Not So Grown Up - Part 5

      

 

Henry looked over at Ashton. He thought the boy had said his mother had died. Maybe Henry was misremembering, but he was just as confused by the look on Ashton's face.

The silence began to become uncomfortable. The woman spoke again. "I know this might be awkward. I was afraid..."

Ashton bolted to the front door. Mason was right behind him, leaving Henry alone with the strange woman. For a few more seconds, Henry stood there before deciding he did not want to be there and followed them inside. The brothers had run into the living room. Mason was hugging his dad while Ashton was talking.

"Yeah, that's what she said. I don't know who she is!" Ashton said.

The man gave Henry a confused look as if he were able to clarify anything. He just shook his head. "I don't know."

The man pursed his lips together. "Boys, would you wait here while I go talk to her."

He had to peel Mason off him, and the younger boy immediately clamped onto his brother. Henry had no idea what to do, he just stood there as the man walked past him. It was so quiet that the boys could hear snippets of the argument.

"What are you doing here?"

"No."

"Mother."

"I'm right."

"Stop it."

"See."

It was not clear what was going on. Henry tried to listen, but then there were a few minutes where they could not hear anything. When their dad came back in, he looked angry. When his eyes fell on Henry, the man stopped as if he had forgotten he was still there.

"Henry, I need to talk with my boys. I'm sure they'll tell you about it."

It was a reasonably nice way to say get lost. Henry was happy to do it. He looked to make sure she was gone before he stepped outside.

An hour later, the drizzle had turned into rain. Henry was sitting in his room watching something on this phone. The air conditioning was off, and he had cracked the window so he could hear the rain. When the phone rang, he did not give it much thought until a knock at his door came. He turned around just in time to see his mom coming in.

"Ashton isn't here, is he?" She said, giving a quick look around.

"No. Why would he be here?"

"His father just called. Apparently, he's not home."

"Oh," Henry frowned. "I'll go check the fort."

"Thanks, is something going on with him?"

Hesitating, he slowly answered. "Somebody claiming to be his mom stopped by their place today. I don't know much more than that."

Henry's mother gave a little nod. "Take your phone with you and tell me if you find him there. His dad is worried. If he wants to stay here for a bit, I understand."

Henry swung his legs off the bed and went to find his raincoat. He had used to like to play in the rain. It had irritated his mom when he would refuse to go in. Arriving at the fort, he was just about to open the door when he had a thought. Going around to the far side where the window was still unshuttered, he popped his head in, "Boo!"

Ashton jumped. "Shit! You scared me." The boy was sitting with his back in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, that was my plan. Are you running away or something?" Henry asked.

"No." Ashton said folding his legs inward and tucking his chin on them. "I just... needed to think."

"All right, can I come in? It's raining out here."

"It's your clubhouse." The boy muttered.

Henry pushed away from the window and walked around to the front taking his phone out and sending a quick message to his mother. Putting his phone back in his pocket, he opened the door and came in. " It's very wet out there."

"Yeah, it's really started to come down." Ashton muttered.

"Well, lucky it's not snow, it would be armpit deep by now."

"The realtor said you got snow up here, at least that's what my dads told me." Ashton trailed off.

Well, it did not take long to get to the subject, Henry mused. "Do you want to talk about it."

"I don't know." Ashton answered.

Henry moved over to where the little opening once was that let upstairs. Some rain was coming down, but it also provided a little bit of light. "You don't have to. Up to you."

Ashton repositioned himself, sitting up so that his head was resting against the wall. "My parents have been lying to me."

"Yeah, I can see why that would be upsetting." Henry said after a few seconds.

"I'm not upset with them." Ashton hesitated and then added. "Well, maybe a little. I'm not sure. It's confusing, and my dad, and Mason they kept bothering me. I just needed to think."

"Do you want me to go?" Henry questioned.

"No, I've been here for a while. It's just; I don't know."

"Tell me about it." Henry offered.

"Okay, well, you see. I know my dad was sixteen when he got my mom pregnant. I was born a year later. He said my mom died after I was born. My dad and I lived with Grandma and Grandpa until I was three when we moved in with daddy. Mason was just on the way then."

Ashton took a deep breath. "They were lying when she said she died. She was fifteen when she was pregnant and had me at sixteen." He paused. "She almost aborted me."

Henry did not know what to say to that. He stayed silent, hoping the other boy would fill the silence.

"Dad said he pleaded with her not to, and so did Grandma and Grandpa." Ashton continued. "Now she wants to know me. I don't want to. I don't know her. I don't care to know her. I want it to go away."

"Yeah, I can see that." Henry said. "Did you tell your dad that?"

Ashton shook his head. "I guess she said if I don't, she said she might get a lawyer involved. Dad doesn't know how that would end."

"I guess." Henry had no idea about such things. Lawyers seem to be capable of anything. He could not do anything about that. "My mom said you could stay here if you wanted. Want to come up to the house?"

Ashton agreed. They walked back together, Ashton getting soaked. Henry offered him a change of clothing, and while the boy was changing, Henry gave a quick rundown to his mom about the situation. Her advice was to try to distract Ashton for a bit. That had been his plan anyway.

The two boys play video games for a while before retreating to Henry's room and taking out the Nerf guns. Then dinner came. Ashton was quiet at first but warmed up after a little bit. When Ashton and Henry retreated to Henry's room, they had a peaceful and companionable silence about them.

"I have an extra pair of pajamas." Henry offered.

"Thanks, I never could sleep in my underwear. They get twisted around." Ashton said, plopping down onto the bean bag chair.

"Well, I guess you got nothing to keep it in place." Henry tried to tease as he made his way over to the dresser.

"You need to take a few lessons from Mason on teasing," Ashton responded.

Grabbing the extra pajamas, Henry tossed them over to Ashton. "But I have so little to work with."

Ashton started to pull off his shirt. "Now that's better."

Henry watched as the boy undressed. Even though he has seen him naked several times now, it was still new. He could his cock growing.

"Can I sleep on this bean bag? It's kind of comfortable."

"Um, sure, if you want," Henry said before gesturing towards his bed. "My bed is big enough for two. They got me an adult twin."

Ashton looked at the bed. "I thought it was bigger than mine. You don't mind?"

"It's okay. A couple of years ago, when I was like eight, I had three of my friends there with me. Of course, I'm bigger now."

"Does everything come back to your dick?" Ashton asked.

It took Henry a second to catch that. "I am quite attached to it." He said as he went to get his pajamas. Like Ashton, he undressed in front of the other. Henry could not be sure, but he did not think Ashton appreciated it as much.

Henry's back was against the wall. He climbed in first, snuggling up against the wall appreciating the little extra coolness it provided. Ashton climbed in after. There was a moment of them just adjusting their positions, but they ended up facing each other. The light on the nightstand was still on.

Slowly Ashton started to smile. "I didn't want to move. I'm glad I got to meet you, though. You've almost made it worth it."

"Almost?" Henry questioned.

Ashton chuckled. "I haven't made up my mind yet. It's only been a few days. Part of me wants to go back, but then I think I would miss you." The younger boy pursed his lips together as if he was thinking hard. "Nope, I still can't make up my mind."

Henry smiled. "I'll try harder." For some reason, they both found that funny and started laughing. Once they settled down, He ventured a more serious question. "Are you going to go home tomorrow?"

Ashton rolled onto his back. "Yeah, I can deal with it. I just needed a little break, I guess. Thanks for being a friend. You probably should thank your parents for letting me stay too." Then just as quickly, Ashton rolled back over, bringing himself even closer to Henry. "Are you gay?"

The question caught Henry off guard. The no almost escaped his mouth before he could stop it, the denial being second nature. "Yeah." He whispered the word. He had to swallow hard before asking the question himself. "What about you?"

Ashton shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think I've ever had a crush on anyone. The stuff we've been doing, it's just fun for me. Daddy said I should make that clear."

Henry had heard of a gaydar, but he never thought he sent off those signals. Could the older man tell? He wondered how.

"I like doing stuff with you like that, you know." Ashton was seemingly reading something into Henry's silence.

Henry forced a smile, determined not to make this about him. "It's nice having two friends that live so close."

Ashton smiled. "It is." The younger boy wet his lips and looked as if he was trying to remember something. "But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement, the greater part of life is sunshine."

The words were so out of context that Henry had to prop himself up on his elbow. "What?"

Ashton looked a little sheepish. "It's a quote by Thomas Jefferson. I had to do a report on him last year. We needed to include a couple of quotes." He paused briefly, "I think I get it now. Today was bad. Not so bad as it could have been."

Henry did not get it, but he smiled because it made Ashton happy. It would be years before Henry really could appreciate that quote. As the summer passed, he fell into a pattern with the brothers. One or both would usually come over, and sometimes he would go over there.

Henry remembered how much fun it was to play games. From some of his other friend's point of view, he was becoming less mature, playing with Nerf guns or Legos. All those things that younger siblings liked. Of course, they did not know about the sex play. Nobody but them ever knew how Mason enjoyed taking his time sucking or simply how the act of being tied up aroused Ashton. That was a private thing between them.

As Henry became older, he began to realize something. Everybody grows older, but not everybody grows up. In some ways, the brothers had a head start on him. Ashton was more mature in some respects. The little talk they shared at their first sleepover helped prevent some problems down the line. In that regard, he was the opposite of his mother. She put her feelings first and did not seem to be aware of all the pain she caused Ashton for months. Eventually, she gave up, but Henry suspected that was more because she was not getting what she wanted. It was a pattern Henry noticed more and more in life. So many people wanted to solve their problems by causing problems for other people. It was something he saw in the media and politicians and, sadly, many of the people around him. So many older people were still so childish.

His friendship with the brothers lasted. The sex play came and went. It was a physical activity they enjoyed together, but not the cornerstone of their company. Mason had a boyfriend in Middle School and a girlfriend in high school. Both relationships were relatively brief, although he married a nice girl a couple of years out of college.

Ashton was a bit luckier. A girl he met in his sophomore year of high school was the one he ended up marrying. They had a set of twins. Then Ashton's luck ran out. Three years into the marriage, she died. He was devastated.

Henry was less lucky in love. His relationships were few and far between. They rarely lasted more than a few dates. When he heard of Ashton's beloved's death, he did all he could to comfort the man. Initially, it was just emotional support, but there were other needs as time passed.

The barrier between friendship and love can be a mountain or paper-thin. Years after their talk in that bed at their first sleepover, the wall was ripped down.

Author's note. This was not the initial ending and I do hope it does not feel rushed. I have lost two friends this week. One because he could not keep in contact and the other for a more permanent reason. With those twin losses, writing a story about friendship is a bit too difficult now. Thoughts and comments are always welcomed on the story. samtheham2235@gmail.com

To my one friend whom I hope will see this story someday. I do miss you and hope you are doing well.

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The End.