Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:02:04 EST
From: HnstSkr4@aol.com
Subject: The Journey Begins Chapter 3

Author's Notes:

Before I get into the Legal stuff, I want to say thanks first to my Editor,
Pete.  He always does a wonderful job.  Second, I want to thank my Readers.
You guys are the best.

Okay, these characters are not meant to resemble any living or dead person.
I make no apology to anyone who is offended by anything in this story.

Let me know what you think of the story by emailing me at
_Hnstskr4@aol.com_

Being human, I sometimes make mistakes.  I made a mistake in the last
chapter and also in this chapter.  Luckily, I caught in time for this
chapter to be scanned over by my editor.  I introduced a character by the
name of Alex in the last chapter.  Alex is not Eric's 14 year old brother.
She is actually his 14 year old sister. I apologize for my error.

Copyright 2008 by Chuck B.

The Journey Begins
Chapter 3
Along Came Steve

It's the end of 3rd hour.  Gym today has been quite interesting.  Steve
kept his distance.  I knew he was still interested but I wasn't sure what
to think about his behavior.  The guy's my friend, but he's so distant
today.  Maybe yesterday was all just a dream.  I was ready to forget
yesterday ever happened when Steve came up and passed me a note.  I glanced
down at the note:

"Meet me during lunch!"

I have no clue what he wants.  I actually feel just a little bit scared.
The images of Steve's body are running through my mind.  I can't get it off
my mind.  I manage to get to my locker without sporting wood.  By the time
I get to Miss Baker's class, it's getting harder to fight back the blood
trying to reach my penis.

I'm sitting here struggling to concentrate on Geometry today.  Steve's
naked body keeps running through my mind.  I've never had this happen
before.  Sure, I've had images of naked guys in my mind before but never
like this, never to the point that it became a distraction, never to the
point that I had cover myself up to avoid anyone seeing my erection through
my pants.  Today, I caught Steve looking at me during gym and smiling as we
worked out.  He even took a quick glance at me in the showers.  I thought
maybe it was a mistake, but it was no mistake.  I'm sitting here in public
with an erection because of a guy from school.  Dale's right!

Well, Dale might be right.  If I didn't label myself maybe I wouldn't have
caught Steve's attention.  If I didn't look at Steve's naked body, I
wouldn't have Steve's nudeness walking across my mind's stage.  More
importantly, I wouldn't be having this fight with my mind.  What's going to
happen next?  Am I going to have sex with Steve?  Will I get kicked out of
church?  I'm afraid that I've started this and now I won't be able to hide
it.  I've got to hide it.  There is no other way.  It would be too painful
for anyone to find out.  It's certainly a problem for me and I don't want
this to be a problem for Steve.  The only question is how do you hide a
relationship when it's in plain sight?


I want the world to see the relationship that I hope to have with Steve and
yet it scares me.  I've wanted this for a long time, I just didn't know
that I wanted it.  He's been in my mind for some time now.  When I first
saw him, I felt the butterflies dancing in my stomach.  I felt the
electricity moving in my veins.  Now that he's within reach, I'm worried.
Finding him finally could change things.  Maybe going through those changes
would be a good thing.  It might be freedom calling my name.  Somehow, I
made it through 4th hour and still managed to take notes and copy down the
homework.  The bell rang and the time to meet him has come.

I made my way to the cafeteria holding on to my books.  Taking Steve's note
out of my pocket, I read it again before going through the line.  My
heart... it's going to burst through my chest.  I've got to find Steve
before I lose my will to go through with this.  I went through the line and
grabbed my lunch.  As soon as I gave the lady my money, I started scanning
the room for Steve.  I found him in a well-lit corner of the room.  A table
set aside for just us.  Steve had his back to me and the closer that I
came, the more his image ran through my mind.  I closer moved towards
Steve, the harder my penis was getting.  By the time I sat down, I had a
full-fledged erection.  Right now, I just wish that I had a book to cover
up my crotch.  As I sat down, I don't think my eyes left Steve's face.  As
always his eyes had me at the get go.  His eyes are all lit up.  I love the
look in his eyes.  He has those bright blues - almost ice blue eyes.  They
draw me in every time.  I sat down and smiled as he reached out a hand to
me.

He smiled and I swear his smile got bigger.  He looked at me and said,
"Eric, I'm gay, but I bet you kinda figured that out.  Right?"

"Yeah, I already knew; kind of had that figured out, but I'm glad that you
told me."

"Eric, I've wanted to tell you since you came out to everyone in Quest.
You were pretty brave coming out like that.  I'm glad that we're getting
this chance to talk."

"Steve, I've had a crush on you for long time."

"Really?"

It caught me off guard.  He didn't have any idea that I was interested in
him.  He just doesn't seem to have a clue about what's been going on right
in front of his eyes.

"Steve, I've liked you ever since 7th grade.  I think, it was when I first
saw you.  You've always been on my mind since then.  I was just too scared
to say anything."

"I don't get it.  Why didn't you say something before?"

"I told you, I was just too scared.  You have no idea what's it's like."

His face changed a little and I could tell that I said something wrong, but
he didn't get angry with me.  He just looked me dead in the eyes and said,
"You're wrong you know.  I do have an idea.  I know you're L.D.S. and I
know that things could get ugly for you if your parents and church find out
about you.  I don't want you to lose any sleep over me... over us.  I'm
sorry, I guess I shouldn't have said that."

"No, you're fine!"

"Look Eric, I was hoping that maybe... well, that maybe you might want to
be my boyfriend.  I know it's a big step and I promise to be very careful."

I was absolutely beaming.  I love this guy.  I gave him a hug and then
looked into his eyes.

"Steve, I would love to be your boyfriend."

The bell went off and we went our separate ways.  I'm glowing.  Nothing is
going to ruin this day.  I passed Cathy and Cody in the hallway.  Cathy was
the first one to see it.  Hopefully, she is the only one to see it.

"So... what's bitten you?  You look like you're glowing.  What's going on?"

"Steve is what happened.  He asked me out and I said yes."

Wow!  And I thought that I was excited.  Cathy was ready to jump to the
ceiling.  During Quest, I slipped Steve a note as we waited for the tardy
bell to ring.  It simply asked Steve to come by the house after school.

Now I all I could think about was getting Steve to my house.  Well, I was
hoping Steve would come over.  It's going to be weird having him over now.
I hope he's not expecting sex, though I think I'd be willing to have sex
with him.  Would I really have sex with him?  Hmm... Yes, I would.  I
couldn't wait for the last bell of the day.  I was going to have Steve all
to myself.

With Steve at the house, I wouldn't have to share him with the rest of the
school.  I get to think about him and not have to hide as long as we are in
my room.  Funny how I see my room as my private space that no one else
ventures into.  On the walk home, my manhood had managed to become hard
again.  This time, I made no attempt to hide it.  When I got to the house,
I simply thought of my Mom and it somehow died immediately.

I walked into the house and headed for the kitchen.  Mom is almost always
starting dinner when I get home from school.  She likes to have it ready
when Dad gets home.  Sure enough, Mom was busy in the kitchen making
meatloaf for dinner.  I came up from behind her and said, "Hi Mom, I'm
home."

She turned and smiled.  "Hi honey, how was school?"

I thought to myself that school was great.

"School was good, Mom.  I managed to get all my work done before coming
home.  Oh... I invited a friend to come over after school.  I hope it's
okay."

She didn't look upset which is a good thing.  She could have told me 'no.'

"So, who is this friend?" Mom asked.

I wanted to say "None of your business!" but I can't.  I'm a better person
than that.

"His name is Steve and, he's a senior.  He's an athelete.  Mom, do you
remember me telling you that I had some problems with another student in my
Quest class?"

"Yes, I do but what does this Steve have to do with it?"

He has everything to do with it.  He is my reason for living.

"Mom, Steve stood up for me that day and we've been friends ever since."

Now it's time for Mom to step into her interrogator mode.  She always seems
to ask the same questions every time that I invite someone over, and here
she goes, "Does he drink, smoke or do drugs?"

"No Mom, he's clean.  He has to be in order for him to be the teams."

"Does he look at pornography?"

I have no idea but one can hope that he does.  I want him to have some
ideas what he and I might do together.

"Mom...I think he's pretty much clean, but I've only seen him at school."

"Well, then I guess it's okay if he comes over, just be smart about it.
Okay?  I don't care if the door to your room is shut either.  This Steve
sounds like a good boy."

I smiled at my Mom and gave her a little peck on the cheek.  I knew that
before the night was through that Steve would be getting a little bit
stronger kiss.  Now, I had to get upstairs and do a little bit of clean up
before Steve comes over.

I am busy working in my room when the phone rings downstairs.  I'm much too
busy to even think about answering that blasted phone.  I hear Alex
screaming that she has the phone.  The next noise that I hear is the sound
of Alex yelling up the stairs.

"It's Steve.  What do you want me to do?"

All of my friends have my line number and I thought that Steve had my phone
number, either that or I am way wrong.

"Alex, give him my room number and have him call me back."

In just a couple minutes, my phone rings and everything that I have in my
hands gets dropped to the floor.  Picking up the phone, I immediately said
"HI!"

Steve's voice came over the phone.  "Hey Eric, is it okay to come over?"

"You bet!  You still have my address?"

"I sure do, sweetie."

Did he just call me "sweetie"?  I think my heart fluttered just a little
bit.  I've never had a guy call me that before and once again, Steve has me
walking on cloud nine.

"Eric, are you okay?"

His voice snapped me out my little case of day-dreaming.

"Yes, yes I'm okay.  I guess, I zoned out a little."

"Well I'll see you soon."

He hung up the phone and went back to cleaning my room.  Before I knew it,
I had company at my door.


The knocking came much too early to be Steve.  So who could it be?

"Come in?"

It didn't take long for Alex to chime in on my guy.

"Eric, you know Steven Hill?

"Yeah, I know him and he's coming over.  I don't want you to crowd him
either."

"Well, can I at least get him to autograph my ball?"

I thought about it for a minute or two.  Do I want my sister intruding on
my time with Steve?  Well, what would it hurt, right?

"Sure Alex, you can get his autograph."

"Thanks man!  He's like the best ball player at school.

"Yeah he is.  He's the best player at school."

I hope he IS the best player at school.  A part of me wants him to play
with me.

Ten minutes after his phone call, there was a knock at the door.


Alex raced to her room and grabbed her basketball.  I ran downstairs to
grab the door.  I suddenly found myself surrounded by family.  I don't
understand why everyone needed to be here by the door.  My butterflies are
hard enough to deal with as it is without my family gathered around.  The
only family members missing were my Dad, Zach, Sarah, and Mark.  Everyone
else was gathered around like I was having a big prom date.  I opened the
door and there was Steve.  He was dressed in a white t-shirt and blue
jeans.  Alex was absolutely stunned when her hero walked through the door.

"Can... can I get an autograph?"

Alex held out her ball to Steve.  I was afraid for just a minute that maybe
Steve would turn away and leave a disappointed sister in his wake.  He
actually didn't though.  He took the ball and the pen and signed it.  How
cool is that?  He's making head waves in fitting around here.

"Hey Steve, come on inside and I'll introduce you to everyone."

I wondered if he was sweating bullets too.

"Mom, Alex, this is Steven Hill."

"Hi everyone!"

Mom reached out with her right hand and Steve accepted it in his. I knew
this kind gesture wouldn't last beyond our front door if Mom knew the
secret that Steven and I hold together.  We headed up the stairs to my
room.


In my room, Steve sat down on my bed.  He looked at me and I could tell
that he was deep in thought.

"Eric, I still can't believe that you didn't tell me that you liked me
until now.  I guess I can understand you being afraid though.  I'm glad
that you found me, and I'm glad that you found yourself."

When he said that, I realized that I couldn't hide myself from the world.
At some point, I would have to come out.  I hope that new friends are here
for me and that includes Mr. Smith.  I know deep down inside of me that
Steve will be here for me no matter what.

"Steve, I didn't make a move until I knew that you were gay."

"Why do I get the feeling that Mr. Smith had something to do with all of
this?"

"Oh... he did, he did!"

(This chapter ends here and this visit with Steve will continue into the
next chapter make sure you stick around for that.  Also, there are some
changes coming to Eric's life.  I won't get into them now, but stay with
the story and you'll be well rewarded.)