Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2023 09:17:22 -0400 From: Lee Wilson Subject: Look But Don't Look, Look - Chapter 8 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 7 Maureen "I'm happy they won't be bringing charges against you Roger. Like I said in the moment, I'm glad you did it." "No problem Maureen. My biggest worry was bail actually, I never thought anything would come from the assault. You, your family, me and my family have nothing to worry about for at least six weeks. Phil can't bother any of us." "Completely, I won't even accept any phone calls from him from jail. I know the younger two won't. He may get lucky enough and catch Steven at some point, but if Steven does decide to talk to him, I don't see him being very civil." "Call us if you need anything Maureen." "Thank you Linda. I'm going to go home now and be with my kids." "Bye." "Goodbye." CHAPTER 8 - Planning the Move Maureen While I'm driving home, I realize I need to have a serious discussion with the boys. I hope it won't come to this, but it's pretty likely we're going to have to move. Phil won't be a problem anymore, but that in itself is a problem with losing his income. He's given us no choice really. I don't see how we can survive without moving in with his mother, if she's even willing. And that's the best case scenario. Back home now. Time to break a few hearts. "Boys, I'm home. Come on down, or over depending on where you are and I'll fill you in on your dad's status." "Hi mom. Is he getting out on bail?" "No Sam, bail was denied. He's also pleading no contest to some of the charges, so he'll definitely spend more time in jail, I just don't know how much. I'll have to talk to his lawyer to get some idea. But the trial won't be for 6 weeks, and he definitely won't be home before then." "Good." (Disappointed) "Saaam... Well, good and bad. I suppose you're aware that we use both mine and your father's incomes to maintain the house and our standard of living." "I knew it. We'll have to move." Sam goes running back to his room, slamming the door. "I'll go get him mom." "Thanks Steven." Knock. Knock. "Go away!" "Nope, I'm coming in... You have to let mom finish Sam. Yeah, it's possible we'll have to move, but I'm sure mom is going to try everything she can to avoid that. She has a job here, friends, etc., just like us. Except our jobs are school. I'll start looking for a job too. And maybe not for the exact same reason as you, but I don't want to have to move either. Especially not before or during my senior year." "I guess. But just like I was sure dad would blow a gasket over me, I'm sure we're moving." "Well, even if that may be, you've gotta give mom a chance." "Alright..." "OK Mom, we're back." "I know you're upset Sam, but nothing's decided yet. We may have to move, but not right away in any case, and only if there's no other option." "OK, but I just know we're going to have to move. Just like I knew dad was going to be a butthead about me being gay." "Hey bro, like I said, you're still young, that may not be true in a few years. I know what you said yesterday, but don't argue right now." (Sadly) "OK." "I haven't spoken to her yet, but my initial thought was to see if we can move in with Grandma L. She's only about a half hour away, so it'll still be possible for you to see your friends sometime." "Sometime? Shit." "Sam, the mouth. I know you're upset, but can we keep it clean?" "Yeah, sorry mom." "So like I said, Grandma L only lives about a half hour away. If we have to go another way, we would have to find someplace a lot cheaper than Brumfeld. Again, nothing's decided yet. Just give me some time to work on it. I'll keep you all up to date." "We'll give you all the time you need mom." "Thank you Steven. OK, you can go back to what you were doing, I'll get lunch ready in a little while." "Can I see if I can go over Virgil's?" "Sure, just grab a sandwich or something before you go just in case." Virgil Geez, dad's been home for a little while now, so Mrs. Lassiter had to have gotten home too. It's good that Sam's dad won't be getting out on bail. I want to and I don't want to call Sam. I'm sure he's happy about his dad staying in jail, but damn, how are they going to survive without their dad's income? God, they'll be homeless or something. Well, if that happens, I'll just beg mom and dad to let Sam live here. Ring, ring. That's gotta be Sam. "I got it mom... Hello. Oh, great. Sam, I was just wondering if I should call you." "Hi Virge. Yeah, we just finished having a sucky discussion with mom." "But I thought your dad wasn't getting out anytime soon." "That's not the sucky part. Can I come over?" "Of course, nothing much is happening here... K, see you in a few." I wonder if the sucky part is what I was thinking. Shit, I don't want them to be homeless, or even move away. But I can't think of anything else that would make him sound so sad. A little later... Ding dong. "That's Sam, I'll get it... Hi Sam." I move in for a kiss hello. He's receptive, but not very enthusiastic. "Hi Virge. Upstairs?" "Sure... So what's got you down? Your dad's going to be locked up a while, right?" "Yeah he is. But mom says we may have to move in with my grandmother, or even worse, someplace further and cheaper." "That sucks, but at least your grandma doesn't live that far away." "Far enough. Mom say we'll get to see our friends 'sometime.' Like that's going to be anywhere near good enough." "Well, maybe we can trade off sleeping over every weekend. We won't be together during the week, but we can stand just seeing each other on weekends I guess." "Yeah maybe. It probably wouldn't be every weekend, but I guess even a couple times a month is better than 'sometime.' It just sucks. And it's my fault for being gay. Yeah, I know I probably didn't have any choice, but it still sucks." I could make a joke about sucking, but I can tell by Sam's mood it will only make things worse. "Maybe she can work something else out. It's probably just as much my fault, or more. I pretty much started us down the path of being boyfriends. Hopefully you still want to be?" "Maybe she can, but I doubt it. And yes, of course I want to be boyfriends. Steven says he's going to look for a job, but I can't believe that will be enough. And Bobby and I are too young to work. I'm just so sure we're going to have to move. Hold me?" "Sure, get over here." He comes over to sit next to me on my bed. We hold each other for a while but then I realize Sam has fallen asleep. Poor guy's got to be burned out from the stress of the last few days. I ease him gently onto the bed and leave him alone. Ring. Ring. "Hello... Hi Scott." "Hey, Virgil, you hear anything about Sam's dad?" "Yeah, my mom and dad went to the arraignment. The trial won't start for six weeks and he didn't get bail, so he'll be away for a while. He's even not going to fight a few of the lesser charges. Not that I think he's got a snowball's chance in hell of beating any of the other ones." "Yeah, that's good for Sam. Did you talk to him? How's he doing?" "Yeah, we spoke, he came over and actually is upstairs on my bed sleeping right now. He's really bummed because it looks like they're going to have to move." "Really? Why? If his dad's not going to be around..." "Yeah, that's a double-edged sword. His dad won't be around, but neither will his income." "Oh shit. I never even thought of that. What are they gonna do?" "If they're lucky, move in with his grandmother, she only lives about a half-hour away. If they're not lucky, who knows where." "That sucks. Just as you guys started to get, well, you know, closer." "Yeah. It sucks that there won't be more sucking." "Ha, that's funny." "Yeah. Anyway, I gotta get back upstairs, I don't want to be gone when he wakes up. He's too fragile right now. Just wanted to fill you in." "Sure thing. Tell him hi and that I hope everything works out. Bye." "Will do. Bye." Sam Um, where am I? Oh yeah. I came over to Virgil's. I must have fallen asleep. "Good morning sleepyhead." "Hi Virge. Sorry, I guess I crashed." "No worries, I'm sure you needed it. Scott says to say hi and he hopes everything will work out for you and your family." "I'll have to thank him, but that hope lives pretty far down on hopeless highway." "Well, we just gotta wait and see. Maybe something else will happen." "Why, did you win the lottery and are going to share it with us?" "No, but I would. For sure." "Yeah, that'd be nice. I hope you're OK with not 'doing anything' I'm just not into it right now. I mean, here we are alone in your bedroom..." "With my mom right downstairs and dad at the firehouse. We been there before. I get it." "I wasn't thinking that, just my sucky life." "We'll make it work. I'm sure of it." "I hope." Maureen Well, no time like the present. I don't have to go to work, so may as well give my mother-in-law a call. See how she feels about having 4 boarders. Ring ring. "Hello?" "Hi mother L, it's Maureen." "Oh, hi Maureen. I wanted to call, but I didn't know what to say." Say you'll give me a million dollars? "I know. I'm pretty much a wreck, but I have to ask you something difficult." "What is it? Whatever I can do." "I'm glad to hear you say that. Well, with Phil in jail, and likely for a long time. I don't know how I'm going to make ends meet. I was wondering, if it comes to it, would we be able to come and live with you?" "Of course dear, you know I have the room. After our kids moved out and with Charles dying last year, the place is too empty. I was actually starting to consider selling and finding something smaller. I'll have to reconsider that now." "Well, I don't want us to be a burden." "Oh pish-posh. What else is family for? Especially since it was my son that put you in this position. Whatever happened to make him want to kill, who was it, your son's friend's father?" "Yes, it's a long story but the short version is that Sam and Virgil, well, it looks like they're becoming boyfriends and they got caught in an embarrassing situation. Phil just couldn't handle the possibility of his son being gay, got drunk and blew up." "Oh, I'm so sorry dear. If I knew there was any chance of that kind of relationship for one of the kids, I could have warned you that was coming. I bet he never told you, but when he was in high school, he and a few of his friends were accused of beating up a boy they thought was gay. Nothing ever came from it because the boy denied both the assault and being gay, but I knew he did it. I overheard him talking with one of his friends afterward. It didn't sound like they held back much." "No. He never told me that. It explains a lot though. I'm glad I had the boys, but that could have killed the relationship very early. My youngest brother is gay. If Phil knew that when we were dating, I'm sure his attitude would have shown up and changed everything." "Yes. Well, you keep me informed about maybe moving. I just wish it could work out another way. I don't know if it would be more convenient for you and the boys if I came to live with you, instead of the other way around, but that wouldn't work, I know you don't have the extra room." "Well, we do have a little area, I guess it was supposed to be a mother-in-law suite. It's a total mess and not very big so we've used it for storage forever..." "Oh, maybe that's why I didn't know you had it. What would it take to fix it up?" "More than we could afford, even when Phil was working. The previous owners let it go pretty badly, that's why it's only storage." "Hmmm. Well, keep me up to date on how things are going. In the meantime if you need any money, please ask. We've never bragged about it but when Charles sold his business, well, let's just say I'm very comfortable." "I appreciate that mother L. I know we'll be OK for a little while, but something will have to change. You take care of yourself. Bye." "Goodbye." Mother Lassiter Ring ring. "Hello Loretta. It's Maggie... I'm doing fine. I have a question to ask you. Is Mike still in the realty business? ... Yes, great. Do you think he'd be willing to come over and let me know how much my house is worth?" "I'm sure he'd love to. You have a lovely home." "Good, I'd also want to talk to him about getting a contractor to check out an area of my son's house for renovations. It's in Brumfeld." "OK, but why the sudden interest in selling and Brumfeld?" "Well, I'm sure you haven't heard, but Philip's temper finally caught up with him and he's in jail. And will likely be there for a long time." "Oh no. I'm so sorry." "Thank you. So I'm pretty sure, if I can make it work, and convince my daughter-in-law too, that I can get their beat-up mother-in-law suite acceptable for me to move into and help them out." "Oh, that's so nice." "Well, if my son wasn't a homophobic jerk, they wouldn't be in that position, and this place is just too big for me to keep up alone anyway." "OK, well I'll call Mike now and give him your number so he can set things up." "Thanks Loretta. I'll talk to you again soon." "OK, bye." All Time has a way of flying by when you're busy with life. It's a few days later. The boys have just been trudging along with life, nobody being all that happy about their current and potential future situations. But that's all about to change. Maggie has gotten an acceptable estimate and listed her house. Now it's time to convince Maureen to take a lot of charity. Maureen Ring ring. "Hello?" "Hi Maureen, it's Maggie. And stop with the mother L stuff and call me Maggie." "OK, hi, um Maggie. How are you doing?" "I'm good, more importantly, how are you doing?" "Getting by. Still trying to get used to the new living situation." "I understand. That's what I wanted to talk with you about. Have you given much thought about a possible move here?" "Oh geez Maggie, even after a couple days, no I really haven't." "Good. I got a very acceptable estimate on how much my house will sell for..." "But..." "Just listen dear. I've listed my house and the realtor, Mike Johnson, who is the son of a friend, has arranged with a contractor to come get an estimate on how much it would cost to fix up your mother-in-law suite." "Oh, but I can't afford..." "Would you just listen for a few minutes? You won't be paying for it. If I was to sell and move somewhere else I'd have to pay for the house I'm moving to, so I see no difference in bringing your house up to snuff, as it were." "Oh, but I can't ask you to do that." "You're not asking, I'm offering. No, I'm telling. This is what I want to do and it would take an awful lot of convincing to change my mind. I think you know how stubborn I can be when I set my mind to something." "Oh, my God. You can't believe what that would mean to me. Us. I don't know what to say." "Say thank you and that it's OK to give the contractor your number so he can come take a look." (Crying now) "Oh my God. Yes. Thank you. You really don't know what this means to me and the boys. They've been completely crushed with the prospect of moving away. I wouldn't have been the happiest person either, but as you know parents make sacrifices. But what you're doing. It's beyond anything I could have hoped for. Thank you, thank you." "Oh you're welcome. And I do have to say it's a little selfishness on my part, I get to spend a lot more time with my grandchildren. And you too of course. Plus I won't have a huge house to take care of. Just my own little space and helping you with your space." "I don't know if I can ever thank you enough. The kids are going to love you even more than they already do. Way more. Thank you." "You're welcome. The contractor will get back in touch with me on the pricing, but obviously you will have a lot of say in the timing. Although I would take his first available slot if you can. I'd rather be down there before my house sells rather than the opposite. I'll call you again after he has the estimate worked out." "OK. Bye, and thank you again." "Goodbye." Maureen I just sit down at the kitchen table and break down and cry. I guess I was loud enough for the boys to hear, they all come running in to know what's wrong. "Mom. What's the matter?" "Oh, nothing Steven, boys. Give me a minute to compose myself." "OK, but someone doesn't cry and wail like that if nothing's the matter." "Yeah, we thought you hurt yourself or something." "No, really, I'm fine. I just spoke with your grandmother..." "Oh, no." "No Sam, it's not bad. It's actually really really good. She's decided to sell her house and pay to fix up the mess rooms so she can come live here with us and help out." "No way." "Really?" "That's great." "Yes, so they're happy tears. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome from your father's fu... mistakes." "Ha ha, mom was about to say the 'F' word." "Yes Bobby. But I'm just so, well, fucking happy!" All Once again, a couple days go by without a whole lot of activity. But then Maggie gets a phone call. Maggie "Hello." "Hi Mrs. Lassiter, it's Mike Johnson." "Oh, hi Mike. Another appointment?" "No, an offer." "Really, already?" "Yes, it's that couple with the four kids. She's just in love with the place and the kids are all so happy they can have their own bedrooms. You got lucky a family wanted to upsize when you were ready to downsize." "Oh that's good. I only saw them in passing, but they all seemed so nice." "It gets better. They're offering 20 thousand over asking. I figured if we slightly underpriced it folks would recognize it as a deal and perhaps offer more. It worked." "You obviously know the business. I'm so happy. I just hope it's not too quick. I'm not even sure the contractor's been to Maureen's yet." "Not yet, but I heard he'll be there the day after tomorrow. Plus, we're probably looking at 30-45 days until closing anyway." "That's good. I suppose I could always put what I'm taking into storage for a little while and go month-to-month on a furnished apartment down there if I had to." "I don't think it will come to that. Talking to Maureen it sounds like mostly cleaning and cosmetic stuff. And of course any upgrades you want to do. I suggest you make a visit and get a better look at the space, it didn't sound like you knew a lot about it. It could be a pretty big sacrifice for you if it's not enough." "I'd live in a guest room. It's not me I'm concerned with. I can put up with anything. I'm doing this for the boys and Maureen." "They're lucky to have you. So check your email, I'll be sending the offer over as soon as we get off the phone. Let me know if you want any changes and we'll go from there." "I will. Thank you Mike. Bye." "Bye." I'll call Maureen too and give her the good news. Ring ring. "Hello?" "Hi Maureen, it's Maggie." "Hi Maggie, what's up?" "I just spoke to Mike. I guess you're aware the contractor will be there the day after tomorrow?" "Yes, I'm all ready for him." "Great. But the main reason I called, I have an offer on my house. You'll definitely have the help you need!" "Oh, my God. That is such great news. The boys knew it was a possibility, but now that it's for sure, they're going to freak out. In a good way." Sam Ring ring. "Hello?" "Virgil, it's Sam." "Hi. Wow, you sound happy." "I am. It's definite! My grandmother is going to get our mess rooms fixed up and move in here with us. I'm not moving!" "Fuckin' A - Yippee!!" Next up - "Summer Ends and a Bunch of Happy (and Horny) Boys" Author's Note Well, it looks like Sam and Virgil can resume the sexual part of their relationship. That is of course unless or until I think of another twist. J/K, mostly smooth sailing, at least for a while. 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