay on my back and stare at the ceiling for about three hours thinking about the shit storm happening around me. I take a Melatonin to help me sleep and it does the trick. Back to today. "I guess she wasn't really texting her mom she was posting the picture." I say. "That little bitch." Natalie says. "Nat calm down." "She probably got pregnant on purpose to try to keep you or something." "She's not that evil." I say. "Well, I think she is, but that's not important right now. You said she had a doctor's appointment what did they say?" "Well, she's far enough to know it's a girl and she's almost five months." I tell her. "I'm so excited, I'm going to be an auntie." "I don't know what to feel. I'm so happy and excited, but at the same time I've never been so scared in my life." She moves next to me and gives me a hug. "Don't worry little brother, we'll get everything figured out." "Thanks Nat." We sit and talk until dad comes home, then we help with dinner. Dad does an amazing job just like with the chicken and when we're done eating we watch tv for a little before I call it a night. I wake up to the sound of arguing coming from downstairs. I get out of bed and stick my head out of the door. Natalie is doing the same from her room. "Mom's home." She tells me. "Fuck." I say. I close the door and look at the clock. I have to be to work soon and maybe leaving a little early is a good idea.