Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2023 07:42:10 -0400 From: Lee Wilson Subject: Look But Don't Look, Look - Chapter 4 Look, But Don't Look, Look This story is an original work of gay fiction, none of the people or events are real. If you enjoy this or the other stories here, why not donate to keep the fun alive? Donate here: https://donate.nifty.org/ The gang: Virgil Caine - 13 Sam Lassiter - 12 Bobby Lassiter - 11 Scott Willis - 13 Tim Thomason - 11 Other supporting characters: Allison Willis - 10 Steven Lassiter - 17 Tommy Thomason - 16 Alan Carter - 16 Pete Willis - 17 FROM CHAPTER 3 Sam Oh boy. Maybe I should just run away now. I should talk to my parents about this? Really? I dreaded the possibility that Scott would tell his parents last night and now she wants ME to bring up the topic? No friggen way. What the heck am I gonna do? Do I just go home and pretend nothing happened? Can I get away with it? The whole damn family can read me like a book. I'll get home and they'll all be 'what happened? Did you have a fight with Scott or Virgil?' Damn. Why did I have to turn out gay? I was half kidding when I mentioned running away last night. It sure looks like a great idea at this point in time. Virgil (Three hours later) "I'll get it mom, it's probably Sam. Hello?" "Hi Virgil, this is Mr. Lassiter. When I spoke to Bobby after he went to Tim's and he said that Sam probably went home with you after the sleepout. Can you ask him to come home for dinner?" "What? He's not home? He left here a few hours ago saying he was heading home." "No, he's not here." Oh, fuck. CHAPTER 4 - Missing? Virgil Don't cry. Don't cry. Please don't cry. "Mooo-oom!" "Yes dear, what is it?" I start to lose it. This is what I tried to say, I hoped it was understandable through the tears. "Sam didn't get home. I think he ran away." "Sam's missing?" "Yeah" "Oh, I'm sure there's some explanation. Is that Mr. or Mrs. Lassiter?" I didn't even realize I was still holding the phone. "Y-yeah, Mr." "Let me talk to him please." I hand over the phone and just drop, sitting on the floor, weeping quietly. I know Sam ran away, he mentioned it two or three times. I guess getting caught by my mom was pretty much the final straw. Oh, god, what am I going to do if something happens to him? I zone out while mom is talking with Sam's father. A couple minutes later I hear mom calling me. Probably not for the first time. "Virgil? Are you listening?" "Oh, sorry. I guess I zoned out a bit." (Jokingly) "A bit? I've been calling your name for at least a whole minute. Anyway, I called your dad, he's going to meet us at the Lassiter's. We've got to go over there and talk about why you think Sam ran away." Oh no. I didn't even think that would have to happen. Shit. What did she tell him? Couldn't have been much, she only saw us naked, but this is turning out to be the worst day of my life. Suck it up Virgil. You may not have to share the gory details, but the truth is going to 'come out' no matter what. I think to myself again, how this is all my fault. "Oh. Yeah, I guess." We go outside and get into the car, me still trying to hold myself together while at the same time making every effort to steel myself for the upcoming embarrassment. The ride to Sam's is way to short to completely accomplish either of those goals, but here goes nothing. Sam I take off on my bike, not really caring where I'm going. Anywhere but home. I have to at least make it look like I'm going home so Virgil doesn't suspect anything. Thankfully there are a couple turns between our houses. I make the first but not the second. Where can I go? I can't go home and grab the money I've got saved up. I think I might have $10 in my wallet. At least I won't starve to death until lunch tomorrow. Maybe I can stretch it to 3 meals. Fuck. I am so screwed. Where am I going to sleep? Okay, worry about that later. Where to go now? I'll head to the mall, at least I can keep myself busy until dinner time and grab some food off of BK's dollar menu. Shit, I hope I don't see anybody I know. I wish there were train tracks nearby. I'd just wait for the train to get close and jump in front of it. Yeah, right. I'm too chicken to even try something like that if I can't go home and face my parents. Just get lost in the mall for a while. Let me stop for a second and see how much money I do have. Oh, sweet. I shoved an extra $20 in there. Maybe I can hide in the theater for a couple hours. It's dark, nobody will see me if I go sit in a movie I know nobody I know would want to go see. Like I'd be watching it anyway. Virgil et al, at the Lassiter's I'm letting mom take the lead at first, not sure I can speak clearly right now anyway. "Hi Phil, Maureen. I'm sure Sam's OK. Virgil can tell us what happened to possibly make Sam run away. Roger should be here shortly." Oh great, can't you bullshit about the weather or something for a few minutes? No, just make me dive right into the fire. We're not even past the foyer yet. "Thanks for coming Linda, Virgil. Virgil still looks pretty upset, we can wait a couple minutes for Roger. Can I get you both something to drink before he gets here? Looking at Virgil, I'm thinking he needs a little time yet to organize his thoughts. Meanwhile let's go sit in the living room." Mrs. Lassiter's always been really nice, but a little time? How about a decade? Maybe break the ice with a joke. So I say, with a half smile: "Can I get a whiskey?" "I don't think that's appropriate." Gee, no shit mom. "I know. Just a coke is fine." Mrs. Lassiter comes back with my coke and a carafe of coffee for the adults. I look around, wondering where Bobby is. "Is Bobby here? I don't think he needs to hear this if he's around." "No, we called over to the Thomason's and asked if he could stay with Tim for a while. No need to worry him just yet until we know at least something about what's going on." We sat quietly for maybe two minutes before dad got there. My time is up. "Okay. Um. Well, it started last night at the sleepout at Scott's house. Sam and I. We. Ah. We. Um..." "It's okay Virgil, I told Mr. Lassiter and your dad I caught you and Sam naked in your room, so they have a general idea what it is." "Um, yeah, thanks mom. Anyway, Sam and I were, um, fooling around in his tent and Scott, um, checked in to see what we were doing because Bobby and Tim had fallen asleep in his." I figure I have to stretch the truth a little here and there to make this at least a little less painful. Thankfully Scott's not here to disagree with anything. "So, getting caught, um, naked, by mom wasn't the first time that happened." I couldn't tell by their expression whether they were all feeling anger, disappointment, maybe even disgust. Have to continue regardless. I'll leave out all the ums and hesitations for better readability from here on, but believe me, I laid them on thick. "As you can probably imagine, Scott was a little freaked out. Sam and I were afraid that he'd tell on us and we'd get in trouble. Sam, I thought, joked maybe we should run away. Scott left the tent to go think about it, but came back a little later, we talked it out and decided to keep it among just the three of us. Obviously Sam and I kind of messed that up. So when mom caught us this afternoon, I guess Sam freaked out even worse. I suppose he didn't want to face you both with the fact he, no, we, might be gay. Sorry mom and dad." I stopped to take a breath, and cringed waiting for the reaction. Dad, at least, seemed to take it at least a little in stride. "It's OK Virgil. It's pretty common for boys around your age to experiment with their friends. It doesn't mean either of you are gay. And even if you are, that's something to talk about later, after we get Sam back home. Do you have any idea where he may have gone?" So I might not be a freak and one of the only gay boys in school? That's good, although I'm not really too sure I'm not. Anyway. "Not really. I guess he could have gone back to Scott's, but he had chores to do today so that's pretty unlikely. I hope he's maybe just at the school or somewhere trying to calm down and think what to say when he comes home." "Phil, why don't you call Steven's cell. Maybe he and his friends can start driving around the neighborhood and see if they see him. Oh, dear. Maybe we should call the police?" "Okay, good idea on Steven. Let's try that first before the police, they'll probably just say he's only been gone a couple hours and won't do anything anyway. Personally I wouldn't trust the police in this town to find their own assholes with six hands. Sorry about the language Virgil." That was the first time Mr. Lassiter said anything, kind of worried me a little. Maybe Sam was right about him, at least, will want to kill him, or something. But I had to chuckle, although if the police couldn't help and Sam was really missing... Well, the chuckle died quick. "That's okay Mr. L. I've heard worse. Can you not give Steven too many details? I know that's kind of selfish, but I don't think Sam would want him and his friends to know either." "Yes, that's probably prudent. I'll be right back." Again, attitude in his voice. Not in the least bit accepting all this. Steven "Hello? Oh, hi dad... What!? Guys, Sam's missing. I gotta go drive around looking for him." "Oh shit. We'll go with you, it's hard to look anywhere too long and not hit a tree." "Funny. Okay dad, we'll head out now. Any thoughts on where to start? ... His school? Okay. I'll keep you up to date." I disconnect. "Hit a tree? Alan you're such a putz. But yeah, his school would be the first place the little geek would go to hide. I guess something happened, my dad didn't say much, just that he didn't come home after being at his friend Virgil's. He didn't sound too happy." "I bet they got caught jerking off or worse, the little fa" "Alan. Shut the fuck up or you'll be missing too. And believe me, they'll never find the body." Quiet. It's a first. Alan isn't mouthing off. Anyway, we head out to my car and start driving around town. Even after almost an hour - it's a small town, no sign of him. "Dad? No, so far nothing. I drove pretty much around the whole town, but we'll keep at it." Sam Well, the cheeseburger, fries and drink will keep me going for a little while. I bet everybody I know has seen that comedy already. Maybe a laugh will help. Unfortunately for me, having seen it before, I'm bored and fall asleep. "Son, wake up. You have to leave, the theater is closing." "Huh? Oh yeah. Okay." I look at my watch, 9:50? Shit I must have slept through two showings. What the fuck do I do now? I can't even find a store bathroom to hide in, they're all closed. Bobby We're playing a video game here at Tim's house and their phone rings. Tim's mom asks us to come into the other room for a minute. He hits pause and we get up. "Bobby, your mom and dad need you to stay here for a little while, so you'll be eating dinner with us and one of them will come get you around 8." "Okay. Did they say why? They had said they wanted me to be back home by dinner time." Tim's mom got the short version, that Sam was missing, but also that she didn't need to share that with Bobby. "Just something they needed to do right now." "Oh, OK." So back to the video game for a little longer until Mrs. Thomason tells us to wash up for dinner. Tim and I look at each other smiling, knowing what we do when we 'wash up.' We run to the hall bathroom and immediately drop our pants. "I'll wash you first Bobby, then you do me." Tim runs his hands under the water and soaps them up. After he works up a lather he reaches over to wash my wiener. We both like it when the other one touches our wieners. The soap makes it feel really nice. I don't even remember how we started doing this, but it's so much fun, we do it every time one of us eats at the other's house and we need to 'wash up.' We try to do it at other times, but being in the bathroom together for anything else is too risky. One of our parents might wonder why we go into the bathroom together for no reason. Every so often we can get away with peeing together, but not so much. After he rubs me for a few seconds, we can't take too long, I wet my hands and get them all soapy and start rubbing his wiener. It's so neat the way they stand up when they get washed. He grabs the towel and wipes me off then hands the towel to me so I can dry him. Dinner is meatloaf, potatoes, and peas. Are peas the grossest thing in the world? Maybe not, but I think they're the grossest thing I've ever eaten. Mrs. Thomason knows I don't really like them so she only gives me a small spoonful. Even that's too many but I force them down. It's not like they have a dog I can feed them to. After dinner me and Tim go to watch TV until my parents come to pick me up. I've been curious the whole time why they needed me to stay here longer. But one of them is here now, so hopefully I'll find out. "Hi mommy, thanks for letting me stay longer. What did you and dad need to do to need me to stay?" "I don't want you to get upset, but Sam didn't come home from Virgil's when you went to Tim's." "Where did he go?" "We don't know yet honey, that's why I said not to get upset. For now, we think he's just gone somewhere to think some things over about what happened at Virgil's. And no, you don't need to know exactly what happened. If your brother wants you to know, he'll tell you." I'm starting to think I'm going to cry. "Did he get lost? Did someone take him? Did he run away?" "We don't know for sure. Again, we just hope he went somewhere to think and he'll be back home soon." "Mommy, I'm scared." "I know honey, but we'll figure it out soon enough." Now I'm just sitting in my room waiting, imagining all the horrible things that could have happened to Sam. I can't stop crying I'm worrying so much. And I probably don't even know half the bad things that could have happened. Come home Sam. Virgil Well, that was painful, but I guess it could have been worse, they could have beaten the shit out of me for being gay. Okay, yeah, I'm sure our parents wouldn't do that. Or am I? Nothing to do now except just sit here at home, waiting, hoping for the best. I should keep track how many times I blame myself. I must be at around 99 by now. I wish there was something I could do, but if Steven couldn't find him driving around, what hope would I have on my bike? That's the phone. Oh, please, please, please. "Virgil. It's Scott." Mom grabbed it. Did he end up over there? It's just after 10, I doubt he'd be riding around in the dark now. He's probably hiding in the woods or somewhere he can't be seen from the road. Well, the useless police are involved now, useless in Mr. L's eyes. "Hi Scott... No, I haven't heard anything... Yeah, I feel like shit because this is all my fault... Yes, it is, believe me. I started things last night. If we hadn't messed around because of my big mouth... I know, blame is meaningless right now... Yeah, I'll let you know as soon as I hear something. Nite." I hang up the phone and before I can turn away it rings again. "What Scott?" A recorded voice responds to my query. "You have a collect call from 'Sam.' Press one if you will accept the charges." I want to hit 1 a thousand times. "Mom, dad. It's Sam, collect." "Go ahead and accept the charges." No shit mom. "Sam!!!!" "Hi Virgil." God, he sounds so sad. "Are you OK, where did you go? Where are you? Are you OK?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Take a breath and let me answer." "Mom and dad are here too. Can I put you on speaker?" "Um, not right away please?" "Okay. Did you call home first? ... No? Dad, call Mr. and Mrs. L and let them know Sam's OK. I'll get him to call after... Okay Sam, yeah, I'll call them first, but you don't have anything to be afraid of... Yeah, I told them what happened, well, no details but enough." "Okay, thanks for not being too detailed. I'm still afraid of what's going to happen. It'd be even worse if they knew too much." "They don't care about what we did, they just want you home. So where'd you go?" "I rode to the mall figuring I could hide out there maybe even 'til morning. But I fell asleep in the movie theater. The usher woke me when they were closing up. I ran out of options to hide. My mom and dad are really not completely pissed?" "Really. My mom and dad are getting antsy, I'm going to put you on speaker now." "Sam, it's Virgil's mother. Are you really OK?" "Yeah, I'm fine. I went to the mall and fell asleep in the movie theater. I'm still afraid to go home though. Not that I really have a way to go anywhere right now in the dark." "You don't need to be afraid. Your parents are only worried about your well-being. What started it all isn't important right now. Roger will come pick you up in his truck so we can get you and your bike home." "I'm going too mom." "Okay Mrs. Caine, if you all think it will be okay, I hope can suffer through the embarrassment." "It'll be fine. Where will you be? ... Okay, outside the theaters at the mall dad. We'll be there in a few Sam. DON'T GO ANYWHERE." "I won't, I guess your dad called my parents, so you don't have to. See you soon." To hell with that. It's all my fault, I need to call. Ring, ring. "Hello? Oh yes, Virgil. Sam called you and he's OK?" "Yes, Mrs. L, he's at the movie theater at the mall. Dad and I are going to go get him and bring him home. We'll be there soon." "Oh, thank God. I'll have to let the police know to call off the search. Thank you for calling back. We'll see you soon." "Bye." "Dad, can I borrow your cell so I can call Scott and we can get on our way. I don't want to wait any longer than we have to. If Sam gets too nervous, he may not stay." We're already on our way out to dad's pick-up and he hands me his cell. Ring, ring. "Hi Scott... Yeah, Sam just called. He went to hide out at the movie theater... Yeah, he's OK, dad and I are on our way to pick him up... Yep, I'll talk to you tomorrow. G'nite." Sam Okay, now I get to wait. I feel like I'm on death row waiting for the execution. But I know it's not THAT bad. I really hope Virgil is right and my parents aren't going to kill me. No, that won't happen, but being grounded until I graduate is a distinct possibility. Oh, geez. I'm so fuckin' scared. If there was anywhere else I could think to go I wouldn't even bother waiting for Virgil. I'm painted into a corner right now, my hands are tied. I can use a hundred cliches, no matter what, I still think I'm majorly fucked when I get home. Where's that train? Virgil "Geez, do we have to hit every fu... freaking light? Please be waiting Sam!" "Nice catch son, but I think I would have let it slide just this once if you finished the word. We're almost there." "Thanks dad. This has been just an awful 24 hours, not even 24 hours. I'm just so worried because it's all my fault." "Virgil, did you force Sam to undress? Or do anything else once you were in that condition?" "No, of course not." "Well then, it's not all your fault. Sam was a willing participant. He just didn't handle the consequences as calmly as you did." "I was calm? Ha. But it all started because of something I said that I've wished a thousand times since last night I never said." "I understand how you feel. But put that aside because now you just need to be there for your friend. He's so scared his parents are going to be mad. You need to support him as much as you can until he realizes everything WILL be OK." "I will. And thanks for being so understanding dad." "You're welcome. You may not realize it but I was a teenage boy once too. I don't know exactly what you did, and you don't ever need to tell me, but let's just say I may have done it myself when I was young." Wow, dad just admitted he fooled around with other boys? Maybe what we did wasn't so bad. "So, you're not disappointed in me?" "No, of course not. Like I said earlier, it's not uncommon for boys your age to experiment sexually with other boys. I'm not necessarily happy you're growing up so fast, but I know it's part of life. Okay, here we are. Do you see Sam anywhere?" "Thanks. Oh boy, no I don't... Wait, there he is, I guess he was hiding behind that post." We stop the truck in front of Sam and he gets in the back seat, where I'm sitting. "Hi Mr. Caine. Thanks for coming to get me." "You're welcome. Where's your bike?" "Oh, I forgot about that. It's over by the main entrance near Sears, locked to the bike rack. I hope." He didn't say hi to me. Is he mad at me because I started all this? "Sam, I'm so glad you're OK. I, we, were all so worried when we found out you hadn't gone home." "Uh huh. Can we just sit quietly? I'm really not looking forward to going home." "OK. But everything will be alright." "If you say so." Yeah, he's still upset about all this. Hopefully he doesn't hate me. I'll just have to let him get home, see everything is OK and then we'll be OK again. We get to the bike rack, Sam and my dad get out to put it in the truck's bed and we quietly drive to Sam's house. "Thanks again for the ride. I'll see you when I can Virgil. At least in school I guess." What? Not before then? Oh god, I really fucked things up. He hates me and doesn't even want to be friends anymore. "We'll walk up with you if it will make you feel any better." "Yes, that would help. Thanks Mr. C." So sad. And afraid. I'm not sure who is in a worse mood, Sam because he's afraid or me because our friendship may be over. Next up - "Trying to be Patient" Author's Note Thanks to those of you who have sent email. I appreciate the comments, good or bad. Feel free to drop me a line if you haven't already. LRW