Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 03:07:30 -0500 From: F&C Subject: San Antonio Summer (young friends new story) Hi. I'm Summer. This is... not exactly a typical Nifty story. Someone showed me this site for the first time back five years ago when I was thirteen. Now I'll be graduating this year and really want to find that someone before I leave for college. This story is an autobiography. Most of the names have been changed. To that someone: I hope that if you stumble upon this story and figure out that it's us, that you'll write me. To the rest: I just hope you enjoy the story. Feel free to write me if you do. I could always use another friend or two. Bare in mind, the only writing I've ever done has been for English class assignments or my journal, so curb your enthusiasm. Here goes... >>> Long hair, dark and messy, falling upon two bony shoulders. Big deep blue eyes. Full lips and a tiny nose. Pale skin, soft and blemish-free. A small, nearly imperceptible scar along the left cheek. A skinny neck. That was the first thing I saw as I fell out of bed and stumbled my way before the mirror on the back of my bedroom door. I worked my way further down my reflection. Average height body, a little on the short side. Skinny, but with a slight touch of athleticism in the chest. A taut belly. Sharp hipbones. A small pair of soft grey briefs. I hooked my thumbs beneath the waistband and dropped them to my ankles, stepped out of them, continued. Boyhood, tiny and unimposing, asleep beneath a long foreskin, laid atop two little balls. Still no hair yet. My eyes sank further down two slender thighs. I shrugged and sighed, stumbled backward into bed again. Central Texas in the summer is oppressively hot. Despite my nudity and my ceiling fan spinning at a frantic pace, I was sweating all over. I looked over to my alarm clock on the desk beside my bed. School had only let out a week ago and already I was waking up at noon like a bum, but that was alright. I'd spent the first week of summer grounded by my father for getting a B- in algebra on my last report card, so it wasn't as though I'd had anywhere to be anyway. And besides, what thirteen year old wakes up early in the summer? Certainly not me. But today was Monday, my first real day of summer freedom! And it was going to be a summer that would change the rest of my life. But that would come later. Without any warning the door opened wide and my mother wandered in with armfuls of laundry. And there I was, on my back, naked, legs open, totally exposed. Of course. "Dobray ootra—" she began in Russian before she burst out laughing. "Mama!" I screamed. I covered my privates with both hands. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!" I ripped the blankets over myself. "Haven't you ever heard of underwear, darling?" "The door was closed!" "And for good reason", she nodded in mock agreement. "If you're going to do... that, at least try to be subtle, darling. You know your father wouldn't approve." "Mama!" Another shout of embarrassment. "I was NOT—" "Da, da, whatever you say", she waved me off with a smirk before strolling out of the room. She closed the door behind her. My cheeks were scarlet. Mama was far from your ordinary Texas mother. Born and raised in the Soviet Union by a pair of eccentric college professors, she was a hippie through and through who had moved to the United States not long after the Soviet collapse to, in her words, escape the frigid weather. Couldn't have chosen a better place. With her gentle accent, her extremely open-minded and atheistic perspective and her complete disregard for adhering to social norms she didn't agree with, Mama stood out in stark contrast with her surroundings. But the way she carried herself, you'd think she was blissfully unaware of it. Unfortunately for her, I was for the most part your ordinary Texas boy. And ordinary Texas boys do not find any humor in being caught naked by their mothers. After taking a moment to recover from the morning's first humiliation, I got up and rummaged through the piles of laundry Mama had left in search of a clean pair of briefs. I settled on navy blue. I considered for a moment putting something else on, but even in just a tiny pair of underwear I was sweltering. The rest could wait until after breakfast. I meandered out of my room through the hallway that lead to the kitchen. Ours wasn't an impressive home by any stretch of the imagination. There were two bedrooms, one of average size which belonged to my parents and then the sweaty little shoebox that belonged to me. In the hallway there was a single full bathroom which we all had to share. The hallway let out in the principle room of the house, a living room attached to an open kitchen. The lingering scent of eggs hung in the air, but I'd already missed breakfast. I opted to raid the pantry for cereal. Cinnamon Life, my very favorite. I grabbed a bowl, poured a mountain of cereal in, headed to the fridge for milk. Then came the second humiliation of the morning. As I was walking back to the table, I was struck suddenly by an obnoxiously loud chorus of laughter. I jumped and spun about, damn near dropped the milk carton, I was so surprised. Three boys stood laughing in the portal between the living and the kitchen. My three best friends: Mitch, Danny and Tanner. "Sweet undies dude", Mitch managed between cackles. For the second time this morning my cheeks went rosy. "W-What.. how did.. who let you guys in?" I stammered. "Probably the same person who bought your tighty whities." This time it was Danny who was teasing. Mitch broke out into another fit of laughter. My hands moved instinctively to cover myself, not that it really made a difference. "These are blue, jerk." "Right. We're gonna' be eighth graders soon dude, don't you own boxers?" "I don't.. I mean, well... shut up! Why do you even care?" "Hey, those look comfy to me", Tanner came to my rescue. "Really ain't that important anyhow, morons." I cursed my luck; twice in one morning, goddamn. My cheeks must have been beet red. Getting caught and teased by Mitch and Danny was one thing, but being seen in my underwear by beautiful Tanner of all people, that was so much more embarrassing. At thirteen years old I was only just beginning to understand that the feelings and impulses I harbored for a few select boys - Tanner in particular - were the very same that I should have felt for the girls that all my friends were drooling over. I still wasn't sure what it all meant or what I was supposed to do with it, but what I did know was that of all the people I could have potentially been humiliated in front of, there wasn't anybody I was more afraid of being seen by in that way than Tanner. My mother strolled by, smiled. "Oh darling, good that you remembered the underwear this time", she chuckled to herself. The others were all giggling. "By the way, your friends are here." "Spasiba Mama!" I shouted sarcastically. She just smiled and offered the other three fresh lemonade and I took the opportunity to sprint back to my room. I slammed the door behind me as hard as I could, took a moment to simmer down before hitting the laundry pile again. I threw on an oversized green tank top and the same black pair of soccer shorts I'd worn the day before, cut an inch or two above the knee. Then I sat on the floor beside my bed to sulk. Such a shit morning. A knock on the door. "Hey Summer, are you dressed? Can I come in?" It was Tanner's voice. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. "Yeah." He opened the door slowly and only just enough to slip in, closed it behind him once he stepped through. I could hear Mitch and Danny laughing and joking from the kitchen, probably at my expense. Tanner squatted down in front of me, brushed those sandy brown bangs from his eyes. "Sorry we kinda' barged in on you", he apologized softly. "Your mother just let us in so we didn't think you'd be undressed." "It's fine", I mumbled. Most of my face was hidden behind my knees. "The guys were just foolin' around, you know? Just bein' stupid. They didn't mean to hurt your feelings or nothin'." I sighed. Mitch and Danny teasing me was nothing new. We were all guys and that's what guys did with their friends in our town. If Tanner hadn't been there, I doubt I'd have minded so much. But at least he seemed oblivious to the fact that he was the real reason for my embarrassment, which meant he wouldn't be suspecting anything, which was good. For him to discover me crushing on him was the last thing I needed. "I know. It's just been a rough morning, I guess." "Sure", he replied with a smile. My God, he was sinfully good-looking, especially when he smiled. Between his hazel eyes that always seemed to be shifting between green and brown depending upon the time of day, the sandy hair he wore a bit shaggy, the impossibly red lips and the deep sun-kissed bronze of his skin Tanner could have been an Abercrombie model if he'd just been a bit older. It was all I could do not to melt into that smile of his. "Guess I should quit making such a fuss", I admitted sheepishly. He chuckled. "Guess so", he replied before adding, "besides, I dunno' why you were even embarrassed. Bet the girls woulda' been drooling over you if they'd seen ya." I was blushing once again. "Mitch and Danny didn't seem to think so." "I don't think you should go choosin' which underwear you wanna' wear based on what those two say anyway", he said with a laugh. I had to laugh to. That is, until he winked at me and continued. "Didn't look half bad to me." My heart fluttered and immediately my eyes were downcast. "Thanks." "Come on", he said. He stood up, extended a hand to me. I took his in mine and he pulled me to my feet. The whole situation was still embarrassing, but I wasn't feeling like as much of a loser as I had before Tanner came in. The two of us returned to the kitchen to fetch Mitch and Danny. When we returned they were sitting at the kitchen table opposite my mother drinking her legendary lemonade and laughing, probably still about me, knowing the two of them. The two of them were brothers, Mitch thirteen years old like Tanner and I and Danny twelve. They were both pretty quintessential Texans. The two of them were platinum blondes who kept their hair trimmed high and tight like their military father, lived to make dumb jokes, play football and baseball and regurgitate the same tired conservative rhetoric as their parents, grandparents and so on. It was rare to see either of them in anything other than cargo shorts and cheap Walmart shirts and today was no exception. They could be a bit dense sometimes and were frequently ornery, but they were amongst the finest athletes in their respective grades and as the shy, soft-spoken, soft type myself I was rather strapped for friends and figured it'd be dumb to refuse any. They could get a bit too rough for me now and again, but Tanner had a knack for catching on and checking them before I'd have to make a fuss about it like a wimp. "You guys just gonna' sit around drinking lemonade all day?" Tanner asked. "I probably could", Danny replied with a giggle. "Summer's mom makes the best damn lemonade I've ever had." My mother just smiled and topped off his glass with more. "What are we thinkin' of doing?" Mitch asked nobody in particular. "Football?" I offered. "Football", Tanner echoed. "Football it is then", Mitch replied. After that the four of us rushed outside together and wasted no time picking teams and getting started. Mitch and Danny were naturally a team together and that left Tanner and I to ourselves, much to my delight. It would be a flawless summer day. A day full of hours of football in the yard beneath a cloudless sky. A day of fresh, handmade lemonade on the porch. A day of sweet afternoon sweat and shirtless sun-kissed bodies, of tireless fun and the complete inhibition that only school children over the summer vacation ever really achieve. A day of laughter. And the first day of the biggest part of my life. But that would come later.