Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2023 23:07:27 +0000 (UTC)
From: Don Cornelius <doncornelius69@yahoo.com>
Subject: Heartbeat Chapter Four (Gay HS)

This is a work of fiction. Any similarities between the story and reality
are purely coincidental. Please contact the author at doncornelius69 AT
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CHAPTER FOUR

Tate

I came twice with Zach our first time, something I'd never done before. The
second orgasm was so intense that I couldn't do much of anything other than
drop off him and fall asleep after it ripped through me. I remember
dreaming that night about a guy I'd been friends with when I was much
younger. He was two years older than me and he'd been the one to teach me
boy things, like how to gleek on purpose and throw a tight spiral. He was
someone who was nice to me, and in my dream, he now had Zach's face. I know
it sounds weird, but this was someone I remember from childhood whom I
trusted absolutely and who never betrayed that trust. Seeing Zach's face on
him made me think my subconscious was trying to tell me Zach was for real.

What's weird was that I already knew that, which made figuring out the
dream more of a priority for me. Trying to understand the inner workings of
my brain aside, I also reveled in how I felt. My whole body tingled and I
felt amazing. It wasn't just from the sex, it was also from the massage
Zach had given me. His hands were strong as hell and every time he kneaded
my ass or the muscles in my legs, they turned to jello. He'd ended up the
best masseuse to ever work on me.

Our first time together had been truly mind blowing. The feeling of him
moving beneath me, and watching his face, made clear to me he wasn't trying
to just nut, he was working hard to make it amazing for me, and he
succeeded. Even that first five minutes of him inside me was more
pleasurable than every sexual encounter I'd ever had. What I'd known for
weeks was now even clearer, that we were together in every conceivable way.

When I woke up, he had me locked down with his arm, but he was so out of it
he didn't even stir when I lifted it up so I could move. When I came back
to bed, I laid down facing him, watching his face as he slept. That amazing
face, so masculine and chiseled, now relaxed and easy, was intensely
attractive to me, more so than any other man I'd known.

I easily fell back to sleep and it was another hour before he woke and
disturbed me enough to open my eyes again, only to see him smiling. I
thought, for a second, that I should brush before he kissed me, but I
realized this is an amazing moment and I should just enjoy it.

We made our way downstairs and cooked breakfast. At first, I offered
yoghurt and berries again, but he made it very clear that wouldn't be
enough. So, I cooked up a massive omelet and we sat down in the family room
to eat. After we ate, as we sat watching TV, he opened a can of worms.

"When I told you about what I was thinking of doing to Tillet, you just
assumed..."

"That you'd kill him?" I said, muting the TV. "Yes, I did."

He looked at me with the curious expression I'd come to love, the right
eyebrow cocked just so, "Do you really think I could kill someone?"

I smiled, "I know you can. I know you would if you found a reason to."

That shocked him. He was silent and we went back to watching TV for a while
until...

"You really think I'm some maniac?" he blurted out.

"Not at all. I think you're a man with a deeply evolved sense of justice
and morality. I think that coupled with your physical capabilities leaves
you with no real limits," I paused for a second, then continued, "You don't
scare me, if that's what you're concerned about. And no, I don't think
you'd just go around killing people. But, the right person for the right
crime? Yeah, I think you'd do it without hesitating because you could and
you'd see a need."

He sat in silence for another 10 minutes before finally reaching for the
remote and turning off the TV.

"You really think so little of me?"

"No, I don't," I replied. "In fact, it's because I think so highly of you
that I'm saying this."

He scoffed, "Highly of me? You're saying that I'm basically a murderer."

That irritated me, "No, I'm not and I didn't. I don't know why this has you
so irritated."

He finally relented, "I don't either. I just..."

"Is it possibly that you know I'm right and you don't want me to see you
that way?"

He smiled. It was only a little but it was there. Not a smirk, a smile that
told me I was right.

"You don't?"

"No. You're actually a pretty kind and compassionate person. For all the
muscles and enjoying the thrill of violence, you're really a very nice guy
who just happens to think people should pay for their crimes, especially
those who wrong someone you love. The only thing I got wrong was the
intensity of your feeling and desire for justice. You want it to match the
crime and that's, to me at least, admirable."

"Admirable?" he asked, smiling.

"Yeah. I don't know, it's easy enough for people to be dismissive in these
situations, but for you it's just not possible. You couldn't let it go if
you wanted to. I could make you, I'm pretty sure of that," to which he
nodded, just slightly. "But in this instance, I'm not going to because I
want to see him get a taste of what he did to me. I do think it's
appropriate."

Now he smiled broadly, "OK."

I laughed, "OK is all I'm getting back?"

"Yep."

"I'll take it."

For the remainder of the day we hung out and talked. This wasn't the first
Saturday we spent together but it was different. We knew each other more
completely now and nothing was going to be the same.

About 5, he left to run home and change, then returned at 7 to pick me
up. We went to dinner and then on to a party where `Was That You' kicked
off about five minutes in.

Two weeks before, the Vogue September issue had arrived in mailboxes. I was
in a Prada ad and a fall spread for the magazine itself. I'd known it was
coming since before we moved, but I never said anything to anyone, not even
my mother or Zach, because I completely glitched on it. No kidding, I heard
it from Nina and completely dropped it in my head since there was so much
else going on. By way of explanation, we moved half way across the country
and I met this amazing guy who had my attention as we got to know one
another. There wasn't much room in my head for `Oh, yeah, I'm going to be
in another ad'.

Me being in a magazine just didn't matter. UNTIL I started getting the
whispered questions from people earlier this week... PSSST was that you in
that Prada ad?

I finally explained it to Zach after a girl walked up to me and asked me to
autograph the ad in the magazine while we stood outside talking by his
truck. He was really cute about it, but the look on his face when the girl
walked up to us was priceless... "Why the fuck is this weirdo asking you to
sign an ad in a maga..." and then he really looked at the ad.

Then it became Zach who wanted a copy and we did a hard target search of
every bookstore on the peninsula, only to find them out. I tried explaining
to him what the September issue of Vogue was, but he just didn't get
it. Not wanting to make more pointless trips to yet more bookstores, I
asked Nina to find me one and ship it to me.

"What do you need that for?" she asked, in her usually gruff tone. She had
absolutely no filter with me and spoke to me like I too was a middle-aged
chain smoker with two divorces under my belt and kids who I loved despite
the fact that they were shiftless (I actually had to look that up).

"It's not for me, it's for my boyfriend."

"Ahhhh, he wants to show people his super hot model boyfriend is really a
model. Alright, I'll see what I can do."

And that was the end of the conversation. Nina never signaled the end of a
call with `good bye', `gotta hop', or anything else. She just talked and
when she was done, she hung up.

The first person at the party to bother me about it was Sara Liang who'd
actually brought the book with her to the party and asked me to sign
it. And that led to questions and it became a thing for about 30 minutes,
until Zach finally had enough and pulled me away from my adoring fans.

"Thank you," I told him as we walked away. "I'm sorry this keeps
happening."

"Don't be. I think it's fire," he responded.

That surprised me, "Then why did you pull me away?"

He stopped and looked at me, "You needed me to. I could tell it was
starting to get to you."

I smiled, "What gave it away?"

He responded in a serious tone, "Nothing physical, I can read your mind."

I laughed a little at his disclosure then noticed that the serious look on
his face hadn't changed.

"Please tell me you don't think you're actually reading my mind."

"Like dialog in a movie? No. But I started picking up emotions from you
weeks ago. I'm honestly surprised you haven't noticed."

I took a step back, completely involuntarily, and the look on this face
changed immediately to a pained expression.

"Babe, please don't be upset. I didn't mean to shock you or anything, but I
want to be honest with you."

I searched for words, but they weren't there. I finally a focused on one
thing... that I loved him and almost immediately he relaxed. Clearly, I was
far too open, even for an open book.

He leaned in, his mouth close to my year, "I love you, too."

I looked at him as he pulled away, "Zach, this is weird for me."

"I don't know why; you do it to me, too."

I scrunched up my face, "What are talking about?"

"You knew something was off with me the first week of school when I walked
you to Calc the day you found out about my nickname."

"Yeah, but I didn't know what it was and I wasn't reading your mind."

He sighed, "OK, consider that a poor choice of words. I'm not reading your
mind as much as the emotions you choose to show on your face. They tell me
a lot about what you're thinking and feeling."

I really got upset at that disclosure, "Am I that obvious? I don't want
everyone to know what I'm thinking. What if I need to lie?"

He moved in quickly, "No, no, no! You're not obvious to anyone but me. I
just see these things; I can't help it."

"You know what, forget it," I said with a smile. "I'm being hypersensitive
about something stupid. Your disclosure caught me a little off guard."

"It's OK, babe. You know you can trust me, right?"

I grabbed his hand, "Yeah, I do, but I also have a question?"

"What was I hiding from you that first week of school?"

My eyes went wide, "OK, I promise I'm going to get used to that, but
DAMN. Cool it for a bit, will ya?"

Once he finished laughing, he said, "It's what I told you about Thursday
night, what I want to do with Tillet."

That admission took care of two lingering issues for me. First, there was
the thought he'd lied to me about telling me what was on his mind and two,
that it was something far worse than I thought it would be. I'd been wrong
on both counts and the realization washed over me.

He looked at me curiously, "You just relaxed like a 900 pound weight was
removed from your shoulders."

I smiled, "Because it was." And I proceeded to tell him about what had been
going on in my mind. Unsurprisingly, he was a little pissed that I assumed
he'd cheated and felt the need to reiterate, one more time, that he never
would.

I finally let it go and we went to get drinks, then settled into a group of
people I only tangentially knew and who, thankfully, didn't have an issue
of Vogue with them.

ZACH

My guy.

Tate still doesn't realize that he's mine body, mind, and soul. His
overreaction to me `reading his mind' was just an example. He has a strong
need to maintain independence and I didn't get where it came from, until
later that night.

Having finally had sex the night before, we weren't in a hurry to leave. We
were both relaxed and easy about it, knowing that the night wouldn't end
without us being sweaty and worn out. So, we continued to talk and have
fun, which was pretty amazing since Tate just had a way with people. I knew
my reputation and how people reacted to me, they were usually pretty
deferential because of my size.

Tate, on the other hand, put people at ease. Everyone smiled around him,
and his smiles back were genuine. He wasn't pretending to be interested in
a story about a cat someone owned years before, he WAS interested in the
story. More specifically, he was interested in the person telling the story
and it was so obvious it made me feel warm all over. He's so full of life
you can't help but be thrilled to be around him. And no matter what you
might think, he's actually interested in what you are saying right
then. Tate was never one to think ahead in conversations, he was the most
present person I'd ever known. The best part was that he rubbed off on
people. You'd see them relax and take their time, picking up on ques from
him.

Sex was like that for him as well. Unlike the previous night, we went
upstairs together at a normal pace and once in his room, he gently
undressed me. Long before he was done, I was forced to adjust myself so my
cock didn't rip apart my boxer briefs. His fingertips, running lightly over
my skin, were an amazingly hot feeling for me and I loved it more than
anything any previous lover had done. For Tate's part, I was pretty sure
this was as much about making me feel good as it was about exploring my
body. He'd made the comment earlier in the day about how different our
bodies were, and he was absolutely right. Like comparing a thoroughbred to
a Clydesdale. My body was built to move boulders, while his would inspire
someone to chip away at that same rock to preserve the beauty they'd seen
in stone.

His final act was taking off my underwear and then he knelt on the floor in
front of me and started to give me the best blowjob I'd ever had. At that
point I knew exactly why he was doing this, so I would be drained after we
had sex. I didn't think his plan would work but I didn't really care since
right at that moment he opened his mouth wide enough and used his tongue on
my balls as I was buried in his throat.

30 seconds or an hour later, I don't know which, I found myself trying to
hold off as I warned him I was close. His reaction to that was to increase
movement of his tongue while grabbing my hips and forcing me deeper which
finally caused me to let go. It was so amazing, I felt like at least one of
my balls was making its way out of my dick and directly into his stomach.

I'm a big guy in every way. Blowjobs are often problematic, either because
of my width or length. Even people who'd given me good head were like rank
amateurs compared to Tate. As I came down from the amazing orgasm, I looked
at him sitting at my feet, staring up at me with a very pleased look on
this face.

"That was incredible," I managed to finally say.

He smiled broadly, clearly happy with the pleased look on my face, "You're
welcome."

I reached down and helped him back to his feet, then hugged him to me as
closely as I dared, keenly aware that he had ribs, organs, and a spine. We
kissed and I tasted myself on his lips, which drove me crazy. With a growl,
I grabbed him under his ass and upper legs, lifting him easily off the
floor, only to feel him wrap his legs around me.

I broke off the kiss and looked into his passion filled eyes. I felt
overwhelmed but in the best possible way, completely overcome with my love
for him and the very real feeling that everything I would ever need and
want was in my hands at that moment.

I walked over to the bed, and sat down, still holding him and we kissed for
what seemed like hours, until I finally got him out of his clothes.

TATE

Being with him felt so good, so natural, that I was ready to go from the
moment he stripped off my underwear. He wanted missionary and while I was a
little sore from the previous night, I was still stretched out just enough
to take him comfortably.

He was sweating with his entry, keeping his body taught as he moved very
slowly in, watching my reaction and adjusting as needed. It hurt, but the
pain gave way to pleasure as he worked my prostate expertly, delivering
cascading feelings of ecstasy to my rapidly overloading brain with each
shallow stroke.

Then came the main event as he busted through my second sphincter and
bottomed out deeper inside me than anyone previous. I looked into his face
and saw him, a look of joy dominating his features. He started to thrust in
an and out and the friction was like magic. I held back as long as I could
then there was one sudden stroke, just a little to the left, and my world
exploded. As I came back down, I realized he was close and squeezed with
what little strength I had left, which was just enough to send him over the
edge. The most amazing thing, was that he didn't lose control or start to
slam into me, he maintained his rhythm and control even through his
orgasm. He finally opened his eyes and gave me the dopey smile that he
makes just after he cums. Then he leaned down to kiss me, his body starting
to shake just a bit from the exertion.


After, he fell over to my left while I was still catching my breath as my
entire body tingled. It was like it had been after last night, but this
time I didn't start to drift off to sleep. I realized at that moment just
how far gone I really was. This was beyond my love for him, this was me
being completely under his control. The sex was so good I didn't trust
myself to ever tell him no again.

I moved my head to look at him and saw him looking at me with a smile that
rapidly faded as he quickly sat up.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I sighed, "I feel amazing and I'm scared to death."

"Of what?"

"You."

He looked confused, "But why?"

"Because I'm scared of losing myself to you," I told him, honestly, as my
eyes started to tear up.

His face softened and he leaned in to kiss me, then said with a smile, "You
can let go. I'm not going to let you fall and I will never take advantage
of you."

"But..."

"There's no but. I love you. I don't want to own you; I want you in my life
for as long as we both live. I will never do anything to compromise that,
you just have to trust me like I trust you." He looked away and cleared his
throat, "What you're feeling I saw in your eyes last night. I knew what I
was doing to you and was happy because I wanted you to know you could be
vulnerable with me. I've got you."

I'd already started to tear up at that point and as the last words left his
mouth, a few tears washed out of my eyes. I reached over to him with what
little energy I had left and hugged him tightly as I whispered, "I love
you."

"I know, baby, and I love you, too," he said back, his deep voice
resonating in my chest as we laid entwined.

He got up to use the bathroom and I remember trying to stay awake but
losing the fight pretty quickly, my last thought being of him and his arms
wrapped around me. And that was how I woke up the next morning. He'd moved
me during the night and wrapped me up in his arms, spooning me from
behind. It was funny because I'd never been a fan of spooning, always
finding whoever was doing it too hot and/or clingy. With Zach, however, it
was neither. I just felt complete.

I made the decision to stay in bed with him and dozed off and on for about
an hour before he kissed me on the back of my neck as he woke up. It was so
sweet I let out a very heavy sigh, which earned me a squeeze from the
powerful arm wrapped around me. He turned me over, and looked down at me,
then moved in to kiss me, causing me to moan in delight.

"Good morning," he said, his voice deep and soothing. "Did you sleep well?"

I laughed, "Yes, I did! I had a super hot man holding me all night and I
don't think I moved at all."

He gave me a weird look, "Where the hell is this guy? I feel like I need to
have a talk with him."

"Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck," was my response, which earned me a tickle fight that
I rapidly lost as he took control of my hands, forced them over my head,
and then hovered over me staring deeply into my eyes, before he moved in
for a kiss that led to us having sex again, though this time without him
inside me since my overworked ass needed a break.

After breakfast, he helped me straighten up the house and then
left. Watching him walk down the path to the street filled me with emotion,
desire being at the top of the list, followed by a deep feeling of
contentment. He might be leaving for now, but he wasn't leaving for good
and while I loved being with him, I didn't mind the time apart.

About 5 I went to SFO to pick up my mother who was anything but happy when
I pulled to the curb.

"What's wrong?" I asked, hoping the scowl on her face had nothing to do
with me.

"They overbooked first and bumped me to coach."

"Oh, that sucks. I'm sorry."

She laughed, "Never thought I'd have such problems or that they'd get to
me, but after this weekend I really didn't want someone crowded up on me
for the duration of the flight."

"Did they at least give you the difference on the ticket?"

"Yes, and the company will appreciate my sacrifice, I'm sure."

As I drove us home, I told her what had happened over the weekend. I didn't
want to lie to her and no, I wasn't super graphic, but I did want her to be
aware.

"How do you feel?"

I thought for a second, then told her, "Good. I feel good."

She smiled, "I love you and I'm happy for you."

I looked at her strangely and before I could comment she said, "You're not
a child. You're almost 18 years old and you're going to have to make
decisions on your own. I can't do your thinking for you and I'm glad you
don't need that. I'm also glad you were honest with me.

That being said, I'm very happy my son has someone he cares about and who
cares about him. I'm happy my son is happy."

And for that, she got a monster hug as soon as we got home.

ZACH

As we moved into the fall, I tried my hardest not to get anxious about the
future, but it was really tough. School work was trivial and I found myself
thinking about what our lives would be like 2, 5, 10 years down the road
and what we needed to do to make certain of my daydream's reality.

Presumptuous would have been a perfect description since none of this
involved Tate. He had a role to play, to be sure, but it was modeling a
little in college than for another few years in our 20s. After, he'd settle
down with me wherever I was working and we would raise a family
together. It was very 50s nuclear family, with Tate cast as the little
woman. I mentioned my planning to him at one point and he looked at me
unemotionally as he asked, "And what am I doing while you're in the middle
of a `career'?"

I answered as best I could which wasn't nearly good enough. He didn't get
angry, just pointed out that maybe we should concentrate on broad strokes,
like getting through school first.

He was right, but it wasn't going to stop me.

About two weeks after we first had sex, my parents demanded I bring him to
dinner since my father hadn't met him and my mother only met him once,
briefly, when we were out and I had to stop by the house to drop something
off to her. I'd wanted him to stay in the truck but he insisted he come in
and say hi since it would have been rude otherwise.

Unsurprisingly we there for 30 minutes as my mother gushed over him.

I wasn't as open with my parents as Tate was with his mother. My parents
were a little more traditional and while they knew what we'd been up to
when I spent the night, talking about it was not something they wanted to
do. They also understood how I felt about him and they were insistent that
he come to dinner.

Thursdays were usually an early practice so I set dinner with the family
for that night. I picked him up on my way home since his mother was still
at work and he'd not yet purchased a car, something that thrilled me even
if it did tend to make him a little cranky.

We arrived at my house and he got to meet my father for the first
time. That meeting went better than I expected and my father was rather
obviously taken with him. So were my younger sister and brother, twins in
8th grade. My mother was acting like she had a new son. I'd told her what I
thought about with regard to Tate and some of that had clearly broken
through as she basically treated him like her son in law, monopolizing him
until we actually sat down to eat.

We talked just a bit as we served ourselves. I could tell my sister was
anxious and that spilled out not long after he took his first bite.

"Zach said you're a model. Do you like modelling?"

Tate wiped at his mouth, then responded, "Well, yeah, but there are many
pieces to it, some I enjoy more than others. It's a job and you have to
treat it as such. I keep my diet pretty strict and I have to work out to
stay in shape all the time. It gets to be a little tedious. Then there's
the actual shoot..."

My brother interrupted him, "Aren't you just standing around and someone
takes pictures?"

"I wish, but it's not really that simple. You're in a specific pose until
they get the shots they want, then they move you into another. When you're
done with those clothes, you have to change and then do it all again. Think
about having to stand in place in the same spot for until someone tells you
can move, then do it over and over again. If it's cold, you can't look like
you're freezing and if it's hot, you can't sweat. It's not like mining
coal, but it's not super easy either."

"I hadn't thought about any of that," my brother said.

"Well, of course you didn't, Tommy. You're 14," my father said, winking at
Tate and I.

"There are some parts that are fun, right?" my mother asked.

"Oh sure. Meeting people is great and not just other models. A lot of times
celebrities will come back stage after a show and you get to meet them. You
also get to know the designers and they're usually really interesting
people. It's how I keep getting asked to do jobs for specific houses."

"Like Prada?"

"Yes ma'am. I got to know Raf Simmons and he liked how I looked in their
suits, which is pretty funny because their suits make everyone look good."

"You think they'd work for me," my father asked with a laugh.

"Of course. You and Zach would need custom, but they do an amazing job."

"How much would a custom suit by Prada cost?"

"$6, maybe $7,000."

"I think I'll stick to Nordstrom."

The conversation went like that all night, relaxed and easy, just like
Tate. It was clear my sister was infatuated and even Tommy seemed to like
him. The big surprised was my parents, especially my dad. He was an
engineer and wasn't what you'd call warm and sociable. However, when it
came to Tate, he smiled and was almost fun.

After dinner we settled in for a movie. I sat on the floor with my back to
the sofa and Tate sat between my legs, leaning back on me as I wrapped my
arms around him. I loved holding him like this and at one point, I looked
over and noticed my father looking at me, smiling. When we made eye
contact, he just nodded and looked away. Later that night, I called my
older brother and told him what happened.

"Oh, wow, he must really like him. He did the same thing to me when I
brought Shelly home the first time." Shelly, his wife, who my father really
loved.

"So, it's a good sign?"

"Yeah, Zach. It's about as effusive as dad gets," he laughed out. "How was
mom?"

"She loved him the first time she met him. I'm telling you; he has this
effect on people. You can't help but feel relaxed when you're around him."

He chuckled a bit, "Well, Shelly and I are looking forward to it. She
looked him up and found his Wiki page."

"He has a Wiki entry?" I asked, already typing the search into my computer.

"Yeah, he does..."

My face dropped as I read the page, "I gotta go."


TATE

This first thing I noticed as I woke up the next morning was the text
notification. I opened my phone and saw it was from Zach

CALL ME ASAP

I sighed as the phone dialed his number, wondering what had happened.

"Hey babe, did you know you have a Wikipedia entry?"

"Oh, that. Yeah. Uhm, I think someone who works for Nina set it up. Why?"

"When was the last time you looked at it?"

I had to think before I answered, "I don't know, maybe a year or two?"

"You need to review it and call Nina to have it updated."

"Why?" I asked as I got out of bed and made my way to my computer.

I heard him sniff, "Because someone put something in about the rape."

I was kind of numb as opened up the browser. When the page loaded, I
quickly ran through it until I got to the part Zach was talking about...

"On March 2nd 2022, Tate was attacked while at school and sexually
assaulted. His assailant remains unknown."

A chill ran up my spine and I could feel my scalp tingle. None of this was
public record, I was still a minor. However, how someone found out about it
was less important than why they would post it?

"Babe, let me call Nina. I'll see you when you get here," and I hung up the
phone. My conversation with Nina was blessedly brief and more than a little
uncomfortable as I'd never told her what happened. Thankfully, she wasn't
one of those people who made everything about them and didn't make a thing
out of it, just told me calmly they'd find out who posted the information
and have it taken down.

And then I told her not to bother with the latter. I felt a sudden jolt of
bravery and decided I wasn't going to hide from this as if I was ashamed of
it. He wouldn't own any part of me and that included making me fearful.

I got ready for my day, then went downstairs to see Zach talking to my
mother who looked over at me with unshed tears in her eyes. We quickly
closed the distance between us and she hugged me tightly.

"I'll call the attorney and handle this," she said.

"It's OK, mom. Nina is looking into it. I told her to leave it up."

She looked at me cautiously, then a smile spread on her face before she
pulled me back to her.

During breakfast, Zach mentioned that his mother would be inviting us to
Thanksgiving at their house. My mother, very quickly, said no.

"Zach, this is something Tate and I need to do together. We'd be happy to
have dinner Friday or Saturday night, but Thanksgiving Day is going to be
us and my father. We're all we have."

Zach nodded, "I understand."

I thought it was kind of weird since Thanksgiving was six weeks away, but I
was still a little out of it from the Wiki page and didn't press. I was
excited my grandfather was coming as I really loved him. Unlike my father's
parents, his love had never been conditional.

We went on to school and for the rest of the day and well into the weekend,
I put the Wiki thing out of my head. I did ask for an emergency meeting my
therapist that afternoon which went far better than I expected. She was
impressed with how I handled things and told me my emotional progress was
good.

"You feeling comfortable with it, knowing that there's nothing for you to
be ashamed of, is remarkable and I'm really happy you're there."

"Thank you. I think it's Zach who helped mostly."

She smiled as she put her notebook down, "No, this is all you."

I thought about what she said in the Uber on the way over to Chelsea's
house since I was, once more, going to the game with the girls. I found
myself in a surprisingly good mood. I felt like I really WAS past the
rape. What Tillet did would live in me but it was not going to dictate my
life and I refused to be silent.

When I got there, the girls were hanging out and it was nice to unwind and
eat some shitty food before we went to the game. Chels looked at me a few
times and at one point asked if anything was up. I smiled and told her
`later' which got her off my ass.

At the game, our offense was on point which made life easier for Ben and
Zach who were clearly having fun. Zach looked amazing on the field and I
once again got worked up at what he was doing to the opposing
players. There was only one Man on that field, and he was the one fucking
me.

Later I walked down to the fence where his parents were and gave his mother
a hug. His dad wasn't quite there yet and insisted on a handshake. Later
when I mentioned it to Zach, he told me about his conversation with Darren
and made it clear to me that his father really did like me. That much I
knew, but his comments made me far more comfortable with him.

The rest of the night was fun. We went to dinner with a bunch of people,
then over to a party which we didn't stay at long because I needed to be
home. My mom really didn't care about the curfew at this point, but we had
plans to go car shopping the next day, which ended up being a lot of fun.

My mother is a blast to hang out with. She doesn't try to be my friend,
she's my mother and that's always 100% clear. But she's really funny and
she has a way of making even car buying fun. We went to 6 different lots
where there were cars I'd found. The fifth one ended up having the one I
wanted and at that point, my mother backed off and let me negotiate the
price. This is where knowing the market comes in very handy because I could
point out there was another one for sale at dealer in Fremont that was
about $500 cheaper. Now, driving over a bridge in traffic is worth
something, so we played let's make a deal and, in the end, I got it market
down $300.

I didn't mention the one in Fremont also had 1000 more miles on it.

So, I worked out the paperwork and we negotiated the loan terms with my
mother's help. I wanted to pay cash, but my mother insisted on a loan since
my assets, despite the current market, would eventually earn more than the
interest on the loan. She understood it well, I understood it barely. All I
cared about was when I could take it and the dealer would have the car
ready to go on Tuesday, I just needed to make sure the wire was sent to
them Monday morning for my down payment.

We got home about 4 and I went to get ready for Zach to pick me up. I knew
he was going to be weird about the whole car thing, but I needed it. Having
to rely on others to go anywhere was a real drag.

Zach showed up about 6:30 and talked to my mother for about 10 minutes
until I made it downstairs and found them in the kitchen, snacking on this
really delicious but very smelly dip my mother made with garlic, dill, and
cheese. I got a blast of all three when he kissed me and pulled back
weirdly which made him look at me for a second, before he realized what
he'd been eating.

"Oh, I should probably brush my teeth," he asked, rhetorically.

My mother just laughed, "No, I think the damage is done from the look on
Tate's face."

I laughed a little and remarked that the kiss was still worth the garlic
blast, which earned me another kiss and a hug.

"What do you guys have planned tonight?"  Zach looked at me, then turned to
my mother, "We have a triple date."

"We do?" I asked.

"Yep. Ben and the guy he's been seeing from Berkeley and Chelsea and her
new guy."

I thought for a second, "The junior she's been talking to? She actually
started dating him?"

He nodded, "Yeah for about two weeks. Those keen observation skills must
have missed it." Which made my mother snort.

We got to the restaurant first and had to wait for everyone else to get
there before they'd seat us. It was a Mexican place in San Jose that was
closer to Tex Mex than Oaxacalifornia. We'd been in the bar for about 5
minutes when Ben and Dustin showed up, followed about a minute later by
Chelsea and Daniel.

Not long after, we sat down and I asked Dan to pass the chips.

"Sure, but it's Daniel," he replied.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't think," I replied.

"It's OK, it happens a lot. The one I really hate is Danny because it's
like I'm back playing T-ball," he responded, laughing.

"I promise I'll remember, Daniel!" I responded with a smile. He really is a
nice guy and Chels seems to really like him, which made me want to be on
extra super good behavior.

We ordered then chatted some more and I got into a conversation with Dustin
about UC and how he was liking it. Thoughts of moving back to Texas had
pretty much died, and now everything revolved around staying as close as
possible to Zach. I knew I wasn't going to get into Stanford, but I did
think there was a chance for Cal Berkeley until Dustin told me the
admission stats and I realized that I was more likely heading for San Jose
State.

As if on cue, that was the moment Zach leaned over to me and said, "You
don't have to worry about that."

I looked at him, "About what?"

"Getting into Stanford," he replied, softly, with a smile.

Honestly, I didn't know what to make of it but I decided I was going to
leave it alone at least for the night. I don't know what he thought he
knew, but I was sure he was very off base as my SAT scores weren't bad, but
they weren't Stanford either. We didn't get into it because Ben started up
about the attention the highlight videos were getting on TikTok. It was
unusual because normally that kind of thing would attract local people,
maybe a few hundred views. The one from the previous night had more than
20,000.

The rest of the weekend and Monday were pretty sedate. Tuesday he agreed to
take me to the dealership to pick up my car after practice was over. I went
early to watch him and was impressed that even in practice, he ineffably
dominated the field.

After practice broke, he walked over to the bleachers and I was overwhelmed
by the sight of him when he stripped off the pads. I know it wasn't just
me, I could see other heads subtly directed his way, enjoying the view of
my man's absolutely brutal upper body. It actually made me a little
self-conscious since while I was lean and healthy, I wasn't shredded or
built like a tank. I felt kind of soft, and wondered if I should start
hitting the gym a little harder.

I walked down to meet him at the bottom of the bleachers and he started to
lean in to kiss me. I shocked him a bit when I grabbed his head and took
control, then pulled back to see him smiling broadly at me. As it turned
out, I was smiling pretty brightly at him as well, something we found out
about when we saw the snapshot someone took and posted to Instagram.

After Zach cleaned up, we made it to the dealer in time and they had my
keys, and paperwork, done. I was really excited to be mobile again, even if
Zach did find it a little comical. I bought a Prius because I wanted
something that sipped gas and in which I could speed without too much
attention from local police or CHP. He was anything but impressed but I
didn't care. Who the hell stops a Prius doing 90? No one. Because they're
looking for a sportscar.

We dropped his truck at his house, then took off to grab something to
eat. I was starting to feel at home in PA and it was fun. I was really
feeling happy, not good, legit happy for the first time in months. As
apprehensive as I had been about the move, it all came together and I
realized a big part of that had been the man sitting across from me. Then
he noticed the smile on my face and asked, "What?"

"I'm just happy, I promise there's nothing else."

Our phones dinged about the same time and the picture that someone had
snapped earlier and posted to Insta now had us tagged to it, along with
almost a thousand likes. We both, stupidly, thought nothing more of it than
being a good picture of us.