Date: Thu, 2 Jun 2016 23:26:24 -0500
From: Eric Trager <trager2275@gmail.com>
Subject: It Is What It Is: Chapter 10

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CHAPTER TEN

Braden's mouth dropped open. He stood just inside the doorway stammering
unintelligibly.

"Look, Mark, I'm only gonna say this once, and I mean this in the best
possible way: I don't think you're the one who beat Andy up. You don't have
the brainpower to pull off something like that. But you obviously seem to
know something about it. If that's true, then you better get your ass to
the Police and tell `em whatcha know because sooner or later they're gonna
find out anyway, trust me. And once they find out you knew something and
didn't come forward even you can figure out the rest of it...  And just so
ya know, I'm not gonna go to the cops because Andy and I have new lives to
start, and we've decided to move ahead with our new lives. While we do
that, you're gonna be looking over your shoulder 24/7."

Braden opened his mouth and began to speak.

Sean raised his left palm in the `talk to the hand' gesture, "I don't wanna
hear it. It's on your conscience. I'm done. I'm outta here, Mark." With
that, Sean pivoted with almost military precision and marched back to the
Equinox.

Once in the Equinox, Sean called Andy's room at the hospital.

"Hello?"

"Hey Brown Eyes, look I just left Braden, and I'm pretty sure he's got
information..."

"What makes ya say that?"

"Well, he said `too bad about Churchill.' Now, we both know your name
hasn't been released to the press, so unless he has some info it'd be
almost impossible that he knew what happened. I told him that I wasn't
gonna go to the cops, so I'll leave that up to you, but I also told him
that if he does know something, then he'll be in for it once the cops find
out he knew something and didn't report it. Oh, and he doens't know I
recorded him saying it on my phone."

"You're badass! I dunno if I'm gonna say anything, or not, though. I really
meant what I said tonight when I said I want to move forward. I'll think
about it..."

"OK, love you Brown Eyes! I am gonna share it with my dad, though."

"That's fine. I love you, too, Blondie..."

On his way home, Sean recognized that the next street up was where Greg
Tillman lived. For some reason, the idea came to him to stop off at Tilly's
and say good-bye.

Sean pulled up in front of the Tillman home, walked up to the front door
and knocked. Greg's mom answered the door. "Well, hello, Sean! Say, Greg
told us that you're moving away! That's too bad. He says he'll miss you!
Come in, I'll go get him!"

"Hey, Wymo! What brings you here tonight?"

"Hey, Tilly. Look can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure. Let's go out on the patio..."

Once out on the patio, Greg excused himself to go get a couple of
sodas. "Here you go, Wymo...thought you might want a soda..."

"Thanks, man. Look, I know I came over uninvited, so I'll just cut to the
chase here: you and I got to be friends last year, so can ya tell me true
what the real deal was with that meeting at Braden's?"

"Look, Wymo, I had no idea what was gonna go down. I heard later that a
bunch of the guys saw that video the night before down at the park. I
wasn't there that night so I didn't even know about the video. If I had, I
would've called ya. I didn't know what was gonna happen over at
Brade's. You gotta believe me. After you punched Brade in the balls and
left the guys were pretty quiet. It was so weird, I just hadda leave. I
told Brade, though, that I wasn't gonna play on any team he was on. I told
him what he did was a load of crap. He was still on the floor when I left."

"You mean you didn't know?"

"No, man. It surprised me as much as you... I gotta ask ya, though, and I'm
not judging ya or nuthin', but is it true that you and Churchill are, um,
like, boyfriends?

"Yeah, Tilly, it's true. I didn't even realize until it until this past
week, but And and me, well, what can I say? We're in love. I love the guy
with all my heart. We decided that we're gonna be starting new lives soon,
and that's what we we're gonna do. Move forward with that."

"OK, well, I wish you guys all the best, and I don't give a fuck if you're
gay, or not.  That shit never bothered me. Ain't none of my business,
man. Hope I can still count ya as a friend, but I'd understand if ya didn't
want to be." Greg said, staring at the ground.

"Tilly, I don't wanna burn any bridges here, so, yeah. I mean, I believe
you that you didn't have anything to do with that, so I got no reason to be
pissed at you. So, yeah, we're still friends. You might wanna go talk to
Coach, though. Something tells me there might be some heads roll about that
whole Braden thing. I don't know for sure, but I'm just sayin'..."

"I guess I should go see Coach, yeah. I mean, what's the worst I can hear,
right?"

"Listen, Tilly, I got another question for ya here. You heard about that
kid that got beat up in the park, right?"

"Yeah, what's that got to do with you, or me, though?"

"I know the kid. OK? I mean, like, I KNOW THE KID," Sean said with his
fingers making imaginary quote marks in the air."

"I think I follow... Go on..."

"Well, just wondering, who would do something like that, ya know?"

"I'd have no idea, Wymo. After what happened at Brade's I just wanted to
wash my hands of the whole thing. Wait a minute... Look, I do remember that
when everyone was quiet after you left, after a while Berrifield said
something like, I mean this isn't a direct quote, but it was something
along the lines that they got rid of you, so they should get rid of
Churchill, too. That might not mean anything, but that's all that comes to
mind... It didn't register until when you asked just now because that whole
night was just so fucking weird..."

"Thanks, man."

"Look, so is it Andy? Is he the one that got beat up?"

"Swear a secret, man?"

"I swear."

"Yeah, it's Andy. He was beaten to within an inch of his life. He's in the
hospital and can't walk. Remember, man, this is a secret. You can't tell
anyone if we're still gonna be friends. Besides, it's now a Police
instigation."

"Look, Wymo, you're one of the best players I ever had the pleasure to
share a field with. And you're a stand-up guy off the field. Your secret's
safe with me. I sure hope Andy pulls through"

"OK, thanks, man. Look, I gotta go. I don't wanna take up your whole
evening here.  Thanks, for the soda, man, and thanks for being a friend."

"Any time, Wymo!" Greg pulled Sean into a bro-hug, "I'll miss ya, man, but
I understand. Let's not be strangers."

"OK, see ya, Tilly, and thanks!"

Sean went back out to his car, picked up his cell phone and placed a call
to his dad.  "Hey, dad! Yeah, I'll be home in a few minutes. I wanna talk
to you about something when I get there. OK, see you in a few!"

Sean pulled into the garage and hurried into the house. "Hey, dad!"

"In here, son!" Joe called from his study.

"Hey, dad... Look, I think I might have a lead on who's behind Andy's
beating!"

"OK, well, sit down and tell me then!"

"OK, here's the deal. I've had my suspicion about John Berrifield. At first
I thought it could be Braden, but dad, Braden's not smart
enough. Berrifield is, and Greg Tillman just told me that he overheard
Berrifield say now that they got rid of me they should get rid of Andy,
too. By the way, I got Braden on tape admitting that he knows about it."

"OK, well, how did Tillman hear this?"

Sean then recounted the conversation he had with Greg just a few minutes
earlier.

"Hmmm, well, that's interesting. Look, I'm gonna do something a little
unusual here.  I'm gonna make a phone call and put it on speaker. You just
sit right there and don't say a word, or make a sound."

"OK. So, who ya gonna call, dad?"

"Joe Burkheimer."

Joe Wyman dialed the phone and waited. "Yeah? The voice on the other end of
the line said."

"Joe, Joe Wyman here. Look, sorry to bother you. Got a minute?"

"What's up, Joe..."

"Look, it's about that Churchill kid. You hear the news story about the kid
that was beaten in the park? Well, that was Andy Churchill."

"Holy shit! Really, man? How is he?"

"Joe, he was beaten severely. He'll recover, but it was probably a close
run thing. He was in garbage bags when he was found. Now, none of the
information, not even his name, has been released to the press, so just
trust me when I say that I know the situation intimately. I'm actually the
one who found him in the park that night."

"OK, Joe, but what's that got to do with me?"

"Nothing. I know you let Andy off the hook and all, and I appreciate that,
but all I'm asking is if the M.O. of the thing might sound familiar to
ya. Look, I know you're not involved in shit like this, I mean, we go way
back, Joe, and I know you've been around for too many years to get involved
in this kind of shit, but in the line of work you're in, I'm sure you've,
um, at least heard of shit go down that I wouldn't have a clue about. I'm
just trying to pick your brain is all..."

"OK, so you said he was left in garbage bags? And it was in a park at night
where nobody would be around until the next day?"

"Yeah."

"I can't say for sure, but if I had to look, the first place I'd look is at
some of the Mexican gangs. The Asian gangs, they don't do shit like that,
they'd just take you to Milwaukee and slit your throat, the black gangs
would've just shot him, and so would've the white trash guys, but beating
and leaving the victim somewhere obscure, well, that sounds more like what
the Mexicans would do. At least as far as I know. Tell me, when he was
found was there any ID on him?"

"No."

"Yup, first place I'd look is the Mexican gangs, but here's the thing, Joe:
Andy wasn't involved with any gang shit. He was just a penny-ante,
small-time High School dealer who sold to other school kids; mostly rich
kids with mom and dad's money. And it was only pot. No meth, or heroin. I
don't handle those items, never have, never will. I can tell you for a fact
that Andy didn't, either. So if it was a gang that was involved, then there
would have to be a little more to the story, because Andy didn't have any
connection to gangs, or at least none that I know of... If he had a
connection, and if it was a Mexican gang, they would've just fuckin'
shanked him. Nah, this was something different like it was a beating done
for hire, or something like that."

"OK, thanks, Joe. Good talkin' to ya. Take care."

"You, too, Joe. If ya see Andy, give him my best. Tell him his shit was
worth a grand and I'll get the money to him in the next day, or two."

"Joe, send the check to my house and make it payable to Wyman
Landscaping. As of tomorrow or the next day, I'll be Andy's guardian so to
speak."

"Got it. OK, man, have a good one!"

Sean was a bit curious after this conversation. "OK, dad, just how do you
know Joe Burkheimer anyway?"

"Son, Joe and I were Marines together. Now, I may not approve of his, um,
occupational choice, but Joe would never hurt anyone just to hurt them, and
once a Marine, always a Marine."

"And why make the check payable to the Landscaping? What's that all about?"

"Well, you will invoice Burkheimer for $1,000 worth of landscaping work and
that way it looks like a legitimate payment. If Joe writes a check to Andy,
then there could be some future circumstance where that might be called
into question. Andy doesn't need that possibility. You have a legitimate
business; Andy does not. Follow me?"

"That makes sense, dad. So what do you think?"

"I think tomorrow I'll go see Detective Chrostowski and let him know I had
the conversation with Burkheimer tonight."

"OK, dad. I guess, though, I have to keep my promise to Andy and leave the
fact that Braden seemed to know at least something up to Andy. Andy says he
wants us to start our new lives and move forward with that. He says he
doesn't want to live in the past. I wanna move forward, too, dad. And,
dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, or anything, but I just feel so awesome
that I'm gonna have Andy by my side. It just feels, well, it feels so
different being in love with someone, and I love him so much! I feel like
I'm ten feet tall, dad!"

"I'm happy for you two, son. You have my support, the both of you. I'm
proud of you, Sean. Now, as for the other part: I might not agree 100% with
you not reporting what Braden said, but I'm gonna tell you something,
Mr. Man, and you listen to me: when you make a promise to Andy, you better
keep your promise to him. Always. So, no, I won't expect you to report on
Braden. You left that up to Andy. It's done as far as you're
concerned. Whether Andy decides to report it, or not, you will have to
respect his decision and not question him about it."

"I know that, dad. Andy and I already talked about it, and that's what we
agreed to.  Hey, when do we have to register for school, anyway? I guess I
need to call and find that out. I can call Monday morning. Say, what about
the Realtor lady?"

"I've already called her, son. I got a call to make as well, and that's to
GM to tell them I accept their offer. I told the Realtor that once I have a
signed contract we can move ahead. I did send her a $10,000.00 Cashier's
Check as earnest money on the house and told her to get me a
contract. We're going to do it as a cash sale – GM buys this house,
which has no mortgage on it, and then I will buy the Spanish house.  We'll
probably have to live in the GM condo for a month, or so. The present
owners have to move out of the Spanish house, and then I'll need to have
the correct security systems installed. GM has already given me permission
to have security installed at the condo on the basis of a leasehold
improvement. So, anyway, yes, we're getting the Spanish house. The Realtor
sent me the floor plan, and a lot of photos. I gotta tell ya Sean, when you
pick a house, you don't fuck around!"

"I learned that from you, dad...go big, or go home!"

Sean excused himself to go up to his room, "Dad, I'm just gonna grab a
snack for dinner and go up to my room. I'm kinda beat, and I got a couple
of calls to make."

"OK, g'night, son. I'll see you in the morning!"

 Once in his room, Sean called Jim Nolan.

"Hey, Wymo, what's up?"

"Not much, Noles... Hey, you working tomorrow?"

"Nope. Why?"

"Wanna go to the hospital with me?"

"The hospital, why would I wanna go to the fuckin' hospital?"

"I'll pick you up at 9:30, Noles," Sean laughed.

"Well, OK, but this better be good, Wymo!"

"Don't worry, it will be! See ya at 9:30, man..."

"OK, later!"

Sean then dialed Joe Regent.

"Hey, Rege."

"Um, Wymo, um, like what's up?"

"Nadda... Look, Rege, the other day in Coach's office you asked me to
forgive you, and that's why I'm calling. Here's the deal: In a few days, or
a week, or whatever, I'm gonna be starting a new life. I wanna move
forward. I don't wanna live in the past, and I don't wanna burn any bridges
with folks that might have shown some common decency. So, I'm calling to
say that I forgive ya for whatever part you had in that shit."

"Thanks, Wymo. I didn't do anything to stop it, though. I should have. I
realized that as soon as you stood up to Brade. I was like, `fuck, Wymo's
right!' but I didn't do anything, man, and now we basically don't have a
team. Losing you and Noles really cuts the heart out of the offense,
especially you. We don't have a quarterback now...  Look, the way I see it
is that you did whatcha hadda do. I guess I'da done the same – what
choice did you have? I'm sorry, man..."

"Rege, I said I forgave you. Now you need to do what I'm doing: move
forward.  What's done is done."

"So, can we still, like, be friends after this?"

"Yeah, Rege, we can. I might not see you for a long time, or ever again,
but I'll count you as a friend."

"Me, too, Wymo. I'd love to see ya before ya go!"

"OK, well, then meet me at the main entrance to Aurora hospital at 9:45
tomorrow morning."

"That's a weird place to meet!"

"It is, but trust me, it'll all make sense. Noles is gonna be there, too. I
got something I wanna show ya, and no this isn't a set up. If it were,
you're not the one I'd be setting up!"

Regent laughed, "OK, see ya at the hospital at 9:45!"

"OK, later, Rege!"

Sean then fired up his MacBook Pro and googled Craig High School. He
located Coach Slater's email address at the school and fired off an email.

*****

Coach Slater:

This is to inform you that I shall be enrolling as a student at Craig High
for the coming year.

I will be in the Junior class.

It is my intention to try out for the Craig High varsity football team.

If you have a minute, would you kindly email me the practice schedule, and
Craig's requirements for student athletes?

As I indicated in our meeting a few days ago, I shall do my best and I
shall be a team player.

I will be starting a new life, and my goal is to move forward with that.

Sincerely,

Sean B. Wyman

*****

Sean shut down the computer, drew the covers back on his bed, stripped off
his clothing, turned out the light and went to bed. The last few days had
been a whirlwind in ways Sean could never have imagined a week ago. While
he was tired, his brain raced, processing all the information that had come
in the torrent of recent days.

Satisfied that all of the information had been satisfactorily processed,
Sean's left hand moved down his torso and toward his pelvic region. Sean
ran his hands lightly over his chest, which seemed to be getting hairier by
the day, caressing his nipples until they were the size of pencil
erasers. He then moved his hand across his belly where he delighted in the
downy treasure trail and on to his pubic region.

Sean could feel his cock stirring. As it filled with blood, he felt his
cock move across his pubes from left to right. The sensation of his filling
cock's movement made his balls and asshole tighten. Sean cupped his balls
with his left hand while his right hand sought out his asshole. Once there,
he flicked lightly but rapidly at his asshole with his middle finger. As
his asshole gained in sensation, Sean rubbed it rougher while pressing with
his abdomen down on his finger. The sensation was driving him crazy, and he
went for his cock with his left hand.

Sean curled his left hand around his now throbbing member and began a slow
jerk off. He could already sense precum on the head. He scooped some up and
brought it to his lips, savoring the thin, honey-like substance. Resuming
the jacking of his now rock-hard, throbbing dick, Sean's cockhead became
engorged, and his asshole soft and yielding at the constant flicking it was
getting, alternately expanding and then puckering as if it had a life of
its own.

Sean could feel himself getting close, his dick swelling up and beginning
to twitch in the pre-throes of orgasm. He raced it almost to the point of
no return, and then stopped, not jacking, but just keeping his had around
the shaft of his cock. He didn't want to come just yet. He wanted to edge a
little while. And while he edged he wanted to indulge in the recurring
fantasy that most often came to him in his morning showers.

The fantasy, while in previous incarnations, had been stimulating, now was
irresistible. And it was irresistible because the fantasy now had a face,
and that face was Andy. Again, Sean thought to himself how dumb he'd been
all these years not noticing that it was always Andy who'd comforted him
when he was down, who'd been a true friend, how many times Sean had admired
Andy's tight, athletic body and those warm brown eyes, and how he hadn't
recognized the obvious love they contained. But that had all changed.

Sean continued to jack and edge for what seemed like an eternity. Each time
his cock gushed forth more precum, San scooped it up, putting it to his
mouth and savoring every drop of his own nectar.

Sean felt an addition to the fantasy come over him. He felt the brave, new
world of Andy making love to him. He could feel Andy's big cock impaling
his asshole, and as Sean inserted his finger into his now craving asshole
and went straight for his prostate. He could stand it no more. His left
hand raced over his hyper-sensitive cock, in agony and ecstasy he cried
out, `Fuck me, Andy! Fuck me! I want you so fucking bad, Andy! Please fuck
me now!' as his dick swelled ever more.

As he cried out for his man to take him it felt like the Earth was
shattering. He felt his cock expand what felt like a full inch. This was
it. Furiously jacking with his left hand, his right hand formed an edge
with his fingertips that he pressed down on the area in his pubes just
above the base of his dick and pressed the fingertips, rubbing the area up
and down and in a circular fashion in time with his jacking.

"I love you, Andy!" were the last words Sean gasped before a volcanic
eruption of cum such as he'd never experienced exploded into the room. He
could hear the first two shots fly past his head and hit the headboard of
his bed, the third shot covered his face at least half of it going into his
mouth, and more shots he could feel parting his chest hairs. Shot after
shot flew into the room. Sean could smell the heavy, musky odor of cum in
the air. Never in his life had he experienced such a totally orgasm.

His entire body spasmed wildly for at least ten seconds afterwards, and
Sean was without control over the spasms.

When the spasms subsided, Sean tried to get up to go get a towel form the
bathroom to wipe himself off, but his legs wobbled uncontrollably, gave
way, and he fell to the floor. Gasping for breath, Sean waited for his
heartbeat to return to some level of normalcy before he attempted to stand
again. After about a minute, Sean felt he could stand, and when he did, he
felt the entire front of his body bathed in his own cum running down his
face, chest, belly and crotch.

Grabbing a towel, and cleaning himself off, he mouthed the words, "For
always and forever." Sean knew at that moment, even more than he'd known
over the past few days, that his destiny was Andy's, and Andy's destiny was
his. And he was both pleased and content with that. Sean returned to his
bed and slept the peaceful, sound sleep that he sorely needed.

What Sean could not know was that at that very same moment in Room 562 of
the Aurora Hospital, Andy, who had had quite enough of being bedridden, had
reached his limit with what a 16-year-old boy could take in terms of time
without cumming.  Tears formed in Andy's eyes as he thought about his
gorgeous, blonde lover and how he was not able to please him.

Although Andy could not have known at that moment about Sean's total
surrender to him, he felt that he might be becoming a liability to Sean and
that Sean might grow tired of that. Nevertheless, his body's need to expel
semen outweighed his trepidations about Sean, and Andy, even though in
pain, grasped his cock and did the best he could to jack it off.

It took a little time to get it hard, he figured as the result of the
painkillers, but once hard he was pleased with the size of his cock, easily
seven inches and on the thick side. He was so much in pain by the physical
motions required of masturbation that he figured he just needed to get off,
and he didn't give a fuck if he couldn't clean up and a nurse, or an
orderly figured out that he shot his load. He was a 16-year-old boy, he
reasoned, and they've probably seen it all...

Andy's cock was already hard thinking about his handsome lover, and
especially about the incredible blowjob he'd got from Sean. Andy, being
right-handed versus Sean's left-handed, grabbed his hard dick with his
right hand and jacked it fast, all the while with is mind's eye on having
his dick inside Sean's furry ass. Andy loved that Sean was a little bit
hairy. Dead sexy, Andy thought.

Andy was in pain while he jacked, but the pain was over-ridden by his love
for Sean.  Andy felt himself getting closer and closer. His left hand he
ran over his almost totally smooth chest, Andy only had hairs around his
nipples, and he tweaked his nipples with his fingertips while continuing to
masturbate his cock. He could feel precum, and while he'd have liked to
draw out his jack off session, he was in enough pain to know he needed to
finish it off.

In his mind's eye was the vision of his hunky, hairy, blonde lover naked in
front of him. Andy would take Sean, and prove his love to him by ravishing
his ass. Andy wanted so much to plant his seed in Sean's firm, round jock
ass. He felt his cock engorging, and he didn't fight the throes of orgasm
as the pain of his injuries reminded him of the pleasure between his
legs. Andy gasped, "I love you, Sean! I love you forever!" and proceeded to
pump out days' worth of teenage cum across his face and abs. He counted
eight shots of cum.  His body hurt so bad after he came down from his
orgasm.

He hoped Sean would stick by him. Andy always had food, clothing and
shelter, but he'd never had much love, and he was unfamiliar with it in
this new incarnation. For Sean to stick by him would, he knew, take love,
and he needed reassurance.

As he wiped himself off the best he could, Andy started crying. "What if he
won't put up with this? It's going to be months before I'm normal again!
Sean, please love me!  Please!"

Andy's tears brought on a coughing fit sufficient to bring a Nurse in.

Andy noted her badge. Her name was Alexandra Zastrow. She looked to be
about 55 years old, and was not the most attractive woman Andy had ever
seen; he thought she looked like a Russian Peasant.

The Nurse asked Andy is he was alright. Andy replied, "Yes, ma'am. I was
just thinking about my lover boy is all... I don't know how much longer
he'll put up with me like this..."

The Nurse replied, "You mean the tall blonde with the killer eyes and the
smirk? His name is Sean?

Andy said, "Yeah, that's him."

"You listen to me, my little shit," the Nurse said, "I've seen him here
every day for you. I've seen that boy cry for you. I've seen him ride the
Doctor's asses for you. He's a keeper. I'm a lot older than you are, and
I'm telling you the truth: he loves you!  More than you know!"

"Thank you, Nurse! I needed to hear that. I was afraid he'd start to think
of me as a burden."

"No way!" Nurse Zastrow said, "This old Nurse is givin' it to ya straight:
He loves you, dumbass! Your boyfriend, my little shit, is one helluva young
man. He wants to move forward with you by his side. You better get a grip!
Hmmm...it looks like you already got a grip there..." Nurse Zastrow
couldn't resist the last bit, and winked at Andy while she got a towel and
wiped him clean.

Andy turned into a tomato. "Thanks for cleaning me up. I'll have Sean bring
me a box of Kleenex I guess..."

"That would be a good idea, my little shit. You and Sean will be happy
together. I see success for both of you at Craig High School. Night now!"

"Night, Nurse!" Just then it hit Andy, how could the Nurse have known they
would be going to Craig High? Eerie, Andy thought.

The next morning at 9:30 sharp Sean pulled up at the Nolan home. He beeped
the horn twice fast and waited for Jim to come out. Jim bounded out
smiling, "Morning, Wymo!"

"Hey, Noles! Hop in!"

Jim jumped in the passenger seat, "I still don't get why we're going to the
hospital. I mean, are you getting a sex-change operation?"

"Fuck no! Then I'd have to be a Lesbian and I decided I don't wanna eat
pussy! I'd love to eat Andy's ass, though..." Sean gave Jim a huge smirk.

"I'm jealous of you guys. I don't know which one is luckier, you or Andy! I
mean, you're just plain fucking HOT. Now, Andy's hot, too, but both of you
have hearts of gold. You guys don't know how lucky you are!" Jim looked
over and saw a tear run down Sean's cheek.

"I know I'm a lucky guy, Noles... I just hope Andy doesn't feel like I'm
letting him down. I'm doing my best to be there for him... He hasn't had a
lot of love in his life, and this is my first time being in love, so I am
really trying to do everything right," Sean said as he took a couple deep
breaths, squaring his shoulders with both hands on the steering wheel.

"I bet he knows that, Sean. How could he not?"

"OK, Noles, here we are. We'll park and then go in. What time ya got?"

"9:44," Jim said checking his cell phone.

"Perfect!" Sean said.

Once parked, Sean and Jim walked out of the parking garage and toward the
front entrance. Jim spotted Joe Regent standing near the front door. Now he
really thought this was odd. "What's going on here, Wymo?" Jim asked.

"You'll see. It's nothing bad, I just need you guys to help me right now. I
need you for one reason and Rege for another, but like I said, you'll
see..." Sean winked. "Hey, Rege, thanks for coming!"

"Hey, Wymo, hey Noles... This is a really weird place to meet, but I guess
I owe ya, Wymo. So what are we doing here, anyway?"

"I'm wondering that, too..." Jim said.

"OK, you guys, we're here to be of help to someone. It should take maybe
about an hour of our time... Afterwards, I'll take you guys out for a
pizza, my treat!"

"Oh, trying to buy favors now, are we?" Jim said.

Regent was still too reticent in front of Sean to tease him like Nolan had
just done, so he merely said, "Well, if I get pizza out of the deal it's
OK..."

"OK, guys, let's go in!" Sean said. "We'll go to the elevators over there,"
Sean pointed to the elevators just beyond the front desk.

Once on the elevator, Sean hit the button for the fifth floor. Once there,
the boys exited the elevator. "OK, guys, we're going to room 562. When we
get there, you guys wait outside for a second, and I'll come get ya!"

Jim and Joe looked at each other and shrugged. Neither one of them had the
foggiest idea of what was going on. Once they found room 562, Sean pointed
them to stand aside of the doorway.

Sean entered the room. When Andy saw him, Sean put his index finger to his
lips in the universal be quiet sign. Then Sean bent down, kissed Andy's
forehead, and whispered in his ear, "I brought some visitors today. We're
all gonna help ya, and it will help them, too. Just follow my lead, OK?"

Andy nodded and looked at Sean quizzically.

Before Sean straightened up he again whispered in Andy's ear, "And, I love
you so!  Please know that! Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough for
you. Please, if you need anything, any little thing, I'm right here!" Sean
beamed at Andy.

Sean indicated to Andy that he'd be right back, went to the doorway and
motioned for Nolan and Regent to enter the room.

Nolan and Regent entered the room and both young men simultaneously gasped
and covered their mouths. "Holy shit!" Jim exclaimed. "Andy? Oh my God,
man! I mean, what...how... Oh my God!" Big, tough Jim Nolan collapsed into
a chair, with his head in his hands.

Regent looked at Andy and didn't say a word. Then he looked at Sean. Then
he looked back at Andy. "You're the one that got beat up in the park,
aren't you..." Joe Regent looked as if in shock, the color rapidly draining
from his face. "I can't believe I didn't do anything to stop that meeting
at Braden's house! Oh my God! Andy, maybe I could have changed things so
this never would have happened! I should have tried! God, oh God!"

Sean looked at Andy. Andy looked perplexed, but gave Sean a sign that he
would speak now.

"Guys... Hey, Jim! Joe! It's me, Andy! Look over here! OK, guys, here's the
deal: I was jumped. I don't know who did it. That's the cops' job to figure
that out. I got beat up pretty bad. Sean's dad found me. I got a broken
leg, among other things. Jim, like you and I said the other night, I'm
proud to have you as my bro. Joe, I don't really know you that well. I'm
not really sure why you're here, but yer here. Did you have something to
tell me, Joe? I'm not trying to be a prick, or nuthin', but Blondie over
there, well, sometimes he's full of surprises. Anyway, Joe, if there's
anything you wannna know, or thatcha wanna tell me, go right ahead!" Andy
actually smiled at Joe who had been one of the ones that taunted him with
the 'faaaaag' comment a few times in the halls at school.

Joe looked at Andy for a minute, opened his mouth to speak but words
refused to come out.

"Joe," Andy said, "just take a couple of deep breaths and whatever it is,
spit it out.  Look at me. Nuthin' you're gonna say is gonna hurt me any
more than I already am..."

Joe took several deep breaths, looked down at the floor, then back up at
Andy.  "Andy, I guess I'll start by apologizing to you for calling you a
fag at school. And then I want to apologize to you for not really doing
anything to stop that meeting over at Braden's house. I might not be the
one that put you here, but I might have been able to do something to stop
all this crazy shit. I don't know how you'll ever be able to forgive me. I
just... I mean... Oh, Christ..." Tears ran down his hard jock face, "I
never would have let them hurt you like this if I'da known. I'm
sorry... I'm such a..."

"That's enough, Joe." Andy said in a quiet tone. "Look me in the eye. This
isn't your fault and I don't blame you. Whoever did this wouldn't have
listened to you anyway.  They'd have cast you out just like they did to
Sean and Jim. I don't think there's anything to forgive you for. Anyway, I
told Sean that I don't want to live in the past. I think you might actually
be a decent guy deep down, Joe. I figure you already know that Sean and I
aren't gonna be around this town much longer, so if it's OK with you, let's
part as friends?"

"Wha...?" Joe gasped. "You actually want to be friends... Um, OK. If after
all this you wanna be friends with me, then maybe something good will come
out of all this."

Andy extended his hand, and Joe took it. The two boys shook hands, and then
Andy said, "So, you don't mind being friends with a fag, then?"

"I don't think I got a choice, bro. To be honest, I been doing a lot of
thinking lately, and I've come to the conclusion that I really don't care
about that stuff anymore. It doesn't affect me anyway. So is it true, you
and Wymo are like boyfriends, or something?"

"Yes we are." Andy answered. "We didn't even know it a week ago, but we
love each other, and we're going to be starting new lives together. I
caught the hottest, sweetest dude on the planet, Joe!"

Sean added. "None of us has any control over who we love. It is what it
is."

Regent looked up at Sean, then looked at Andy and said quietly, "Yeah,
you're right.  It is what it is. Words to live by, hey?"

Jim chimed in, "Guess what, Rege? I'm queer, too, so you're outnumbered!"

Again the color drained from Regent's face, but he did manage a bit of a
smile.

Sean continued, "Look, guys, here's the real deal: I asked both of you to
come here today because I figured it would be something of a learning
experience, and it looks like I was right. The next thing we're gonna do is
that in a couple minutes they're gonna take Andy down to Physical Therapy
and he's gonna stand up and take a few steps. It's gonna be on crutches,
yeah, but we're gonna be right there in the room with him to give him our
support. Noles, you and Andy are bros, so of course you'd be here. Rege,
even though Andy said you didn't do anything that needs forgiveness, maybe
you'd feel a lot better about yourself by letting Andy know you're in there
pulling for him."

"Sean-o?" Andy said.

"Yes, Brown Eyes?"

"I want both of these guys to hear this: Sean Wyman, you are the kindest,
the best man I could ever have! You know last night the Nurse came in. I
was horny and just finished jacking off..."

"TMI!" Nolan exclaimed, laughing.

"OK, anyway, so I'd just blown my load, but then I started crying which
made me cough like mad. The Nurse came in and saw that I was sad. She asked
why. I told her that I felt like I might be becoming a burden to Sean. She
told me that he absolutely loves me with all his heart. I'm not very good
at this because I never had a lot of love in my life before, but I do now,
and I can sure get used to it!"

"Hey, And?" Sean said.

"Yes?"

Sean leaned down and kissed Andy full on the lips right in front of the
other guys.

"OK, break it up, you two!" the orderly called out upon entering the
room. "Mr.  Churchill, I'll be taking you down to Physical Therapy now!"

"OK, but these three guys, they're gonna come with! They came down to
support me today! I couldn't have better friends! That better be OK, or I'm
not gonna go!"

"I'm sure that will be just fine, Mr. Churchill! OK, we're going to get you
into the wheel chair here, and once we do, then the rest of you follow
behind, please!"

In the Physical Therapy room, the boys looked around and saw all the usual
accoutrements one would expect to see. There was a medicine ball, Indian
clubs, parallel bars and even a small trampoline. Presently, a young man
came in looking to be maybe in his mid-20's and introduced himself as Brad.

"Hey, guys, I'm Brad and I'll be working with Andy today. I guess you guys
must be his friends?"

Andy piped up introducing the other boys, "Hi Brad, I guess you can tell
I'm Andy.  Let me introduce the guys: this one here, this is Sean. Sean's
my boyfriend. This one's Joe, and the last one here is Jim. Joe and Jim are
my friends. They're here to keep me on the straight and narrow, well, maybe
the narrow, anyway..."

They all laughed at Andy's good humor.

"OK, Andy, well let's get started. What we're going to be doing today is
for the first few minutes we'll do some stretching exercises. You're
probably a bit stiff from lying in bed."

"I sure was last night, Brad!"

"Oh, I see we got ourselves a smart-ass here! I like your attitude,
Andy..." Brad smiled. "Anyway, after stretching, we'll hoist you up and get
you on the parallel bars to take a few steps and see how you do. Now, I
want you to know it's likely going to be painful, but the Doctor wouldn't
have you down here unless the broken bone had begun to knit, and of course
your broken leg is well supported by the cast that's on it. We won't have
you putting any weight on it. What we'll be doing is having you walk on one
leg, supporting yourself with your arms as if you were on crutches, OK?"

"Sounds like a plan! Let's get started..." Andy said.

Brad had Andy stretch a bit, first in the chair, then out of the chair but
lifted on a hoist. It was painful at first. Andy grimaced, but he did not
complain. When Brad asked him if he was all right, he answered, "You bet!"
through gritted teeth. Andy was determined to get out of that bed and out
of that hospital. He needed to be at least somewhat back into the swing
when the time for the move came – he couldn't see Sean and Joe taking an
invalid with them.

Sean was proud of his mate. Jim looked on with a true friend's affection,
and Joe was impressed at the courage of the boy he once taunted at school.

"OK, Andy, let's try the bars. We'll take you by hoist over to the bars. Do
not drop your broken leg. Keep it off the ground, and put what weight there
is to put on the floor only on the good one! Got it?"

Once at the bars, Brad had Andy drape his arms one over each bar and stand
still on his good leg supporting the rest of his weight with his
arms. "Your arms look to be in good shape, Andy, so I think you'll do
fine. Now what I want you to do is put your good leg forward just a little
bit, maybe six inches at the most. Then once you've done that, pull your
upper body forward on the bars to catch up with your other leg.  I'll get
on the other end of the bars and demonstrate."

"OK..."

"Ready, Andy?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!"

"OK, go! Now there's no prize for speed here. Just get comfortable with
it."

"Get comfortable? Fuck off, Brad!"  Andy snickered.

All the guys in the room burst out laughing at Andy's spitfire comeback.

Nevertheless, Andy took to the bars like a duck to water. Back and forth he
went four times until Brad stopped him, "OK, Andy. This is an excellent
result! I do have crutches here, they're adjustable and haven't been fitted
to you, but we can guesstimate the length we need. How would you like to
give them a try?"

"Right now?"

"Yeah, now. You're young and strong. I don't see why not!"

"Sure, let's roll!"

Once the crutches were fitted to Andy as well as they could be, Andy walked
back and forth over the whole room for about five minutes never missing a
beat. "I think I'm good, Brad! I think I'm ready to walk on my own again!
What do you think? Tell me the truth..."

"Andy, I rarely see patients with your determination. You've been
remarkable. You have a great support system here with these guys. I'm going
to recommend fitting you with crutches immediately. I see no reason not
to."

"So when can I go home?"

"That's not up to me. I'm not qualified to judge your case, but if I were
you I'd ask your primary physician. You look fine to me anyway!"

"Can I walk back to my room on the crutches?"

"Yes, I think so, Andy."

Andy beamed. "Fuckin-A right!" he exclaimed, and he high-fived the other
boys.

Once back in his room, the four boys hung around for about ten minutes
talking about nothing in particular, simply bonding as teenage boys do.

"OK, guys, it's time to go," Sean said. "And, I'll be back in a little
while. I gotta take these guys home. I'm so proud of you, And! Let's see
when you're gonna get out of here, too – we got packin' to do!"

"Hurry back! I think I'm gonna practice on the crutches some more, and the
Doctor's gonna come by about Noon, so I'll have somethin' to tell ya when
you get back! Love you!"

"Love you, too, Brown Eyes!"

Sean and Jim drove to Joe Regent's house to drop off Joe's car and go on to
the pizza place. On the way to the restaurant, Joe spoke up, "Wymo, I gotta
hand it to ya.  Andy's a great guy. He's brave, and he's kind. I wish I'da
taken the time to know him before now. I was so wrong..."

"Cut the crap, Rege. Stop beating yourself up over this. Just move forward
with life.  That's what Andy and I are doing!"

"You're right, Wymo. I think I turned over a new leaf."

The boys arrived at the restaurant, which was not crowded, and the Hostess
bade them sit wherever they liked. They picked a table by the window. Soon,
their waiter showed up. Andy looked up and saw that the waiter was Danny
from the night when he and his dad had come there and his dad had dropped
the news about moving.

"Hi, guys! I'm Danny. I'll be your waiter for lunch today. Here's some
menus for ya!  Whadya drinkin', guys? And if ya already know whatcher
eatin', I can take your food order for ya right now, too!"

The boys settled on a pitcher of Sprecher Root Beer, a large cheese,
sausage and mushroom thin-crust pizza and a large house salad that they
could all split. Of course, Sean asked Danny to make sure the pizza was cut
into square pieces.

Danny obliged, saying, "Hey, you look familiar, were you in here the other
night?"

"Yeah, a few nights back my dad and I came down for dinner. You were our
waiter that night! Hayadoin', Danny?"

"Just fine, thanks, and you are..."

"I'm Sean, and this is Jim and Joe."

"OK, good to see ya again, Sean, and good to meet you, too, fellas! I'll be
right back with your drinks. I'll bring the salad right after I get the
drinks!" Danny disappeared to get the drinks and put the food order in with
the kitchen.

Sean couldn't help but notice that Jim was googly-eyed over Danny. "Hey,
Noles, couldja be any more obvious!"

"Whadya talkin' about, Blondie?"

"Fuckin'-A, man, if you had the hots for Danny any more that what ya were
doin' there you'd be drooling all over the table!"

Joe actually laughed. "Um, yeah, Noles...I noticed it, too..."

Jim blushed beet red, "Well, you guys, I mean he IS hot! And I've never
seen anyone with that hair color before! I don't recognize him from bein'
around, though. He looks maybe a year, or two older than us, but still, if
he went to Tremper we'd have known who he is. Someone like that wouldn't go
unnoticed..."

"Wouldn't go unnoticed by YOU, helium heels!" Joe said.

"Jesus Christ, Rege, yer pickin' up the lingo pretty fast there. You sure
this isn't like rubbin' off on ya, or something?" Sean teased.

"Fuck off, Wymo! Seriously, though thanks for taking the edge off!" Joe
grinned.

"No prob, Rege. Look, though, I think it's gonna fall to you, and Noles and
Tilly to pick up the pieces for this year's football season. I think you
guys need to go see Coach. I saw Tilly this afternoon and that's what I
told him, too."

"I see yer point, Wymo," Joe said. "What do you think, Noles?"

"I think we need to call Coach right away and ask for a meeting. We're not
gonna know nuthin' until we hear it from Coach." Jim agreed.

"I'm glad there's no hard feelings, guys. You gotta understand it was a
trust issue.  Noles, you had nuthin' to do with that; Rege, you apologized
like a man. Tillly didn't know what was going to happen at Brade's because
he hadn't been at the park the night before, but no one else has called me,
or made any attempt to communicate with me about this at all. So it's clear
what their opinion is. Besides, Coach would've expected me to lead the
offense, and there was no way those guys would've taken leadership from
me. It would have been poisonous for the team. And Andy probably would've
gotten the snot beaten out of him anyway because of it. So, it is what it
is, and nuthin' was ever gonna change that once the die was cast."

"Yer right, Wymo, and no, there are no hard feelings, right, Rege? Jim
said.

"I'm the last one who should comment on that. I'm still ashamed of myself,
but yeah, I agree..."

"I gotta take a piss!" Jim said and excused himself to the men's room. Jim
made his way to the back of the dining room where the bathrooms were. Along
the way, he passed Danny who looked like he had their drinks and
salad. Danny stopped in his tracks.

"Hey, I was just takin' you guys' salad and root beer over! You're Jim,
right?"

"Yeah, I'm Jim alright!" Jim said, stammering a little bit, but managing to
get it out with a smile.

"OK, I'm kinda new around here. I don't know very many people, so I try to
remember people's names!"

"Well, I'd ask ya where you're from and stuff, but, well, ya know, yer, um,
like working right now, and everything, so..."

"Well, I'm off at 5:00 if ya wanna ask me about all that stuff after that!"
Dany smiled, exuding confidence and grace that Jim found both astounding,
and arresting.

"Um, w-w-well, s-s-sure," Jim stuttered. "I can c-c-come back around
5:00. That is, I mean, i-i-if you r-r-really want me to..." Jim blushed
intensely.

"Jesus Christ this guy's cute!" Danny thought, "He's so shy, but underneath
it I can see a real sweetheart there. I better go easy on him, but I think
this might just have been my lucky day! I sure hope he comes back at 5:00!"

"Jim, I'd love it if you came back after I'm off! Like I said, I don't know
very many people here, and, well, you seem like someone I can talk to! So,
see ya then?"

Jim was awestruck. He thought Danny was hot for sure, but at the same time
he seemed so sweet, and almost lonely. Jim regained his confidence, "Yeah,
Danny. I'll be here at 5:00. You can count on it!"

"Thanks, Jim. I'm glad I met you today!" Danny smiled, and it seemed to Jim
maybe even blushed a little bit.

Returning to the table, Jim blurted out, "Guess what guys! I got a date at
5:00! No shit!"

"A date? What the fuck are you talking about, a date..." Sean said.

"Yeah, I got a date with Danny! I saw him on the way to the men's room, and
we talked for a minute, and he said he gets off at 5:00 and I could come
back if I wanted to talk to him about where he's from and shit!"

"Aha!" Joe said. "He's not from around here! Well, Noles, if it means
anything, he does seem like a nice guy. If he had a pussy I'd do him..."

Sean almost swallowed his piece of pizza whole and came up
choking. "Thanks, Rege. That was a great visual! Anyways, Noles, yeah, go
for it. He waited on me and my dad the others night and was super nice the
whole time. And I gotta tell ya, he IS good looking!"

Andy sat up in his bed at the hospital when he saw his Doctor walk in. He
was hopeful, but knew he'd have to hear the Doctor out.

"Andy! How's my boy doing today? Doctor Schroder called out. Doctor
Schroder was one of the senior physicians at the hospital, a general
practitioner who'd been around since before the beginning of time. It was a
local saying that half the people in Kenosha had been to see Doctor
Schroder at some point in their lives.

"I dunno, Doc, you tell me!" Andy said pensively.

END CHAPTER TEN