Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2023 19:17:00 +0000 (UTC)
From: "austintc@aol.com" <austintc@aol.com>
Subject: Carter and The Biker Boy, Chapter 40

The following story is purely fiction involving fictional individuals of
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Carter and the Biker Boy

Chapter 40

I felt as if my entire world was crashing down around me. The news that
my boyfriend might have to move to Colorado in the very near future came
as such as surprise to me that I still couldn't believe the news that
he'd just told me.

The tears came shortly after his unspoken words, affirming the likelihood
of the move.

"Babe, please don't cry. Nothing is written in stone yet. Mom still has
to agree to the move. She loves it here, is doing well at her job, and we
found out that she just got a huge promotion at work as well. And as much
as I loved Colorado -- trust me, you would love it too -- one thing is
missing: You."

He held me tightly now, kissing away my tears. Then he reassured me that
although his dad was all excited about the possible job promotion and
all, the work he'd done to mend his relationship with his mom was built
on the idea that they would not move from Loves Park.

"I just can't imagine my life without you in it." I told him, trying
to get a hold of my emotions which were spiraling almost out of control.
"It would be so difficult not being able to see you, to hug you, kiss
you, and hold you against me." Parker nodded his head in agreement.

"Babe, I didn't want to tell you, because my hope is that it doesn't
happen, obviously. Dad is keenly aware that the cost of living is much
higher in Colorado. Yes, the mountains are so very nice. But there's no
way we'd be able to have as nice of a house as we have here. We'd have
to rely on my mom finding a good job as well just to have something close
to what we have here. Ultimately though, it comes down to whatever my dad
wants to do."

"How soon does he have to make a decision?" I asked, choking out the
words that didn't want to come out.

"A couple of weeks, actually. Thank goodness for that. Crazy thing is
that he hasn't even gotten the written job offer yet. Supposedly it's
just Jerry's words. So let's just hope and pray it doesn't happen,
okay? Let's be happy. We have the rest of the summer to have fun
together. I feel that and know it's going to happen that way. Trust me,
babe. Okay?" He kissed me long and hard, his tongue chasing my tongue.
In mere seconds we were both hard again. This time he pulled me on top of
him, encouraging me to take charge, to get what I wanted.

When we finally finished, we were both spent. We took a hot shower
together, holding each other as Harry's Stone Scented body soap washed
away the remnants of our passion. We dried off and realized that we were
quite starved. I ordered a pizza to be delivered, and about a half hour
later we were watching Netflix and eating our pizza.

"Oh, I nearly forgot. I got something for you." Parker handed me the
white plastic shopping bag and inside there was a matching CSU baseball
cap, as well as a gray tee shirt with a drawing of some mountains and a
logo that read "Rocky Mountain National Park" with the initials of
RMNP. I loved both gifts, and we kissed again, almost to the point where
if we kissed any longer we'd have to head back to my bedroom.

"And since SOMEONE has a birthday coming up in a week, I got you
something little that I hope you like." He handed me a card with the
Starbucks logo on the outside. I'd never been to Starbucks since I
really didn't like coffee. "We visited Starbucks in Fort Collins and I
am like totally HOOKED on their drinks! Oh my gosh Carter, we HAVE to go
to the one here. Open it up!"

Inside was a forty dollar gift card for Starbucks.

"Thank you?!" I said tentatively, as I wasn't sure if I'd like
anything from there. But since it was from Parker, and since he liked
Starbucks, I'd definitely have to give it a try, right?
"So do you have any plans for your birthday?" Parker asked.

"To be honest, I haven't even thought about it." I replied, suddenly
realizing that June thirtieth was this coming Friday, and Parker's
birthday was on the third of July. We would turn sixteen three days
apart.

"How could you NOT think about it? Babe, we can get our driver's
licenses in a couple of weeks! Do you know how much fun we're going to
be able to have after that? No more waiting for pizza delivery. No more
riding the bus. No more waiting to be picked up. And no more riding our
bikes to the park!"

He was right. I'd honestly forgotten, with all of the things going on.
But then the reality of us only having one car, and probably no way Mom
could afford a car, meant that I'd have to be at the mercy of Mom
needing the car. Unless of course Parker was going to get a car, which
suddenly I found out was going to happen.

"So my dad did tell me that since I got decent grades he was going to
get me a car! A car! Babe, this is huge for us!"

My sullen mood had now shifted into a much better frame of mind. The idea
that we'd be able to enjoy the freedom of being on the road and driving
places would be huge.
We had just finished the season one finale of "Heartstopper" when I
heard the front door open. Mom and John had returned from their date.

"Hola mis amores, hemos regresados" Mom greeted us as she walked in the
front door.

"Hi guys! Welcome home, Parker. How was your trip to Colorado?" John
asked as we both shook his hand after giving Mom a hug.

"It was good, Mr. Olson. But it's good to be back here in Illinois."
Parker respectively responded to John's question. I knew what was coming
next.

"Parker, as long as we're not at school, please call me John, okay?"
Parker blushed, smiled, and responded by tentatively saying okay, he
would.

Mom grabbed Parker and took him into the kitchen as John and I talked
about what we'd be doing this week at the house. The plan was to get the
kitchen cabinets installed so the countertop company could install the
countertops after the Fourth unless we could get them done before
Wednesday of the upcoming week. I agreed that I'd be willing to work
later on the house tomorrow and Tuesday if it meant that we'd get the
kitchen finished before the Fourth.

We were still on track to finish the house by the end of July. Once the
kitchen and bathroom were finished, then the flooring could go in. We
still had a lot to do but were definitely making good progress.

Mom and Parker came back into the living room and joined our conversation
about the house.

"Um, John, uh, if you guys need help with the house, I'd be willing to
help you out. I don't know a lot about working on houses, but I have a
desire to learn and especially if it helped you guys finish ahead of
schedule, I'd be willing to help." Parker surprised me with his offer.

"Hey, sure, Parker. I'm sure Carter wouldn't mind your help. And
judging by your work ethic, I think you guys would work good together.
Just ask your parents if they're okay with it and I'm good with it." I
was excited to hear this news and was surprised that Parker offered.

 Of course Parker's parents had no problem with him helping. They felt
it was better that he learn something instead of sitting around doing
nothing but playing video games all day while they were at work. When we
talked about it on our early morning run with T, I was surprised to hear
T offer his time to help as well.

The transformation of Big Tony from Big T to Lean Tony was rather
amazing. From the time I'd met him in August to now -- ten months --
he'd gone from being grossly overweight to losing close to eighty
pounds. He'd gone from not being able to walk up the bleachers at school
to being able to join us on our morning runs, lowering his times each
week. And now he was willing to help us work at the house. Even his aunt
had been amazed at how he got his life together after his uncle passed
away.

What was even more amazing and unbelievable to me was that he credited
our friendship as being the sole reason he pulled himself together and
was on the path to making something out of his young life. The notion
that he credited me with helping him almost brings me to tears at the
very thought of it. Yes, I truly am thankful for his friendship.

With the help of Parker and LT (as Big Tony is now known), we finished
installing the kitchen cabinets late Tuesday night. They actually got the
wood trim stained and finished as well. Wednesday we all worked on
painting the ceiling and walls in the bedrooms and hallways while the
countertop installers did their work in the kitchen. The house was
beginning to take shape, and I could now see John's vision of how the
renovation was progressing, and how the house was going to look once it
was done. It makes me wonder why he doesn't do this type of work full
time. He definitely has talent that reaches beyond the classroom.

By Thursday night, we'd painted all of the interior rooms of the house.
Since we had finished the painting and kitchen cabinets way ahead of
schedule, John told me that we'd only work a half day tomorrow (my
birthday!). He told me that he and Jake were going out of town again this
weekend, so we'd finish up some of the outside work in the morning and
then not do anything else in the house over the weekend. In fact, with
the Fourth being on Tuesday, we probably wouldn't get back to working on
the house until the sixth or seventh. Obviously, he was quite pleased
with the progress we'd made.

I woke up early as usual on Friday morning. Mom was also awake, and she
was the first to wish me happy birthday.

"Feliz cumpleaños, mi amor! I cannot believe that mi hijo, mi bebe is
already sixteen years old! How did this happen?" she exclaimed, smiling,
and kissing me as she gave me a huge hug.

"Oh Mom, I know, it doesn't seem possible, does it?  I can't believe
it myself. So when can I get my driver's license?"

She just laughed and told me that maybe John could take me in another
week or so since she was going to be busy working on the Fourth and the
remainder of the week.
Minutes later Parker knocked on the front door, already sweaty with his
short run to my house.

"Happy birthday babe!" he smiled and gave me a huge hug and a kiss
right in front of my mom as she was just about ready to head to work.
"Are you ready for a nice long run this morning before going to work on
the house?"

"Sure, I guess I'm ready to get all sweaty just like you." Mom just
smiled and shook her head as Parker kissed me again, his sweaty body felt
so good against mine that I was ready to skip our morning run for a nice
birthday surprise treat instead.
"Okay boys, I'm leaving for work. Don't forget that we have plans for
dinner at 6 tonight, okay?" We both replied that we wouldn't and that
we'd be ready as soon as Mom got home. With us only working until noon
at the house, we'd have plenty of time to get ready for dinner, and
anything else that might develop along the way. "Also mi amor, here is
some papers for John. Make sure you give it to him this morning." She
handed me a plain white envelope that was a little thick. It was sealed
and did not have anything written on the front.
LT came jogging up the driveway moments after Mom left. He was smiling as
he usually was every morning now and practically hollered out as
approached the house: "Happy Birthday, Micheals, you old man!" Since
his birthday wasn't until the end of next month, I suppose it did make
me the oldest of the three of us. "So dude, when are you getting your
license?" LT asked in between trying to catch his breath from the run to
my house.

"I'm not sure, LT. Thankfully I just finished the driving requirements
last week. I'm just happy that John's trusted me enough to drive his
car when we go to the home improvement store." And it had been a huge
plus, otherwise I'd not have the required driving time to qualify to get
my license. John said he'd vouch for me that since January between him
and Mom I'd reached the mandatory fifty hours of behind the wheel
driving, which included ten night driving hours. He'd heard that the
Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles wasn't too strict on the hours,
but we did keep a journal of the hours driving just in case. I asked
Parker when he was planning to get his.

"I think Dad is going to take me next week, but he wasn't sure. I'm
going to keep bothering him for it. I can't wait! It's gonna be so
awesome to have freedom, you know?" LT agreed, but then asked a question
in a worried tone of voice.

"So, does this mean that once you guys get your licenses that we're
going to stop running in the morning?" We both looked at him with a
`dude, are you freakin' kidding me?' look, and then responded that of
course we were going to keep running in the morning.

And so as we'd done virtually every morning this summer when we were all
home, we took off on our morning run. It was a beautiful morning; the sun
was already making its daily ascension above the tree lines and had
sapped up the morning dew as well. The temperature was supposed to reach
the upper eighty's today, rather seasonal, and normal for this time of
the year from what I heard while watching the weather last night. By the
time we made the quick run into Martin Park, I was drenched in sweat just
like LT and Parker already were. I know it sounds strange to say this,
but it did feel really good.

The run went quick and as we were close to returning to my house, when we
hit the small pedestrian and bike bridge over the mouth to the lagoon in
the park, Parker, who was running a little faster than LT and me, yelled
over his shoulder "race ya!" to us and took off running at full speed
towards my house. Surprisingly, LT hit a burst of speed and ended up
beating both of us! It was actually quite amazing, in fact Parker and I
both cheered him on as he ran past us with less than a half block to go.
He was majorly out of breath when he touched the corner of my house, but
he'd won fair and square, and it was so incredible that both me and
Parker slapped him on his back and congratulated him on such an awesome
achievement. We truly were happy for him.

We had just under an hour until John would pick us up, so Parker and LT
went back to their respective houses to shower and eat breakfast while I
did the same at my house. Standing in the bathroom I slowly pulled off my
drenched tee shirt, my Nike running shorts, running shoes and socks, and
finally my sweaty black CK micro stretch hip briefs. My stuff fell loose
when I freed them from the restricting support of the briefs. Staring at
my now sixteen year old body in the mirror I was surprised to see the
difference from a year ago. I guessed that'd I'd grown taller, close to
four inches or more? I weighed almost fifteen pounds more than a year
ago, and most importantly in my book anyway, now had a nice brown patch
of pubes above my dick and a fair amount that covered my balls. There was
also a nice faint trail of fine dark hairs that were starting to creep up
to my belly button. I stood there thinking about what it would be like to
have a hairy chest. The idea kind of grossed me out and although I sure
loved my pubes, if any chest hair started to grow, I'd keep it shaved
off, for sure.

As I touched my smooth tight chest and developing abs, my hand found the
brown patch of pubes, which were drenched from the run, as was my sack. I
thought about my night with Parker and how great it was to have him back
again. I was almost instantly hard and knew that if I kept thinking about
him and touching myself, I'd have to take care of it in the shower, or
pretty much be hard the rest of the day. So of course when the water
started out cold, I grit my teeth and let the seemingly freezing cold
water squelch any desire for the release that my young body longed for.

Getting dressed in a fresh pair of CK's -- same style -- I put on a
clean pair of khaki shorts and an old tee shirt from my old grade school
that was a little too tight but would be best for working on the house
with John. For some reason the thought about Parker's dad accepting the
job in Colorado entered my mind. I decided that I'd start praying to the
Virgen de Guadalupe statue my abuelita brought me from Mexico and hope
that she would help Parker's dad decide that Rockford is not a bad place
and he needs to stay here so Parker can finish high school. As Mom would
say, "All we can do is pray, mi amor." Maybe she's right.

For breakfast I ate two scrambled eggs, two pieces of white toast, and a
huge glass of orange juice. I finished quickly and was ready to go when
John arrived twenty minutes later. Usually he picks LT and Parker up
first, but for some reason he showed up at the house by himself.

"Happy birthday, Buddy!" was the first thing John said when he pulled
up in the driveway.

"Thanks, John!" I replied back. "Here's something my mom asked me to
give to you" I said as I handed him the envelope.

"Ah, fantastic. That will make everything easier for today, as far as
what we're going to work on in the house today." John smiled as I
opened the door and sat in the front seat of the car.

"Okay..." I replied with hesitance in my voice, completely oblivious to
what we might be working on and why the contents of the envelope had
something to do with the work we would be doing at the house. And then
John really threw me for a loop.

"You might want to change in to a nicer shirt than one that is two sizes
too small for you."

Now I was really perplexed.

"But I thought we were going to do something that would ruin a good
shirt?"

"Change of plans. Go change, please." He told me with a smirk on his
face.

I went in, found a blue Nike polo shirt, put it on quickly and
practically ran out of the house and got back into John's car.
"Are you ready?" he inquired. I nodded that I was, and soon we were
heading into downtown Rockford. As we drove onto East State Street, John
was talking to me about baseball, since he knew my favorite baseball team
was the Cubs. I was giving him my opinion about some of the moves that
the manager had made in the game last night that I thought led to the
team losing in a heartbreaking fashion when I suddenly realized what we
were going to do.

A few miles east of downtown as John pulled into a parking lot on the
north side of the street and navigated through the myriad of cars parked
near the building, the sign on the building gave away John's surprise.

"Wait, what?" I said with a smile, as I felt a huge adrenaline rush
coursing through my body. "Are we going to..." John cut me off.

"Yes sir, young man. Today is the day you're going to get your
driver's license, on your birthday!"

I almost burst into tears. I was so happy. "Are you serious?" He told
me he was dead serious. "Oh my gosh, thank you so much!" I was so
excited now, but a sense of nervousness also came over me.

It all seemed like a dream. From the moment we left the car, got in the
building, showed the guy at the desk my paperwork that Mom had put in the
envelope that I gave John, took the test, got the driving part done, to
the moment the cute guy at the counter called my name and gave me the
paper that would serve as my temporary license until the real one would
show up in the mail about a week later, I couldn't believe that I was
finally licensed to drive a car.

What was so cool was that the one worker who helped us told John "You
and your son can go sit over there and wait for your name to be called."
John just smiled, told the lady thanks and we took our seats.

I then asked John if we were going to pick up LT and Parker to go to the
house and work.

"Well buddy, it's almost eleven, and I don't know about you, but I'm
getting hungry. How about we get some lunch, and then just call it a day?
It is your birthday, after all. How about we pick up some sub sandwiches
and find a park to eat lunch?"

"That sounds great!" I couldn't stop smiling. And so we picked up some
subs, chips, sodas, and some cookies and went to one of the nearby parks
located along the east side of the Rock River. We sat at a picnic table
watching people walk by and an occasional boat motoring up or down the
river. We talked about the house, but John also asked me how it felt to
be sixteen and how everything was going in my life. I told him I really
didn't feel any different than I did yesterday which made him laugh a
bit.

John is so easy to talk to, that I really felt comfortable opening up to
him about how much I enjoyed helping him at the house, and how much I
appreciated him being nice to me and helping me with guy things like
going today to get my license. He reassured me that he enjoyed having me
help him at the house and that was fortunate to have LT and Parker help
as well.

"We wouldn't be where we are with the project if they hadn't started
helping us. You have very good friends. But I have to ask you
something." He paused between telling me I had very good friends and
having to ask me something.

"Sure, of course you can ask me anything." I replied with guarded
hesitance.

"Does LT know that Parker is your boyfriend? I sensed that he doesn't
since you two act differently when he's around."

"No, he doesn't know. I'm not out to him, neither is Parker,
obviously. I'm not sure if I should tell him. I kind of get the feeling
he might not accept us being gay. At times he's made remarks about gays
that aren't very nice." Now I got a little scared thinking about it.

"That's understandable," John offered. "But if he's told you that
you've helped him out of some bad situations in his life, and you've
been instrumental in him turning his life around, I don't think he'd
walk away from your friendship just because you're gay. I think LT knows
that you accepted his friendship when he was at his worst, and since you
did help him and were there for him, he will not abandon you as his
friend. Also it's possible that he's never really known another gay
person and still is unsure of his own sexuality."
What John said made sense. I thanked him for his advice, and it was
weird, because deep inside that issue was bothering me. How did he know?

Lunch was finished, so we threw away our trash and headed back to my
house. John told me that we wouldn't resume working on the house until
after the Fourth. Since he was going out of town with Jake until Monday,
he once again wished me a happy birthday and actually gave me a hug, and
finally congratulated me on getting my license. I thanked him once again
for everything waved to him as he pulled out of the driveway and headed
home.

It was such a nice afternoon that I just decided to sit on the patio for
a few minutes and just soak up the warmth of the day and reminisce about
the past year. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even pay attention
to any of the people that passed by the house on their way north or south
on the bike path. I had been looking through my Instagram account at the
pictures of Parker and me, and other pictures from swim practice and the
swim meets with Caleb, Chase, and other guys on the team. I really felt
fortunate to have such good friends at school, and just felt so much
better than I did last year at this time. Scrolling back to the pictures
almost a year ago I came across one of the first pics I'd taken with
Dylan. We were at Rock Cut with our biking helmets on. I felt my heart
almost skip a beat and a reaction in my groin as I gazed into his eyes
and recalled his smile. I took a deep breath, then exhaled.

The memories of my time with Dylan just seemed to be like a distant
dream. It made me wonder where he was and how he was doing. I never
really did find out the truth about what happened between him and his
brother Dayne. Would I ever? Would it matter? I guess it's just one of
those things that would be nice to find out. Someday, right?
So what got really freaky as I had no sooner closed my Insta app and had
gotten up to go in the house that I got a text. At first I thought it was
probably Javy wishing me a happy birthday, or someone from school.

I was dead wrong.

< Carter-man! I almost didn't recognize you sitting on your front porch!
Happy 16th Birthday! I was going to stop but I wasn't sure if you'd
want to see me.
It was Dylan! I instantly felt a pang of nervous excitement course
through my entire body. Should I respond to him or not? I know he wasn't
supposed to contact me, or so I was told by Chase. But was it the truth?
With shaking fingers I typed my response.

< Dylan! Sorry, I didn't see you go by the house. Were you on a bike, or
driving by? Thanks for the birthday wish! You could have stopped by; it
would be nice to see you.
I erased and retyped the last sentence three times, hesitated for almost
a minute before pushing the send button. I wasn't going to and was ready
to erase the entire text but then for some reason I pushed the send
button. Moments later I got his response.

< Oh cool! I was biking by. Great day for a bike ride, right? I'm just
down at the park by the Y taking a break before biking back home. Okay to
stop by then?

< Yes.

I watched the cursor flashing for a few seconds before I actually pushed
the send button. Now I started getting nervous. I sat back down in the
chair on the porch and waited. Then I got up and went into the house and
used the bathroom.  Then I paced back and forth on the porch. My nerves
were getting the best of me. I couldn't wait to see him but yet I
didn't want to see him either.

My emotions were all over the place. At first the image of him in his
biking shorts that first day when we met entered my mind. Then the first
time we were together on the flat rock along the river. The time I spent
at his house, in his pool, his room, his bed...

Yeah, I started to get hard. Damnit. Then I wished Parker would have been
here. I suddenly felt vulnerable. I was going to text him and ask him
what he was doing and tell him the good news about getting my driver's
license when I heard that unmistakable voice of Dylan.

"There's the birthday boy! Happy birthday Carter-man!" Dylan looked
hotter than ever. The same type of biking shorts, shirt, shoes, socks and
even sunglasses and helmet. It looked like he had more facial hair, jet
black hair, especially around his chin.

"Thanks Dylan. How are you?" I nervously replied, laughing almost, and
I'm not sure why. I walked off the porch down to meet him on the
sidewalk.

"I'm great. It's a great day for a bike ride. I haven't ridden in a
while, so it's been nice to get back on the bike. Can I give you a
hug?"  I nodded and he wrapped me up in one of his hugs that I'd come
to know and like so much. "Look at you! You've grown taller and look at
those leg and upper body muscles. You been working out?"

I just smiled before replying.

"Just running every morning and I was on the swim team."

"That's awesome. It's good to exercise and work out. You can
definitely put on some muscle. So how is your summer?"

I told him that it was going well and that I had been working with a
friend of my Mom's rehabbing a house. He was happy that I was keeping
busy and doing well. He then asked me if I was still dating Parker when a
guy who looked to be about the same age as Dylan, dressed almost the same
rode up in the driveway on a bike that looked similar to Dylan's.

"Oh you finally made it!" Dylan turned and smiled and said to the guy
as he stood there straddling his bike, taking a drink from his silver
water bottle.

"Yeah, I hoped I'd catch up to you." The guy said with a soft almost
effeminate voice that my senses caught on to right away, but I cautiously
and silently told myself not to pass a quick judgement.

"Oh, James, this is Carter. Remember me telling you about him? Carter,
this is my good, er, um, boyfriend James. We met at my new school after
Harlem." I waved to James as a wave of strange emotions immediately shot
through me.

"Nice to meet you, James." Was all I could barely say, as first I was
taken by his stunning good looks, almost cuter than Dylan. He wasn't as
built muscle wise as Dylan but wasn't skinny either. Perfect smile.
Perfect teeth. Not like I wanted to look, but my eyes were drawn to his
biking shorts, which weren't as filled out as Dylan's. He looked to
have a bit of a bubble butt unless the angle proved me wrong. But he was
cute, nonetheless. Then after feeling a bit inferior by him, I felt a bit
of jealousy go through me, thinking it could have been me with Dylan. He
was my first crush and I could have easily still been with him if only he
hadn't... I was snapped back to reality when James replied to my
greeting.

"Nice to finally meet you too, Carter. I've heard soooo much about you
from Dylan. All good things, of course." I noted a tinge of sarcasm in
his voice, which seemed strange.

"So big plans for your birthday?" Dylan asked, breaking a short bit of
tension in the silence that followed Dylan and James exchanging glances
at each other.

"Um, just going to dinner with Mom." For some reason I hesitated
telling him about Parker going with us. I just couldn't, and I'm not
sure why. As I think back at that moment, I didn't tell him because he
just didn't deserve to know anything about Parker and me, even though
he'd asked the question about us that would go left unanswered.

"Okay, cool. Well, I suppose we'd better get back on the path, right
James?" Dylan was looking at James, who was giving him a look back that
probably could have killed him if he stared too long.

"Um, yeahhhh... We should get going so we can, you know..." James
responded back in an almost pissed off tone of voice.

"Well Carter-man, it's been nice to see you again. Have a great rest of
your summer, okay? Maybe I'll see you around again before I leave for
school." It was like he wanted to tell me more but James made that sound
of clearing his throat as if to say that it was enough already, let's go
NOW.

"Nice to see you too. Have a great Fourth holiday and the rest of your
summer too." I cheerfully responded, almost to make James even more
pissed off then what he already appeared to be. I'm still not sure why I
did that, but I did, and didn't regret it.

As they rode away, Dylan waved, and I waved back. It felt like a surreal
moment, and for the next hour as I sat thinking about it on the porch
watching other bikers, runners and walkers going by the house, I still
couldn't believe that he stopped by with his boyfriend. Now I wasn't
sure if I would tell Parker or not. Going to have to think about that
one.

For my birthday dinner that evening, Mom took me and Parker to my
absolute favorite Italian restaurant on the east side of town, Gino's.
They have the most authentic Italian food in town, and of course I had a
large piece of their cheese lasagna, along with their signature Italian
salad. John and Jake wanted to go but had plans to go camping for the
weekend again and had already left town. It was an amazing dinner with
the two most important people in my life and the day was absolutely
perfect.

After dinner we went for a short walk along the bike path in the same
park where John and I had lunch. Of course Mom and Parker wanted to know
all about my experience at the driver's license place, so I filled them
in as they listened intently. When we finished the walk, we drove back to
the house where Mom had bought a small chocolate cake with sixteen
candles. They sang happy birthday to me, and after cake and ice cream
Parker and I watched some Netflix in my room while Mom told me she was
getting tired and was going to get some rest, since she volunteered to go
into work some extra hours tomorrow morning.

Parker and I just sat on my bed watching an episode of "Heartstopper."
Strangely enough, a scene came up where the main characters were laying
in bed next to each other, commenting about how they were content in
waiting to do "that."

"Wait, so you don't that they've, you know..." Parker skeptically
asked my opinion about whether or not they'd done "that."

"I don't know, I mean it sure doesn't sound like it. I guess it is
just a show, so maybe they're not comfortable with doing anything
sexually." We then looked at each other and smiled. Parker then asked me
a strange question.

"Do you think we could have waited to do "that"? he said, emphasizing
the word that.

I just smiled, getting hornier by the second.

"Babe, I don't think we could have. I mean, we'd both already been
with other guys, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"So do you think that it's better to not be active with your
boyfriend?" I inquired.

"My love, I don't think I could have waited any longer than we did. You
were just so cute and I was so attracted to you that when we did it that
first time I couldn't have waited much longer than we did." Parker was
smiling now, and I was quite sure that he was as turned on as I was.

"I agree. I felt the same way about you. Felt that way the first time we
met, and I was hoping upon hope that you felt the same way about me as I
felt about you."

We turned to each other as our lips met. I could taste remnants of the
chocolate cake on his tongue which only turned me on even more if that
was possible. When we finally broke away from each other, Parker
whispered in my ear.

"I have another present for you." He smiled and as I nodded and said
"yeah?" he unbuckled my belt, lowered my zipper, reached in, and freed
what was about ready to burst out.

It was amazing as always, and after we kissed again.

Of course I returned the favor.

It was the perfect ending to the perfect sixteenth birthday, in fact to
the best day I'd had in a long time.

What was even cooler yet was that before Mom went to bed she told me that
as long as I was careful, I could drive Parker home, as long as it was
before eleven. So with my boyfriend in the passenger seat, I drove him to
his house. We pulled in the driveway, almost up to the garage. The
exterior garage lights were on and despite illuminating the car, we
kissed for what felt like ten minutes or so. I was ready to go again, but
since it was almost eleven, I knew I'd better get Mom's car home so I
didn't get in trouble. Parker waved as he walked up to the side door
that he'd always used to get into his house. My short drive home was
safe and problem free, and as I pulled the car into the garage, I still
couldn't believe that I was able to drive on the road by myself.

The day's events were still unbelievable and amazing. After I'd drank a
glass of milk I brushed my teeth and crawled into bed. I checked my phone
again and realized I'd gotten like ten messages from several of my
friends including Chase and Caleb wishing me a happy birthday. I quickly
thanked them and had no sooner put my phone down and was about ready to
drift off to sleep when my phone buzzed again. I figured it was someone
else wishing me happy birthday but instead it was from Parker.

< So my mom looked at the camera monitor and saw us pull in the driveway
in the car. I don't know if she saw us kissing... (scared emoji face).
She asked who brought me home.

< Oh no! what will you do if she saw us and asks you?

< I dunno. I'm very scared and nervous now.

Now I felt another course of nervousness shoot through my body. Since
Parker is not out to his parents, how would he explain us kissing?
My fear was that I wouldn't sleep well at all. Surprisingly though, I
actually fell asleep right away and had a dream free night of sleep.

Both guys got to the house at the normal time of six o'clock sharp
Saturday morning for our early morning run. The morning was just as nice
as Friday morning, although it felt like the humidity level was higher.
We could definitely tell a difference during our run, as it was a little
harder to run and all three of us were drenched in sweat by the time we
got back to my house.

LT left almost right away after the run; he said he had some things he
had to do. So it gave Parker and me the opportunity to talk about last
night.

"Did you talk to your mom this morning before coming to my house?" I
asked, almost afraid to find out his response, although since his
demeanor on the run was normal/happy, I figured maybe we'd dodged a
bullet.

"Yeah, she did, in fact she asked me again if you had brought me home
and was happy that you'd gotten your license. Of course she asked who
took you to the DMV place. When I told her Mr. O had taken you, she
thought that was so very nice of him." So babe, I think we're okay. I
think she would've said something, don't you think so too?"
I told him that I did as well, so it was a relief for both of us. We both
had things to do, so after a quick sweaty hug and kiss along the east
side of the garage in the back yard where no one could see us, Parker
left for home.

Sunday morning was a repeat of Saturday morning. Once again, after the
run we all went our separate ways, me into the shower, while LT and
Parker ran back to their homes probably to do the same.

Sunday around noon we had a family thing to go to. Mom hadn't said too
much about what it was for, something about a thing with my abuelitos and
cousins. I didn't really pay too much attention to it, other than
getting a little upset when I asked if Mom could take me to the stores so
I could find a birthday gift for Parker, since his birthday was on
Monday.

So you can imagine my surprise when Mom put a blindfold over my eyes when
we got in the car. A million things were going through my mind, and I
asked her if I could take it off. Of course she told me I couldn't.

About ten minutes later I was completely lost and unaware of where we
were. When she stopped the car and told me to get out, my other senses
took over. I could hear kids laughing, people talking. I heard cars and
trucks going by, like on a highway or something. As she grabbed my hand
and started walking me towards the sounds of the people, I could smell
something grilled, like carne asada, mixed with the unmistakable smell of
corn tortillas being warmed up, as well as refried beans. The people
suddenly stopped talking. I could hear my shoes as they crunched with
each step on the gravel walkway. I got incredibly nervous. Mom's grip on
my left hand got a little tighter, then I heard her give a little laugh
before everybody erupted in unison:

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARTER ANGEL!"

Mom took the blindfold off and I squinted in shock and disbelief as my
entire family -- abuelitos, tios, primos, family from Chicago, Parker,
his parents, LT with his Aunt, John, and Jake, and even Caleb -- were all
smiling and clapping and coming up to hug me and wish me happy sixteenth
birthday.  There was a "happy birthday" banner, with balloons and all
around the shelter house that was near the east side of Pierce Lake. I
don't know why, but I fought back tears.

It was a great time! We had a typical Mexican fiesta/birthday party. It
was amazing, actually. I couldn't believe that John and Jake were there!
They'd known about it, obviously, and John told me that Jake almost
spilled the beans about the party. I was just so happy that they were
there. John spent time talking to my Tio Javier about the landscaping
around the rehab house, and then he talked to my abuelitos about how
great of a job I was doing helping him. I couldn't stop smiling!

Caleb said he was doing well and had been texting Noah. Although he had
yet to tell Noah about himself, he did say that Noah invited him to hang
out at their house on the Fourth. I was happy for him but did tell him to
just be careful around Noah. He asked me why and I told him that we'd
have to talk later about him.

LT's aunt talked with John and me and told both of us how happy she was
with the fact that LT was learning to work with us. John told her that he
was glad to have LT help us, and that he was indeed a good worker.

Most of all, it was good to hang out with Parker. Of course we had to be
cool around my family, but it was easy for us to be cool and for the most
part, be ourselves.
Of course we had a pinata, and all of my cousins and my friends took
turns at trying to beat the huge, colorful, paper mache burro to death as
my Tio Javier would pull at the rope that was attached to the burro's
back, raising it up as the bigger kids blindly took their best swings. It
hilarious, as everyone used the same blindfold Mom had put on me. The
poor burro eventually met his demise in the second swing of the long
narrow stick from LT. As the candy came pouring out of the burro's now
busted neck, all of my cousins scrambled to get their share of the loot.
It was so fun and reminded me of the many Mexican birthday parties I'd
been to as a kid.

Later in the early evening as the party started to wind down and people
started leaving, everyone came up to wish me happy birthday again and to
say their good-byes. My Tio Javier and Tia Rosa came up, along with my
cousins Luis, Hectorcito, and of course Javy and his girlfriend of the
day, Ashley. Parker's parents were behind them, as was LT and his aunt,
and John and Jake. They had each wished me happy birthday and as Javy
came up to tell me good bye and give me a hug, what he said a little too
loud in Spanish seemingly got the attention of everyone that was close
by.

"Feliz cumpleaños, primo. Y feliz cumpleaños a tu novio tambien, su dia
es mañana, verdad?"

 My Tios and abuelitos both looked over at us, my Mom looked over as
well, and Parker, who had been standing next to me looked at Javy with a
seriously pissed off look on his face as he knew exactly what Javy had
said.

The bad part of it was that Parker's parents were close enough to hear
what had been said, and heard both of my grandparents repeat the word as
part of a question: "novio?"

The worst part came when Hectorcito, all cute and innocent looking
repeated out loud in English what Javy had said in Spanish, much to the
confusion of everyone around us who heard what he said:

"It's Carter's boyfriend's birthday tomorrow? Carter has a
boyfriend?"