Notice:

The contents of this story is purely fictional although based on real life happenings in my life. All names have been fictionalize to protect the innocent and not so innocent. The content matter of this story concerns love and sex between males teenagers. If this is not what you like reading or it is illegal for you to read this material because of age or laws go somewhere else. This story is copyrighted by it's owner and may not be copied or published elsewhere without the owners permission.

Author's note:

Here's the next chapter. Write me.

Hope you like the story. Let me hear from you. By the way there are a few photos Bastian posted - They are pictures he took in Chicago. Nothing special but you can see them at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/samlakes86/my_photos

Sam Lakes

samlakes86 at yahoo.com

Foto

by Sam Lakes

Copyright © 2006 All Rights Reserved

Chapter Thirteen

By the time I got home I was tired, angry, depressed and hungry. Michael wanted to know what happened and I told him as I ate a sandwich he made for me.

What pissed me off the most was Troy hadn’t even called. It was obvious he’d lied about his parents’ acceptance. It hurt a bit that he had lied, and I couldn’t figure out why he couldn’t have been honest with me. Rather than brood about the situation, I forced it out of my mind by getting involved with Photoshopping the pictures I had taken from the roof, and other photos I decided I needed to work on. I finally quit at five am, and went to bed.

Three days later, I got a call from Alicia. She told me Troy had called her. I figured it was because he was too chicken to call me. I simply let her talk, without making any comments. Inside I was crying, but I refused to let it show.

The gist of what she had to say was that Troy had lied about his parent’s acceptance – no news there. His Dad threatened to cutoff any financing for college, etc. if he so much as had anything to do with me, or any other guy. Apparently, Troy had made a promise to his dad that he’d break it off with me if he to just go to the Water Tower, and let me in.

She was concerned, and I told her I was fine – it was only a crush. I doubt that she believed me, as I hung up before she had a chance to press the issue.

I was really depressed, which didn’t get missed by my dads, and that was a good thing, because we talked about it all. The end result was, I felt much better about myself. I can only say that being gay, and having two dads who were gay helped, because they really understood where I was coming from.

The rest of my summer was pretty boring. I took lots of photos, most which were of nature. I got a great close up of a bumble bee, on a thistle blossom. There is a trick to that. First you catch the bee in a jar and then put the bee and the jar in the refrigerator. When the bee is cold he moves very slowly. Then I put the jar in a small cooler, with ice, and set off to find a thistle blossom, set up my tripod and camera, and then, very carefully, take the bee out of the jar, and put him in place, on the thistle. Snap, snap, snap! I have the perfect picture. When the bee warms up he flies away – no harm no foul.

School finally started. I had all AP classes again. I was a sophomore-junior this year because some of my classes were comprised of kids that were juniors. Mr. Blanc, my French teacher was also my homeroom teacher. People still called me Foto.

Girls would often strike a pose when they’d see me. One girl asked me if I’d photograph her nude, I said sure, as long as her parents were present. She and the rest of her friends giggled, and oddly enough, she changed her mind.

Lou Jackson, the captain of the basketball team, asked me to take pictures of him, as a present for his parents. The guy was like 6’ 10”. I felt like a midget. I wondered if what they say about the size of a guy’s hands and feet it true.

He was a really nice person. He asked me how Troy was, and my reply was “Troy who?” He laughed and said, he didn’t think it would last, and he thought Troy was the loser. It was still sort of a sore subject for me, and I simply shrugged my shoulders. I told him I would charge him for the pictures. He was cool with that.

I guess you could say I was a popular person. I mean everybody seemed to know who I was, and the stack of requests, for photo shoots was getting so large, that my weekends were pretty much taken up, by taking portraits of people. I was making quite a bit of money on the side.

I seemed to be the official photographer for school events. I knew there were lots of girls, that were hoping I would date them, but I wasn’t interested. I guess there may have been some guys that would like to have dated me too, but there again, I wasn’t really interested in anyone. I thought about Brady a lot. He’d sent me a few emails, but I was too chicken to read them. So, I just left them in my in box.

I had lunch with Alicia, the last week of October. She looked great. She had a new boyfriend and things were getting serious. She asked if Troy had spoken to me since the night they got me off the roof. I said not a peep.

She sighed and told me that Troy was pretty much partying his life away – drinkin’ and druggin’ and flunking out on most of his classes. She’d tried to talk some sense into him, but she said, she might as well talk to a brick wall.

I shrugged my shoulders like I didn’t care, but I did, and I still hurt inside.

“I think he still loves you,” she said.

“He has an awesome way of showing it,” I said sarcastically.

After a few minutes of silence she said, “He made the wrong choice, and now I think he regrets it.”

I shrugged my shoulders again and changed the subject.

I’ve thought a lot about what she said and about Troy, over the last week. I guess that's why I am here wandering around Northwestern, like an idiot. I have no idea if he has classes today. The chances of running into him are not in my favor. I’m pretending that I am here to take photos. Well I am taking photos, and hoping that I’ll see him or he’ll see me.

I finally gave up. It was cold and getting near dark. I saw a bum curled up on a bench and decided I’d sit there to pack away my camera into my backpack. I had just gotten everything packed away when the guy decided to stretch out his legs and knocks me off the bench.

“Fucking hell, man!” I shouted.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t know you were there dude…Bastian???”

I couldn’t believe my eyes for two reasons. One it was Troy, and two he looked like shit.

“Troy?”

“Dude, you look good!” he said.

“You look like shit.”
“Yeah, I feel like it too,” he mumbled.

“Wild party huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Drugs and booze will do it to you. Why? Why are you doing that shit, man? You were – such a health nut,” I said.

“It’s college.”

“Bullshit! Total bullshit. Why do you have to lie to me? You know why I’m here? I’m here because Alicia said you were flunking out. Because I still care about you. I-I still like you. I thought maybe I could help, but I guess that’s hoping for too much.”

I picked up my backpack and walked away. He did nothing to stop me.

I was such a fool to have hoped, that somewhere in him, there was a spark of love that would ignite, and make things right. There wasn’t. It was all a lie.

Thanksgiving Holidays start in a week. Everyone at school was excited except me. At home Michael and Dad seemed to be excited about the holiday. They said there were planning on having a big turkey dinner, and all the trimmings – I think my grandparents were coming, and some other friends too.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing my grandparents, but I was just in a blah mood about everything. The only bright spot in my life was an email from Edna. She had wondered why it had been so long since I last emailed her. I didn’t tell her it was because my life seemed so shitty, and talking to her only served to remind me that Brady was with someone else.

Edna’s email did brighten my day. She told me about a new camera she had – digital she loved it but was hopeless when it came to using tools like Photoshop. I wrote her back and offered to do any digital darkroom stuff that she may want, and sent her to my myspace.com site, so she could see some of the work I’d done.

I asked her if she was having a big Thanksgiving dinner. I told her Dad and Michael were planning a big dinner and that I had asked to go to Paris for Thanksgiving, to visit Jacques and Henri but got a definite ‘No’. So then I asked if I could go to London and visit Lucien, Alistair and Austin – that was also a resounding ‘No’.

Wednesday finally rolled around and as soon as I got home Michael had me in the kitchen helping. He was in a really good mood, and so was Dad. Dad left for the airport around five to get my grandparents, and his friends. I asked if I could go, and both dads said, ‘No’. Michael gave me a bunch of potatoes to peel.

Dad hadn’t returned by eight, because his friends’ plane had been an hour late and had just landed. I made myself a sandwich, and went to my room even though Michael tried to get me to continue helping him in the kitchen. It was weird. It seemed like he was trying to keep me busy, but there was really nothing else for me to do.

I had a stack of DVD’s. I figured now was a good time to start watching them. I picked one from the stack, and went down to the movie room with the DVD and my sandwich, and started watching the movie.

I was half way through the movie when Dad opened the door, and turned on the lights. As my eyes adjusted to the now brightness of the room I saw Brady standing in the doorway.

I wanted to throw myself at him and kiss him, hold him like there was no tomorrow, but then I remembered he had a boyfriend. I smiled and simply said, “Hi.”

“He’s traveled over a thousand miles and all you can say is ‘Hi’”, laughed Dad.

Brady blushed a bit.

“Dad, he has a boyfriend.”

Brady looked surprised at my statement.

Dad looked at him. Brady looked at Dad and then smiled at me saying, “Yeah, I guess I do – his name is Sebastian Atreyu McCormick.

“But what about Kerry?”

“Kerry? What about Kerry?”

“He’s your boyfriend, right?”

“No. Friend yes, boyfriend never!”

“But you were having sex.”

“What! Never in a million years! We are talking about Kerry Goldsmith, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What ever gave you that idea?”

“I called one night, and he said ‘We’re in the middle of having sex.” I heard your voice to in the background.”

“Omigod!,” Brady laughed, “Bastian, Kerry is a nut – he’s always saying stupid stuff like that. And besides, he has a boyfriend, Josh. They’ve been boyfriends since high school.”

“I think I’ll let you two sort this out,” said Dad, and he left, closing the door behind him. Brady came over to the couch and sat down beside me.

“So, you’re not in love,” I said.

“Well, actually I am. I met this really, really, really cute boy,” he paused.

I knew it he’s in love with someone else! I tried to look happy for him, but I think I was failing miserably at it, as a tear rolled down my cheek. Brady brushed it away gently.

“I met him two years ago and fell madly in love with him, and there hasn’t been a day gone by since then, that I haven’t thought about him. I love you Sebastian Atreyu McCormick. I want to spend my life with you if you’ll have me.”

Oh man! I burst into to tears and grabbed hold of Brady, and sobbed.

“Bastian, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“I thought – I thought I’d lost you forever. I thought you found someone else. I wanted you to be happy, so I never said anything. I tried to get on with my life. I tried to love Troy, but I couldn’t, because the only person I love is you. I love you Brady. I always have and always will love you. I want to spend the rest of our lives together.” I pulled back from him and wiped my eyes. He had a few tears rolling down his cheeks.

We leaned into each other and kissed. It was the best kiss ever. Brady was mine and I was his.

Our next kiss was starting to get a little more passionate, when I heard, “Looks like you two have things sorted out.”

“Edna!” I practically screamed as I looked up to see her head poking through the partly opened doorway. I jumped up off the couch and ran to her now open arms.

We hugged.

“Hey kiddo, you have four grandparents that are anxious to see you,” she said.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot,” I said looking at Brady, who was standing right behind me. Then I shouted, “I have the greatest grandparents in the world!”

I grabbed Brady’s hand and rushed off toward the living room. Where I was greeted with more hugs and kisses. Brady and I sat in my recliner. Dad and Michael were sharing Dad’s recliner. My grandparents were seated on the couch and Edna had Michael’s recliner.

We must have talked for an hour then we adjourned to the movie room where I showed everyone some of my latest photos. Our HDTV screen also has a network connection to my pc.

After that everyone was talking, and I sort of phased out, thinking about the accommodations. We had three guest rooms, one for Grandpa and Grandma McCormick, one for Grandpa and Grandma Kencaid and one for Edna. That meant Brady and I would be sharing my room and my bed! I must have been smiling, while I was thinking about that. The whole room went quite. Everyone was looking at me.

“What?” I queried.

“I think someone has been thinking about the sleeping arrangements,” laughed Dad.

I, of course, blushed and everyone else laughed. I think Brady was blushing too. I looked at him. He was, but then he did something I will never forget. He kissed me on the lips in front of everyone.

“I’ve told Bastian I want to be with him for the rest of my life, and he had told me the same. Bastian, I love you.”

Oh, man the tears were gushing down my cheeks. I barely got out, “I love you too, Brady. Forever.”

We kissed again. Everyone cheered. Brady picked me up and carried me to our room.

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