The Families in Rossford

[ChrisGibson]

Oh, I was hoping you'd say that, but didn't think you would. She is certainly one of my favorites and at this point in the story my top favorite new character. Ok, I actually though you would have been surprised that Brendan and Sheridan had already slept together. I know Meredith was.

 

[CharmedFan28]

Oh, I was hoping you'd say that, but didn't think you would. She is certainly one of my favorites and at this point in the story my top favorite new character. Ok, I actually though you would have been surprised that Brendan and Sheridan had already slept together. I know Meredith was.

I was kind of but they seemed so close that I assumed that they might have done something together in the past.

 

[ChrisGibson]

And you assumed right!

 

[ChrisGibson]

TONIGHT IN ROSSFORD, KENNY GETS A DATE, LAYLA GETS A HOTEL ROOM AND LAUREL GETS A CHALLENGE

“See, what this is,” Sean Babcock told Kenny, as they sat in his house, “is the day before New Year’s turning into New Year’s Eve. We’re getting pretty close to sundown, I think.”
“Whaddo we do about that?” Kenny said.
“Well, let’s see.” Sean held out his hand to tick off options. “I have a family party I could go too, which will be awkward because my brother will be there, and his significant other will be there as well. Seeing as I broke up their relationship once, that could be interesting.”
“Seeing as I used to sleep with Chad, it could be very interesting.”
Sean looked at Kenny in shock.
“I was thinking about hiding it, but I don’t want to hide things anymore. I’m too old.”
“Well, what are your New Year’s Eve options?”
“My New Year’s Eve options are bound up in a group of people who acknow-ledge me and Brendan as a couple and wherever I go, he will go and… that’s not so great right now. Will and Layla are on a plane to London, and Milo and Dena will be exhausted by their children, passed out somewhere.
“And then, of course, there is New Year’s with my mother, my father and their dogs. And my father will probably say something like, see, ‘I knew sodomy couldn’t last’ even though we lasted for eighteen years.”
“Wow,” Sean said, “I hate to say it, but being with my family seems a hell of a lot better. Would you like to try it?”
“Will there be drama?”
“Four gay men, three of them with advanced degrees in music, and most of them having slept together at one point in time?”
“Two gay brothers who were sleeping with the same man?”
“Yes, don’t forget about that,” Sean nodded. “Yup, there’s gonna be drama.”
Kenny stood up and stretched. “Well, then I better get showered. Sounds like we’ve got some place to go after all.”

“Wait a minute, wait for it,” Will said, his arm hooked around Layla, while the bellhop opened the door.
“Oh, my God!”
While the bellhop brought in the bags, Will walked Layla in and she said, “Have you been living like this everytime you leave the country?”
“Hardly,” Will told her. “But I thought for us, this was worth it. For your first trip out of the country.”
“Oh,” Layla said. “Hold on.”
She reached into her purse, and pulled out a handful of bills.
“I don’t know if that’s enough,” she told the bellhop. “If I’m being chintzy, just let me know.”
“No, ma’am,” he looked at the money in his hands, “You’re not chintzy at all.
“Say, do you all come from California?”
“I’ve never even been to California,” Layla said.
“I was just wondering. Real generous and all.”
“Thanks,” Will said, “but we’re from Indiana. And that’s like…”
Layla took out her: This is England book and said, “That’s a hell of a lot like East Anglia from what I’ve read.”
The bellhop smiled and said, “Well, how’d you like that? They got East Anglia in America!”
“And Essex too,” Will said.
“Um,” murmured the bellhop. “Well, that’s too bad.”

After Will fell asleep, Layla decided she wanted to more than look out of the window on the night. When she’d first come to the hotel she wondered if it would be one of those white and gold affairs like she saw on television, but this place was clean and modern. She looked out of her window, and there was London. Unbelievable. That Bridge from the movies… Not the London Bridge, it was something else… Big Ben, the Ferris Wheel she didn’t understand. It was all waiting for her in the night.
“It’s almost New Year,” she realized, looking at the clock. She was still in Rossford time.
Layla slipped on some flats and took the little card key, deciding to see, if not the city, then the hotel. Hotels weren’t places she went, though now she remembered the first time she’d had sex with Will was in a hotel. This was a hotel of a different order, though, and the lobby was quietly classy. Well carpeted. When she came down into it, she walked around, came as far as the doors that led outside with the doormen in the vestibule between the entrance and the rest of London.
“You look lost,” an amused voice said, behind her.
Layla turned around.
“Or… bemused.”
She was a pretty woman, mid twenties, honey colored hair, blue eyes, just sitting on one of the sofas in the lobby, and Layla came toward her.
“I will be lost if I go out there,” she said, “and that’s a fact. And I am bemused.”
“Is this your first time in England?”
“How’d you know?” and then Layla covered her mouth and said, “Of course. I have an accent.”
She sat next to the woman and said, “This is my first time out of the U.S. Unless you count Canada.”
“You know for a minute I thought you were Canadian.”
“No.”
“Americans are morons when they get here…” she shook her head. Then she said, “Well that was shite of me.”
“No, it was honest of you,” Layla said. “And we’re not much better at home.”
“You know you get it from us?” she said. “We like to complain about Americans to feel European, but you guys… your hillybillies and what the not, you got them from us. Just get outside of London—or into it for that matter. You’ll see.”
She seemed about to say more, but just then the same bellhop who had brought their bags up came to her and touched his watch.
“Ah, thanks.”
The woman stood up and held out her hand to Layla.
“That means I have to run,” she said.
“Look, my name is Pam,” she said as Layla shook her hand, “and on New Year’s, right now, I say if you’re with someone you better go and get him and the two of you go up and down this street, up and down, plenty going on and you won’t get lost, and if you do get lost, what of it?
“Layla,” Layla said standing up. “I’m Layla Lawden, and I hope to meet you again.”
“I’m sure you will, love,” she said, kissing Layla on the cheek.
Then, gathering her coat under her arm, in her short black skirt, Pam went toward an open elevator, and it closed as she went up.

Layla waited for the next elevator, and when she was on it, it couldn’t get up to her floor fast enough. Back in their hotel room Layla launched herself across the bed.
“Will, get up! Get up, Will! It’s almost New Year.”
Will woke up with a long, unhappy groan that ended in, “Lay-la!”
“Wake up, Will,” she exhorted.
“There’s a conference in the morning.”
“And they were stupid to set it on New Year’s Day. Wake up. You’re taking me out.”
Will rolled over and turned on the television where they were broadcasting the New Year’s Eve show.
“10–9–8–”
“See,” Will said, “We’re going to miss it anyway.”
“No we’re not. We’re here for—shush!”
“Happy New Year, Great Britain.”
“We haven’t missed it at all. And see, it won’t happen back in Indiana for another six hours… Five hours. So let’s get out and celebrate it.”
Shaggy haired, scruffy faced and only half awake, Will looked up at the woman who stood over him.
“I love you Layla Lawden.”
“Does that mean, we’re going out?”
Will nodded, yawned, and took his hands through his hair so that it stood up.
“It means bring me my shoes.”

Dinner was ending, and Maia reflected, “It seems like we’ve been eating all day.”
“Eating, drinking, praying, singing, eating again, a few old men sneaking out for a cigarette even though you’re not supposed to smoke on the Sabbath,” Lizzy shrugged. “All in all, a good way to spend Shabbos.”
“The meals tend to blend into each other,” Moshe said. “You know it’s alright to go away if you want to, take some time out for yourself.”
“I’ll remember that next time,” Maia said, but Laurel said, “I loved it. I’ve never done anything like this before.”
“Then you’ll just have to do it again,” Moshe said, grinning at her. “By the way, why’d you stick your tongue out at me?”
“Why did you smile at me?”
“That’s what friendly people do. I’m a friendly guy.”
The house was quieter now, and Laurel had the feeling that something important was about to happen.
“I still don’t know why you stuck your tongue out at me, though,” Moshe whispered.
The house was dark now. It had been darkening, and people were coming closer and closer to where the old rabbi stood at a table with a twisted candle and a cup of wine. It had already been spilled to overflowing and men were taking out flasks. These were the drinkin’est people she’d ever seen. Other people were going off to get drinks and Moshe smiled at her, then disappeared for a moment before bringing little cups to Maia and Laurel.
Laurel sniffed her cup, and was surprised by alcohol. When Moshe saw her reaction, he grinned, slipped a hand in his pocket, and turned away.
As the old rabbi began singing, they all picked the tune up. The sounds were beautiful. The words were so lovely that Laurel wished she had them in her hands to sing.

hinneh ’el yeshu‘ati ’evṭaḥ ṿelo’ ’efḥad
ki ‘ozzi ṿezimrat yah Adonai ṿayhi
li lishu‘a ushe’avtem mayim beśaśon
mimma‘ayne hayshu‘a layya hayshu‘a
‘al ‘ammekha virkhatekha ssela Adonai
tseva’ot ‘immanu miśgav lanu ’elohe ya‘aḳov
sela Adonai tseva’ot ’are ’adam boṭeaḥ
bakh Adonai hoshi‘a hammelekh ya‘anenu
veyom ḳare’enu layehudim hayeta
’ora ṿeśimḥa ṿeśaśon ṿiḳar ken tihyeh
llanu kos yeshu‘ot ’eśśa’ uveshem
Adonai ’eḳra’


When they arrived at the close, Moshe leaned in and began whispering to her in English:

"Blessed art thou, Hashem, our Lord, King of the Universe
Who distinguishes
Holiness from profanity,
Light from dark,
Israel from the nations,
The seventh day from the six workdays.
Blessed art thou, Hashem,
Who distinguishes holiness from profanity.”

He was so close his lips touched her ears, and when she looked at him he was grinning wolfishly.
“It’s only fair to warn you, I’m taken.”
“Omayn!” Everyone shouted, and Moshe shouted too, raising his empty glass.
He turned back, and smiling at her he said, “It’s only fair to to warn you; I don’t care.”

 

[CharmedFan28]

Looks like Bryant will see his brother again sooner rather then later. Things are about to get even more interesting! I am glad Layla and Will are going out for New Years while on their trip. That Moshe is a big flirt. I wonder what will happen next between him and Laurel. Great writing and I look forward to more soon! I hope you are having a nice weekend!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Moshe is a terrible flirt and we will see him a lot more. He's pretty determined! Layla and Will are about to at least attempt to paint London red, and we'll see where all this drama goes tomorrow night. Who knows? There may even be some Brendan action.

 

[ChrisGibson]

TONIGHT, LAYLA AND WILL EXPLORE, SHERIDAN AND BRENDAN HAVE A MUCH NEEDED TALK AND FENN PLANS AN ADVENTURE


“We’re not even dressed,” Will protested, as Layla dragged him out of the elevator.
“The time to say that was when we were upstairs, but we’re here now.”
“Happy New Year, Miss Layla!” the bellhop shouted.
“Happy New Year to you,” Layla said, letting go of Will’s hand.
“You know what?” she told the bellhop.
“Miss Layla?”
“I don’t even know you’re name.”
“I’m Jimmy, Miss.”
“Just call me, Layla. Unless you just have to call me Miss. Where are you from, Jimmy?”
“East Hampton.”
“You know what?” she said. “I don’t know where that is. But I bet you don’t know where Rossford, Indiana is either.”
“No—”
“Well the important thing is this,” Layla interrupted him.
She grabbed Jimmy the bellhop’s face, pulled it to her, and kissed him.
“You’ve just been kissed by a Black woman from Indiana. Happy New Year, Jimmy.”
Before Jimmy could say anything else, while both he and Will were looking at her in amazement, she pulled Will out of the lobby and into the night, saluting the doormen as she went out.
“Oh, my God, catch that air!” she cried. “It’s London. This is New Year’s energy.”
Out in the street people passing, shouted “Happy New Year!” and she shouted back at them.
“Layla,” Will said as he tripped while she dragged him down the street.
“Yeah, Babe?”
“You know what?” Will thought about it. “Nevermind. Just show me a good time. In fact… let’s take the Tube.”
They had to find the Underground and then, descending, Layla whispered as Will wrapped his arm around her waist, “This is just like Chicago.”
“A little cleaner, though.”
“I’m trying to show loyalty.”
When the train came by they got on. As they buzzed under the city, Layla watched the lights shoot by in the Underground, and looked at her fellow travelers. After a few stops, Will said, “This is us,” and they emerged into blaring lights and trawling buses.
“Will, where are we?” she said as, now, he pulled her along.
“I don’t know,” he told her.
“What?”
Will turned around.
“I—don’t—know.”
“But you looked so confident.”
“I am confident.”
“I meant about where we were going.”
“I know where we’re going,” Will said, taking her by her shoulders and turning her toward the direction of a public house.
“And I am condident that with you, I’m always going to have a good time!”


“So, why did you and Logan really break up?”
“I thought we had this discussion.”
“You said,” Brendan said, sitting on the couch, “that it just didn’t work out.”
“Well, it didn’t.”
“But why didn’t it work out?” Brendan insisted.
“Look,” Sheridan said, “we’ve been split up for well over a year, and you just split up with Kenny days ago. I don’t ask why you all broke up.”
“Well, then ask,” Brendan said.
“Alright, then. Tell me why.”
“We didn’t love each other the way we needed to. We weren’t in love anymore.” Brendan shrugged.
“But when did that happen? When you went to Chicago?”
“Yes,” Brendan said. “But I didn’t know it.”
He was quiet a bit and then he said, “You know what? I think it happened little by little. Bit by bit, over the years. I think…” Brendan stopped.
“What?” Sheridan said, softly. “What do you think?”
“A long time ago. You would have been just a little kid, I came to Kenny and I told him I wanted to be in love.”
Neither one of them spoke, and then Brendan said: “What I am afraid of, is I wonder if I was ever in love with Kenny. Or him with me. We loved each other, but I guess I looked around and saw that there was more. And I wanted it, whatever it was.”
Sheridan nodded, listening to this, and then Brendan said, “Okay. So you and Logan?”
“I got tired of sharing him,” Sheridan said, simply.
“I never understood how Chay does it, because God knows I can’t anymore. But in the end I just couldn’t take the idea that Logan had sex with other people as work. I lived with it for a long time. I turned away from Chay twice and went to Logan. But one day I was just tired.”
“But I thought Logan went into modeling.”
“He did,” Sheridan said. “He told me, a while after his first ad, that the guy who hired him fucked him. That’s how he got the job. And he has stuff on the web, little successes here, little successes there, but the thing is porn was really where he was the most successful. And escorting. And what I had to learn was that… I guess the same way that a writer probably teaches or something to support himself, a male model—for gay magazines—still escorts.”
“Really?”
Sheridan nodded.
“The porn thing made him more valuable as an escort. That was his real money. Modeling still makes him pretty valuable. But escorting…. Fills in the chinks, makes ends meet. And in the end…” Sheridan shook his head.
“It must have hurt.”
“That’s just it,” Sheridan said. “It didn’t. And that was crazy. I was okay with the guy I lived with going out and having sex with other people. I had become used to it, and I was just tired of being that way. I didn’t care anymore. And it shouldn’t be like that.”
“But you loved him? Once. You were really in love with him.”
“I was really young. I love him. I discovered him and myself, and sex… I mean sex with a man, at the same time. He was everything. I killed for him,” Sheridan said in a lower voice.
“And I hid it.”
Sheridan said nothing.
“You know I’ll always protect you. I would hide anything for you.”
“Don’t say that, Bren.”
“It is absolutely true.”
“Thanks,” Sheridan said. “It hardly seems like enough to say. But, thanks.”
“But the thing I don’t get,” Brendan said, “is you loved Chay, but it was so easy for you not to stay with him. That’s what I don’t get.”
“I loved Chay like a brother, and Logan like a hero,” Sheridan said. “But all along neither was the One. I always knew it.”
“Like with Kenny,” Brendan nodded while he held his coffee cup between his knees.
“Do you ever think you’ll find him?” Brendan said.
Sheridan laughed now. He looked a little sad.
“What?” Brendan said, leaning in and touching his elbow.
“God,” Sheridan said. “We’ve been together. We’ve been in the same bed. You’ve… you’ve protected me my whole life it seems. Can’t you see? Don’t you understand?”
“Make me understand,” Brendan said, his eyes very intent on Sheridan.
“It’s you, Bren. I think it’s always been you.”

The bartender put a drink down in front of Layla and said, “That is from the man in the corner. Right over there.”
Layla opened her mouth. Beside Will, she turned around and saw a handsome man waving at her. But before she could say more, the bartender came back with a tall beer for Will and said, “And that’s for you. From the woman beside him.”
Will turned around and murmured.
“What?” Layla said.
“Well, she’s not bad. If you don’t mind me saying so.”
“You know what? I don’t.”
“I suppose we should go over and say hello.”
Layla nodded and together, with their drinks, they moved through the crowded bar.
As they approached, the woman stood up and held out her arms to Layla. Layla, being herself, opened her arms right up and the woman said, “You are beautiful! Please sit down with us.”
The man motioned for Will to sit beside him and he said, “I was sitting here with my lady when we saw you all come in.”
“You are just so beautiful together,” the woman continued in awe.
Will looked at Layla and said, “Thank you?”
“Thank you is appropriate,” Layla said.
“And Americans,” the man continued. “Or Canadian?”
“Americans,” Layla told him. “This is Will, my fiancé, and I am Layla.”
“Nina,” the woman introduced herself, “and Andrew.”
“Are the drinks to your satisfaction?” Andrew asked.
“Yes,” Will sipped his beer. “Very much.”
“Excellent,” Andrew said, smiling at him. “You seemed like the kind of man who would appreciate a proper beer.”
“Would you like to spend the evening with us?” Nina asked them.
“You know what?” Will said, touching his head, “we can’t think of anything better to do than enjoy the evening here with you fine people.”
“Here, yes!” Andrew said. “And after that at our flat.”
Layla laughed and said, “But Andrew, we hardly know each other!”
“Coming to the flat with us is the best way to know each other,” Nina said.
While Will laughed, Layla’s eyes opened and she said, “Hold on a minute?”
“Yes?” Nina said.
“Are you all…? Are you swingers?”
Andrew smiled and said, “Well, we don’t call it that exactly. We are a couple interested in other couples. And whatever happens…?” Andrew looked to his wife.
“Exactly,” Nina continued with a joyful shrug.
“Whatever happens, happens.”
“That’s what I’m talking about!” Will raised his glass. “That’s the way to begin a new year. You know, we’re swingers too!”
Layla looked at Will with flared nostrils, and Nina said, resting a hand over hers. “This isn’t America. There’s no need to be ashamed, Layla.”
“Yeah, honey—” Will began, but Layla said, “Will, do you even know what a swinger is?”
He looked at her, hurt.
“Layla, of course I know. A swinging kind of guy, a real cool cat! A—”
Andrew was nodding, smiling brightly to encourage Will, but Layla snapped her fingers and gestured for Will’s ear. He leaned in toward her, and while she whispered, his eyes went wide, and then they went back to normal.
“I can’t have sex with your wife!” Will said.
“Oh, that’s quite alright,” Andrew said. “We’re bisexual.”
While Will processed that, Nina told Layla, “You are absolutely beautiful.”
“I’m sorry, but Will can’t have sex with your husband.”
While Will was still blinking over this he said, “No. No I can’t.”
“And it’s not that you aren’t lovely,” Layla continued, “because you are. But… we can’t happen either. Though I am flattered.”
“Your candor is refreshing,” Andrew said. “Frankly I’m aroused by the both of you.”
Nina sighed and admitted, “So am I. The lovemaking would have been beautiful.”
“I don’t doubt it,” Layla said, diplomatically. “But for now, let’s leave it to drinks.”
“Ah, well,” Andrew said, raising his glass, “to drinking.”
“To…” Layla raised her glass with him, “swinging.”


“We’ve been invited to dinner upstairs,” Sheridan said.
“Yeah, but until then we need to talk about this.”
“What’s there to talk about?” Sheridan said. “You know how I feel. This afternoon at lunch I told Meredith how I felt. I’ve never told anyone. Except for Logan, a long time ago. I felt like that until that night when we stayed together. And until we woke up together.”
“And then you got over me?”
“No, idiot,” Sheridan said. “You didn’t want anything to do with me.”
“That’s so stupid,” Brendan said. “If I didn’t want to have anything to do with you, why would I be here right now?”
“We were together three times, and then you broke everything off.”
“I was trying to—” Brendan stopped.
“What?”
“I think I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
“From me. From a relationship with me.”
“I don’t even understand that.’
Brendan got up, putting his cup of coffee on the table in front of them.
“Do you know what it would be like, if we switched from what we are to being… something else?”
“Brendan, the cat’s out the bag,” Sheridan said. “We’ve fucked.”
“Sheridan—”
“And you just turned your back on it.”
“I just wanted things to be safe.”
“But you didn’t want to make them safe for me.”
“Of course I did,” Brendan insisted. “I’ve always wanted things to be safe for you.”
“Maybe,” Sheridan told him. “I’m not saying that wasn’t part of it, but when it comes to us, I think you wanted things to be safe for you.”

“Alright,” Fenn said, crushing his cigarette out. “This shit is boring.”
“Whaddid you say?” Adele blinked and turned around.
“See, what I mean? This is so boring you don’t even know what I’m saying. We need to do something.”
Half asleep on the sofa, wrapped in Bill’s arms, Nell looked up and said, “Something is happening. We’re sitting around watching TV and waiting for the New Year.”
“And that’s stupid,” Fenn said.
“Brendan, Sheridan, Todd, get the fuck up.”
“Language,” Anne said.
“Oh, Mama, in my house there are no bad words. Simon, get up.”
“What’s going on?” Simon Davis asked at the same time his wife did.
“We are dull as fuck,” Fenn said. “Dylan’s with Tom. Maia’s in Chicago. It’s New Years. We’re going out?”
“Going out where?” Todd said. “To Miller. To Gary?”
“Maybe we can go to East Carmel,” Sheridan said, and Brendan chuckled.
“Maybe you can shut the fuck up,” Fenn said. “Get the keys, Todd. We’re going to Indianapolis.”
Todd blinked at him, but only for a minute, and Anne said, “And what about us?”
“You all can go to Indianapolis too. In the women’s car.”
“I am too old to go Indianapolis,” Anne said. “I could drop dead anytime.”
“Mama!” Adele sucked in her breath.
But Fenn, who was already going to the closet for his coat, brought his mother’s and said, “Mama, you’re eighty years old, you’ll never be younger than you are now.”

MORE TUESDAY NIGHT

 

[CharmedFan28]

It was nice to see Brendan and Sheridan being so honest with each other. I hope this leads to something but I am trying to not get my hopes up too much! I am not surprised that Layla and Will were not into swinging. They just want each other and I hope they have a good time the rest of their trip. I look forward to reading what Fenn and co get up to when they go out. Great writing and I look forward to more in a few days! I hope you have a wonderful week!

 

[ChrisGibson]

No, no, Will and Layla are definitely not swingers. But I love how Layla handled the whole situation. She is very much Fenn Houghton's niece. Meanwhile Sheridan and Brendan are getting closer and more honest and who knows what's going to come from it? Lot's more fun on the way, and yes, a little bit of heartache. But you knew that had to happen. Thank you for your fond wishes, and I hope you have a great week too. Tomorrow night: The Blood.

UPDATE: Do to the way the story is constructed: Rossford tomorrow night and The Blood on Tuesday.

 

[ChrisGibson]

CHAPTER FIVE
NEW YEARS EVE
CONCLUSION


“Someone’s at the door,” Marta wondered. “Who could that be?”
“Someone who should go away,” her husband said.
“Now that’s just unnecessary.”
As Marta went to answer the door, Moshe said, “Yay. TV again.”
“You really don’t watch TV on the Sabbath?” Laurel said.
“Well, it’s not like anything good comes on Friday night anyway.”
“That is true,” Maia acknowledged, settling down in front of the television.
“Girls,” Marta called.
Laurel headed down the hall, and Maia, with a sigh, rose, following her. Moshe walked alongside her, down the hall to the entryway with the staircase leading to the upstairs.
“I said girls, Moshe,” his mother told him.
“Logan! Casey.”Laurel greeted them as Marta locked the door back. “Chay?”
“Happy New Year!” Chay said in a weary voice. “Look we just got into Chi and your dad asked us to check in on you.”
“What for?” Maia said.
Marta touched her shoulder, “Because he cares about you.”
“Exactly,” Logan said. “And we got the address and now here we are and we’re all going to our respective homes to chill out.”
“You are welcome to chill out in here,” Marta said. “My family would love to have such lovely young men.”
“Ma’am, thank you kindly,” Logan said. “But I, for one, am looking for some quality sleep, and once I sit down in a chair, I don’t plan to get up again.”
“That’s pretty much the same for us too,” Casey said, throwing his arm around Chay. “But thank you all the same for your courtesy.”
Chay nodded, thinking this was enough.
“Well, please drive safely,” Marta said. “And don’t be strangers.”
“Monday we’re going to De Paul, though,” Maia said.
“You should come down and hang with us,” Chay said. “You, Laurel and whoever you would like to bring. Like, for instance,” to Marta, “You, ma’am.”
Marta laughed and said, “Oh, I won’t be around, so it’s my turn to say, thank you all the same.”
“Well,” Chay said, and then he hugged and kissed Laurel, then Maia. He shook Marta’s hand. “Good night. And we’ll be getting along.”
They all hugged and shook hands and Casey did Logan and Chay one better by hugging Marta too, who let out a sound of shocked pleasure. Then the three men were heading down the steps of the brownstone to their car, climbing in, and heading down the street.
“You want us to drop you at home, Loge?” Chay said.
“I need to shower and pass out. Yeah.”
“We thought you might want to party with us,” Casey said.
“Where’re we going to party?” Chay turned to him, looking exhausted and a little irritated at the suggestion of festivity.
“We were going to party in our apartment,” Casey said. “With the TV and a bowl of salsa. Old man style. So…” he shrugged and looked at Logan, “the offer still stands.”
“Well,” Logan said. “That’s cool. I mean, if the night drags on or something I can come on by.”
“That’s all we’re saying,” Casey told him as they approached Devon Avenue. “That’s all I’m saying.”


~~~

How long, how looooong
will I slide?
Separate my side
I don’t, I dont believe its bad
Slittin my throat it’s all I ever had.

I heard your voice through a photograph
I thought it up and brought up the past
Once you know you can never go back
I gotta take it on the other side...


“I don’t know who half these people are,” Elias said to his brother.
“Relax,” Bennett told him. “It’s just a New Year’s bash. This is our first one, bud.”
“Are you drunk?” Elias demanded.
Bennett smiled at him.
“Let me see that cup,” Elias demanded.
Bennett pulled away. “It’s so dark in here. How are you going to tell what I’ve got?”
“I can smell it, you idiot!”
Bennett grinned at his twin, his face blue in the blacklight, and then downed the cup then, setting it on the floor, crushed it.
“Not anymore.”
“God, you’re so stupid!”
“Bennett!”
Elias turned around, and he saw the girls coming toward them. He was annoyed by them already. That new one, in the middle, the Maggie one, he really couldn’t stand.
“We’ve been looking all over for you boys,” Maggie said, touching his shoulder and Elias shuddered, not even attempting to hide his disgust.
Bennett raised an eyebrow and jammed his hands in his pocket
“How can we help you ladies?”
Really, Bennett? Really?
Elias saw Maggie nudge Maris as the music rose higher and higher, and Maris came forward and said, “Like this.”
She took Bennett by the chin and kissed him, and at first his brother looked confused, and then Elias saw his brother’s hands rise up a little, his hands go around her waist. He fell into the kiss.
“I think this calls for seven minutes in heaven,” Maggie said.
“Don’t be a kid,” Maris said, separating from Bennett.
“By seven minutes in heaven,” Maggie clarified, “I meant however long you need in that back bedroom.”
“Oh, come on!” Elias cried, but Bennett murmured, “Shush, bro.”

How long, how long will I sliiiiiiide!
Separate my side
I dont, I dont believe its baaaa-aa-aad
Slittin my throat it’s all I ever...

Maris kissed Bennett again, and pulled him through the crowd while Maggie hooked her finger through Elias’s pinkie and pulled him away. The dark haired boy looked after his brother who had now disappeared into the crowd.
“Come on, Elias,” Maggie said. “I know what Maris likes, but personally, I think you’re the hot twin.”
“Thanks,” Elias said, rankled. “I have to make a call.”
He slipped out of the living room, looking for some private space. Two kids were making out in the foyer and Elias thought, That’s what Bennett is doing right now, and if everything goes well, then that’s where it will stop. Hopefully.
“I’m such a hypocrite,” Elias murmured, but he pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
“Hello? Yeah. It’s me. Dylan? Could you guys come and get me?”

Lance Bishop arrived with Dylan. Elias met him on the porch.
“Where’s Bennett?”
“He’s back there. Somewhere,” Elias said. “With a girl.”
“Well, alright,” Lance started to move around Elias. “I’ll get him.”
“You can’t do that,” Dylan said. Pulling him by the elbow.
Lance looked at him.
“You can’t,” Dylan repeated. “And besides, it’s hypocritical. Whatever he’s doing with her. He’s older than we were.”
“Firstly,” Lance said, still looking dogged, “I don’t like the look of these people or this house. Secondly there was no way I could have given you an STD, and I definitely couldn’t have gotten your pregnant. So, no it’s not the same.”
“Look,” Elias said. “I’m the one who called, so… could we just go home?”
Dylan put an arm around Elias and led him down the porch steps saying, “Come on, Lance.”
Still looking back at the house, Lance followed.

“I didn’t mean to bother you guys,” Elias said. “I could have walked home. Or called my dad. I see that now.”
“It wasn’t a bother,” Lance turned around and told him. “You ever need us, call us. Well not me. I’m gone in two days. But, you know what I mean.”
Surprising himself, Elias chuckled.
“What?” Dylan said.
“It’s just I feel like I’m your kid or something, and Lance is the dad.”
Lance gave a hooked grin, but other than that just kept driving.
“I guess that makes me the wife?” Dylan said.
“It makes you the mom. Not like the lady, not like you’re girly. More like, you know, Dena. Or Claire.”
“A kickass mom?”
“Yes,” Elias said.
“Alright,” Dylan shrugged as they drove through the night, “I can live with that.”

“That’s it, that’s it,” Maris murmured. “You’re doing it, you’re doing it.”
Her hand was stroking his hair, and now she held him down, pulling her legs tighter around him, urging him to hurry up the way she had done with Hunter when it was getting old. She used the old trick of sliding her hands to his ass, and then slipping a finger in.
Bennett’s body rose up, and he shuddered, unable to stifle a shout. Rigid and firm, he came like water between her legs, semen shooting out of him.
“That’s good,” Maris panted, feeling damp and crushed.
Bennett tried to keep his shirt from falling over his erection and getting stained. Half conscious, a little shaken, he knelt between Maris’s legs.

On the other side of the door, Lindsay stood there, eyes wide.
“I heard someone shout!” she said, in a panic.
Maggie, who had been standing guard, only smiled and shook her head, knowingly.
“Lindsay,” she said. “What you heard was Maris’s baby getting a daddy.”

MORE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT..... TOMORROW WE CONTINUE THE BLOOD

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was an excellent portion! These new characters are getting more and more interesting. I don't know if Maris has necessarily found a Dad for her baby but I am glad she is having fun. I look forward to reading what the other characters are up to for New Years and that was some great writing!

 

[ChrisGibson]

You totally missed what was going on, Matt. Maris didn't have sex with Bennett to have fun. She had sex with Bennett for the very purpose of blaming her pregnancy on him. That's the reason she's been talking about Bennett since chapter two.

 

[CharmedFan28]

You totally missed what was going on, Matt. Maris didn't have sex with Bennett to have fun. She had sex with Bennett for the very purpose of blaming her pregnancy on him. That's the reason she's been talking about Bennett since chapter two.

Oh ok whoops my bad. I'll have to read more carefully. Hopefully once I get rid of this cold I will be less scatterbrained. Thanks for correcting me.

 

[ChrisGibson]

I hope you're taking something good for your cold and getting lots of rest. Is it Fall over there?

 

[CharmedFan28]

I am thanks. It is Fall here, getting colder but luckily no snow where I live which is great.

 

[ChrisGibson]

iN A WHOLE NEW CHAPTER, OUR STORY RAMPS UP TO A NEW LEVEL AND BENNETT AND ELIAS HAVE A LITTLE TALK ABOUT THE PAST


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http://www.how-to-be-a-male-escort.com
S I X



THE MESS UNFOLDS


In the morning, Fenn Houghton woke up blinking into grey light, his throat dry as he looked up at the ceiling. Todd’s arm, heavy, was thrown over his middle, and the other man snored lightly, mouth wide open, his other arm thrown off the bed.
Fenn turned to look at the clock. It was eight in the morning on New Year’s Day, and they were in Indianapolis. He had to pee so badly, but sleeping seemed more important. The more he thought, though, Dylan was not more important than sleeping, so he stretched his legs and rolled out of bed, hobbling to the phone and cursing the old age that made the balls of his feet hurt.
He dialed quickly, overcoming a yawn and vowing to return straight to bed.
“Hello?” Lee said.
“Lee,” Fenn told him. “Let Dylan know we won’t be home when he gets there.”
“Where the hell are you?”
“In Indianapolis.”
“How did you—? Wait. You didn’t invite me?”
“Lee, it really was a spur of the moment thing, and I had to deal with Mama all night.”
“You took Anne to Indianapolis, but not me.”
“Shit, she’s eighty. I may never get to take her to Indianapolis again. Look, the point is—”
“The point is,” Lee said, “I can’t tell Dylan anything because Dylan isn’t here.”
“Where the hell is he?”
“Last night he got a call from one of Paul’s kids, and he and Lance went out to get him. I think they ended up at Lance’s or at Paul’s.”
“Okay, well thanks for not knowing where the hell my child is, Lee.”
“He is grown—”
“Not grown enough,” Fenn hung up the receiver, lifted it again and dialed Dylan’s cell phone.
“Hello!” a stoned voiced answered.
“Dylan? Are you fucked up?”
“No, Dad, I’m woke up.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s—Oh, cram! It’s eight in the morning, Pop!”
“Yes, I know that, and you can go right back to sleep. I just wanted to say we won’t be home when you get there.”
“Why not?”
“We’re in Indianapolis.”
“So…” Dylan seemed to wake a little more. “You’re not at home right now, is what you’re saying.”
“That’s right.”
“Why the heck are you in Indianapolis?”
“Long story, but… We’ll be back this evening.”
“Can you give me a time?”
“Are you thinking about how long you have to go back to the house and have sex with Lance?”
“God, Dad!”
“I would be too. And he’s really good looking. I mean you both are.”
“Dad, you’re really making me uncomfortable right now.”
“Realistically we’ll probably be back by three o’clock.”
“I’m getting off the phone now, Dad.”
“Alright son.”
As he was about to hang up, Fenn said, “Five! We can give you till five.”
“Give me till five to do what?” Dylan said.
“Oh, stop!” Fenn said. “Give you till five to—”
“Dad, I’m hanging up now. Your… tolerance… is embarrassing me.”

In the large bedroom across the street from Layla and Will’s empty house, Lance half sat up in the semi darkness and said, “Your dad?”
Dylan climbed back into bed. Beside them Elias, in his pajamas, was sound asleep and Dylan, nodding, said, “Yes. He wanted me to know he was out of town and I could have the house until five.”
“That’s nice,” Lance settled back into bed. “And a surprise. He just left?”
“Yes,” Dylan said.
“Is that why you’re upset.”
“Who’s upset?” Elias opened his eyes.
“No one’s upset,” Dylan told him, poking the boy in the head. “Go back to bed.”
“Technically, I am in bed.”
Lance raised an eyebrow at him, and Elias closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
“I am not upset. I am just… flabbergasted,” Dylan settled back in the covers.
“Dad sort of implied that if we wanted to sneak back and be together it was cool.”
“What?” Elias said.
Ignoring Elias, Dylan said, “I asked Dad how long he would be gone and he assumed I was asking to know if we had time to be together.”
“By that you mean have sex?”
“Elias!” Lance and Dylan both said.
“Well, did you?” Lance said.
“Yes,” Dylan admitted. “But… we’re not supposed to talk about it. Not the way he did. Not all… He was like, I understand if you all need the day, and I won’t be back until five. I’ll give you an extra two hours.”
“How progressive,” Elias said.
“How weird!” Dylan said. “Your dad’s not supposed to green light your sex life! It’s like I’m going to picture him watching me every time.”
“Actually,” Lance said, leaning on his side. “Your dad hasn’t greenlit your sex life, just your sex life with me.”
Lance grinned.
“I have to pee,” he discovered.
He climbed out of bed in his boxers and grabbed a tee shirt, pulling it on before discovering, “This is not mine. This hardly covers my chest.”
They had brought Elias home and Paul had told them to just stay the night. They stayed in the guest room, Elias in his pajamas between Dylan, who had stripped to his briefs, and Lance to his boxers. It was, for the boy who had only known two fathers, like childhood again.
“Great,” Dylan said, after Lance had left the room. “Now I have to pee, too.”
“We make a cute family,” Elias said. “Don’t we?”
Dylan looked at his younger friend and then said, “You know what? Aftr I get out of that bathroom, I really am going back to sleep.”


Dylan and Lance were getting dressed. Elias came down the hall and down the stairs to the kitchen that smelled of coffee, where his fathers were sitting and Kirk turned and said, “Well, you’re finally up. Go wake your brother and I’ll fry some eggs or something. There’s Danish if you’re hungry.”
“Or what’s left of it,” Paul said, turning to Matthew.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” the youngest son protested, mouth full.
Paul ruffled Matthew’s hair and stage whispered, “It means the boy is a Hoover.”
“I like to eat.”
“Yes, you do,” Kirk acknowledged. “And since it doesn’t seem to be getting to your middle…” Kirk shrugged.
“Go up and wake your brother, will you?” Paul said.
“When did he get back?” Elias asked. He turned to go back up the steps.
“That girl Maggie brought him back at about one.”
“Oh.”
“Do you know anything about her?” Paul said.
“I know I don’t like her,” Elias replied, and headed back upstairs.
He reflected that in a normal house, say Dena’s, a mother might wonder about a fast girl bringing her son back at one in the morning. He knew that if a boy had brought Bennett back, their hackles would have been up even though Bennett was straight. They kept on mistaking him for them.
“Alright, we’re headed out buddy,” Lance said, tucking his shirt in as he pulled his coat on.
“If you need us,” Dylan said, “give us a call. But…” he raised an eyebrow at Lance, “try not to need us.”
“I’ll walk you to the door,” Elias offered.
“Shut the fuck up,” Lance said, cuffing him in the arm. “We can let ourselves out, and grab a donut or something from the kitchen.”
Then the boys were headed down the stairs and Elias watched after them for a second before going to his brother’s room.
“Bennett,” he said, turning the door and coming inside. “Bennett, it’s time to get up.”
“I’m up already,” Bennett said from under the covers. He sat up, head sticking up, for all the world looking like a younger version of their father Paul.
“What happened with you and that Maris girl?”
“None of your business,” Bennett said, frankly.
“We’re twins,” Elias said. “We tell each other everything.”
“That’s a crock of shit and you know it,” Bennett slipped his feet into his house shoes. “Where’s my housecoat.”
“In my room. I washed it with mine and forgot to bring it over.”
Elias was gone a moment and then returned and said, “I just get worried about you.”
“Elias, that is so hypocritical.”
His brother looked at him.
“Everyone thinks you’re so quiet and you’re just sitting around reading the Bible and shit.”
“I don’t think I ever told anyone I was reading the Bible.”
“Shut the door.”
Elias obeyed.
“I lost my virginity last night. Don’t look at me like that.” Bennett said.
“It’s just… Ben, that’s a big deal.”
“You don’t have to tell me it’s a big deal. I know it’s a big deal.”
“To that Maris girl? Cause she’s–”
“Hey, watch it.”
“What about Maia?”
“What about her?”
“You all… You know.”
“No, I don’t know.”
“You all had an understanding.”
“An understanding?” Bennett said. “An understanding? That one day, someday, somehow we might go on a date? What kind of understanding is that?”
Elias folded his arms over his chest while Bennett fastened his housecoat and said, “And besides, who are you to lecture me about my first time, and how I had it when you haven’t been a virgin for… what? At least a year?”
Elias’s jaw dropped and his face went pale. His blue eyes paled too.
“That’s right, Twin, so drop the I’m so proper act. Who are you to tell me about who I should sleep with and who I shouldn’t?”
Elias turned and went out of his brother’s bedroom, and then, suddenly, he turned around, faced Bennett and said, “Who am I? Someone who’s been there a long time before you. That’s who I am. And… you don’t even know what it was like. You don’t know anything about it.”
“I know you didn’t tell me. I know you kept it to yourself.”
Elias said, “Well…”
He turned around and headed out of the room saying, “The Dads wants us.”
But Bennett was still angry and he couldn’t help adding, “And by the way, I know who it was to. And if the Dads knew, you think they would have let you and Lance and Dylan have your little slumber party?”
“Bennett?” Elias said, his voice suddenly very calm, though he didn’t turn around to face his brother.
“Do you remember, when we were about seven? Pat Guilford was calling you Fag Boy because he knew about our dads. You were flapping your mouth off, but he started fighting you, and you really couldn’t fight back. Cause it’s not your thing. Then I came out, and I was a school monitor because I am, as you say, the quiet one. And I saw it. I told him, knock that off. But he wouldn’t. He said, I’ll kick your ass, too, Fag Boy. And then do you remember what I did next?
Now Elias turned around.
“I took him, by his collar, and I knocked his head into the asphalt. I kicked him in the side until he cried and begged me to stop. He was bleeding from the nose, and when I was finished you looked at me… your eyes were so big. You were so scared of me. Everyone was. Cause Elias Stanley Anderson, who was so good, had just done all that without breaking a sweat. Because now you all knew what was inside me.”
Bennett said nothing, but Elias said:
“It’s still inside me, Twin.”
And then Elias turned around and left his brother alone.

 

[CharmedFan28]

That was a good start to the chapter. Looks like Bennett is clueless about Maris's true intentions. It also looks like he and his brother have their disagreements. I wonder if Dylan and Lance will take advantage of Fenn's empty house like he suggested? Great writing and I look forward to reading whatever happens next!

 

[ChrisGibson]

Considering how often Dylan and Lance have already made use of Fenn's house, I'm sure they will have plenty of use for it! Bennett is completely without clues. Tonight was a longish scene, but we didn't see that may people. Tomorrow night there will be more, and more drama will unfold. Off to try to finish the short story I'm working on. Have an excellent night.

 

[ChrisGibson]

TONIGHT, A BIG OLE STEAMING PORTION OF ADVENTURE, LOVE AND BABIES IN ROSSFORD


Will Klasko woke up with Nina blinking at him, sleepily.
“Good morning, William,” she said.
He was naked, so he jumped up with a small shout, and Nina leaned out of bed to pick up his underwear and hand them to him.
“Thank you,” Will said, nervously.
“And thank you,” she smiled at him.
“Will! Will!” he heard Layla shouting down the hall.
It was all coming back to him now, well, some of it. The apartment he remembered. The large windows looked down onto Shepherd’s Bush.
“Will!” Layla walked into the bedroom, wearing a nightie. “You will be late for your conference.”
Andrew entered, wearing a pair of silk briefs and smoking a pipe.
“She’s right, mate,” he said pinching Layla on the rump while she yelped. “And from what I hear, it’s in two hours.”
“Alright,” Will stamped his foot, looking around, “I give up. What the hell is going on?”
“Whaddo you mean?” Layla began. Then she said, “Oh, boy, you never could hold your liquor.”
“All I know is last night they wanted us to be swingers,” Will began, reaching for his trousers, “and then I wake up with Nina. Naked!”
“You didn’t wake up with me, naked,” the beautiful blonde woman said, standing up. “You and Layla stayed in our guest bedroom.”
“And you always sleep naked,” Layla reminded him as Will stuffed his shirt into his trousers.
“He does?” Nina said. “What a lucky girl. It’s a lovely view.”
“Thank you,” Will nearly shouted, trying to pat down his hair.
“I mean, I love a man with hair on his body. It’s really nice, especially all down the back of him-”
“I’ve always been a fan of it,” Layla said. “Some girls aren’t. But it looks so natural. And manly. You know. A bit of fur—”
“Could we stop—” Will demanded, “with the comments on my hairy body?”
“Aren’t we snippy this morning?” Layla commented, but Nina said, “Oh, of course. Well, I had just come in to wake you.”
“So nothing happened?” Will said.
“Well, something happened,” Layla said. “You put away half the bar, danced with Andrew, kissed Nina, and the taxi cab driver.”
“The cab driver?”
Nina, Andrew and Layla all nodded.
“Man or woman?”
“Why does it matter?” Layla said.
“I guess it doesn’t,” Will decided as he straightened his tie.
“Good, because it was a man.”
“And then we just brought you back here,” Andrew said as Will absorbed this last bit, “and you and this beautiful lady had furious, loud sex.”
Will stopped to think and said, “That much is coming back to me.”
“I tried to keep you quiet at first,” Layla said, smiling reflectively. “But in the end I just went with it.”
“We all went with it,” Nina said. “It was an inspiration, William. Me and Andrew are still feeling the raw masculine power you exhibited last night.”
“I feel like I might be sick.”
“It won’t be from the drinking. I gave you three aspirin before we slept,” Layla said.
“No,” Will agreed. “It’s not the drinking.”
“So, how do we get you to that conference?”
“I actually have to go back to the Montcalm to get the information, and then I’m not really sure how to get there.”
“How about this?” Nina suggested. “We can drive you all to the hotel, and then to the conference?”
“Oh, we couldn’t accept.”
“Of course we could,” Layla said pragmatically. “We’ve crossed an ocean to be here, and it starts in an hour.”
“And while you’re gone we can entertain Layla.”
This last, from Nina, was a surprise and Layla said, “Yes. That sounds wonderful. Let’s go.”
As Will tramped out of the room behind the rest of them, he said, “I feeling as if the world started four hours before me and I can’t catch up.”
“William, darling,” Nina told him, “the world started billions of years before you, and none of us will ever catch up!”

As they ran into the lobby of the Mountcalm, Jimmy the bellhop said, “Good morning, Miss Layla!”
“You’re still up?”
“I could say the same for you, but I’m about to head to bed.”
“Well, I’m not, so I guess I’ll see you later.”
As Layla and Will waited for the elevator, it opened and out came—”
“Pam.”
“Layla! Ah,” she looked over Will. “This is Him.”
“It is. Pam, Will. Will, Pam.”
“You took my advice? Looks like you’re just getting in?”
“Getting in,” Will said, “and going back out.”
The elevator closed with Will in it, and Layla said, “I did take your advice, and thank you for it. I better follow him up. He’s got a conference he should be at.”
“On New Year’s Day? How barbaric.”
“I know, right?”
“Well, I have been a night owl,” Pam said. “And a girl has got to get to bed. But I’ll probably be back here tonight.”
“Well, then we should have a drink or something.”
“That, Layla,” Pam said, kissing her on the cheek, “is exactly what I’m saying.”
And then she squeezed her, and putting her coat over her shoulder, walked down into the lobby.


Logan Banford woke up feeling all of his thirty years. Nearly thirty years. Close enough. On his profile he was still twenty-six. He looked in the mirror. After a shower, yes, he could pass for it.
New Years was the most depressing night in the world. He thought to escape it by going to bed early, but his neighbors wouldn’t allow that and so, before he had finally called the police at three in the morning, he had spiraled down into a depression about losing everything by the end of the year. He would lose his looks soon enough. Things had not turned out anything like he hoped they would. He flushed the toilet and came out into the kitchen, turned on the coffee pot and went straight to the computer. Last night would have been a good night for business, and really, business would have been an excellent way to keep his spirits up, or at least keep him from thinking. But today was just as good. He wished Sheridan was here, but Sheridan needed a life. As the aroma of brewing coffee came from the kitchen, he began checking his messages.
There were three potential clients for the day. Potential, because the truth was there was a limit to what he would do, who he would do. For a while he’d thought he was out of this, and then there were the things that had happened to him before. In some ways he wished he’d never left Rossford, because he wished he’d never left Ron. Ron Lewis always knew exactly what to look for, and who was safe and who was not.
“Rent should be paid,” Logan said. “I should take care of this.”
The conversation was long, like pulling teeth, and through it Logan got up to pour coffee.
“I’ve never done this sort of thing before. What do I do?”
Logan was reminded of the unprofessional ones back home who posted on gay chat sites and responded with attitude.
“We could meet at my place or your place,” Logan found himself saying, as he usually did. “When we meet we can see what makes you comfortable.”
“When I meet you is it free?”
Well, that was crass, Logan thought. So he could be equally crass.
“No.”
“Oh. Okay. Well… I don’t know if I want to do it.”
“Things don’t have to go all the way,” Logan told him. “That is the point. You are hiring your fantasy.”
“Well, what is there besides all the way?” the man asked.
“There is massage,” Logan said. “A lot of men like a good massage. Some like conversation and massage. There is really whatever you want.”
“How much is the massage?”
“I don’t like to discuss money.”
And that was true. This is why, in fact, Logan had the price listed on his page, because he did not like to discuss money.
“Oh, alright. Well, I tell you what? Can you come over to me in about an hour?”
“Provided I have your address, I think I can make that happen.”

Sometimes it was easiest to disassociate. Better to talk to oneself as if writing in a journal or in a manual. This was how some days went. You finished eating, showered, went down to catch the El once you were sure about the address. Depending upon the character of the man, you turned up a little early, a little late or exactly on time. This one seemed nervous and so it was best to be early before he backed out.
Better to not look too sporty. Look good, but a little shabby. Some wanted the full effect. Some wanted the total porn star. Many could not handle it. Men did not possess great self esteem and, lets be honest, a man who was willing to pay six-hundred dollars for you was probably a little insecure. This was really all about the level of insecurity, the style the insecurity manifested. He knew some men would brag about how they’d had porn star Logan Banford for five or six hundred dollars, and once he had charged two thousand knowing the man would feel good when he jewed him down to fifteen. Men like that wanted the glossy movie Logan.
But this man seemed a little timid. He sounded slightly over five feet. He sounded plump and bald. He sounded like he thought he was fatter than he really was. Logan would wear jeans and a hoodie for him and none of that spiked gelled hair that said Abercrombie and Fitch, skinny and twenty, things you never were. Today Logan’s hair was straight and unwashed, brown more than blond. What he looked like today was a good looking man far better than anything this man could get, but not totally out of his field of dreams. No overly tight shirts that showed off the muscles, no exposed biceps.
“Hello,” Logan said.
His voice was not too deep. At soon as he saw this man, he raised it a little. This man could not be bowled over by masculinity. He only needed something a little manlier than himself, and, judging by the look of him, that didn’t take a lot.
“You look so tense. Let me put you at ease. Why don’t you get on the table I brought.”
“You really are going to give me a massage?”
“Of course,” Logan said. “And whatever else you want.”
“I have something for you,” the man said, and handed Logan the envelope.
Logan had never been cheated, and so long ago had stifled the urge to open the envelope in a client’s presence.
“Now, I do have a robe for you,” Logan told him, conversationally. “You can go into the bathroom and change if you’d like.”
The man seemed like the type of person who would like it.
There was a silver daddy who lived up on Bryn Mawr and he liked to take his clothes off in front of Logan. Logan didn’t blame him. He had a beautiful, though overly tanned, body and a cock like a sausage. It was always hard. He lay on his back and got his front massaged, fingers up his ass. Logan jacked him off and then, only after that, would he get his back done.
When this man trotted out, Logan knew he would have to proceed with care and, though he knew business was business, he hoped he didn’t have to fuck him.
“We’ll just start with the back,” Logan said. “How’s that?”
“Oh, that’s great,” the man said as Logan worked with his housecoat. He sighed, “Your hands feel great already.”
“We’ll just get you loosened up.”
“How long does it last?”
“My sessions are an hour.”
“Then I can get my back rubbed the whole time?” he sounded like a very happy boy.
“You certainly can.”
Logan thought of saying usually people did more, but today he was not in a mood to do more, so why offer?
He started with the back, and then the feet, and then back to the back, now a little lower, now down to the calves, coming up and down closer to the middle. The man was sighing as Logan began to massage his buttocks and Logan was about to reach for his latex gloves. The oil was out and now was where his fingers went where an escort’s did. He was just reaching for the gloves when his phone rang.
“Excuse that,” Logan said. “This is my emergency phone.”
“Alright,” the man said, half asleep.
Logan reached into his back pocket and pulled out the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hi… Meredith?”
“Yeah, Logan. Are you at home?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Oh, God. I needed a ride.”
“What do you mean? Meredith, what’s up? I don’t even have a car.”
The man sat up, blinking.
“Is there a problem?” he said, mildly.
“Might be,” Logan told him.
“Meredith, I didn’t drive back here. Remember.”
“I know, but I thought—”
“Sheridan has my car.”
“Oh, shit! Oh, shit!”
“You’re troubled,” the man said, sliding off the table. “Can I help?”
Logan raised his finger and then said to Meredith, “Meredith, what’s going on?”
His eyes widened.
“Oh, hell.”
Logan turned to his client.
“My friend is going into labor.”


Even though Meredith Affren had never seen the car before, it swirled up to the house so erratically before stopping at the curb, that she assumed it must be Logan. She lifted her bags and stopped for a moment, undone by the amazing feeling of nearly being opened from below. There was a knock at the door.
Bag in hand, Meredith answered it and Logan said, “Give that to me. Where’s the other bag?”
Meredith pointed to it and said to the little man on the porch who had arrived with Logan, “Hello.”
“Hello,” he said. “Are we ready?”
“Yes,” Meredith and Logan said, and as Logan took her bags down the steps, Meredith, shifting her purse on her shoulder and struggling to fit right in her coat, closed the door and locked it behind her.
“Here,” Logan said, “Get in the front.”
As they strapped Meredith in she said, “I’ve never met you, sir, so I should just say, I’m Meredith Affren.”
“I’m Billy,” he said. “Where are we going?”
“Saint Francis.”
“Great,” Billy said, and with Logan in the backseat, he took off.

“Guys, I just think it isn’t right.”
In Maggie’s car, Maris and Maggie both looked at Lindsay like she was stupid.
“No, it isn’t,” Maggie said. “There’s a lot that’s not right in the world. Besides,” she went on before Maris could speak, “Had you thought about the fact that he willingly had unprotected sex with her? She could have gotten pregnant.”
“If she wasn’t already,” Lindsay said.
“Look,” Maris said to Lindsay, “I have to know you’re not going to screw this whole thing up.”
“Whaddo you mean?”
“She means,” Maggie said, “we worked really hard to make this work, and it did. It fell totally into our hands.”
“You mean Bennett fell into your hands.”
“That’s what I’m saying!” Maggie hit the steering wheel. “It’s stuff like that.”
Maggie stopped the car.
“Lindsay,” Maris turned around and looked at her friend. “I need to know—I need you to promise—that you won’t give this way.”
“I don’t even know Bennett,” Lindsay said in a smaller voice. “Not really.”
“And he’s kind of a tool anyway,” Maggie added. “Him and that creepy brother of his.”
“I thought you said his brother was cute.”
“In a creepy take me back to your place and rape me way, yes.”
“I promise,” Lindsay said, “that I won’t say anything. But when are you going to tell Bennett?”
Maris looked like she didn’t have any idea, and then Maggie said. “A month. Only… no. You’re already past a month. Not quite three weeks. He doesn’t know when your cycle is. Tell him you all did it like… at the last moment. Now you’re knocked up. I’d say give it till near the last part of January.”
“It’ll screw up his world,” Lindsay muttered.
“Yeah,” Maris said, blankly. “It will.”
“Fuck his world,” Maggie said.
“Maggie,” Lindsay asked her, “Why are we sitting here.”
“I always wanted to see that house up close is all,” Maggie said. “It always seemed… It always interested me.”
But right now a car pulled up to it, and out of it came Dena Affren. A little boy came out of the passenger seat, and she was headed to the back to bring out a baby, a toddler, when her phone rang.
“That,” Maggie decided, “is enough.”
She put her key in the ignition, and they pulled away as Dena, noticing them, watched the car go up the street.

“Hello,” Dena said. “I’m just getting Cara out of the—what? Are you serious? It’s not supposed to come for another—alright! Yes. Yes.”
Dena hit the end button and Cara said, “Mommy, get me out.”
“Stay in there a little longer, Sugar. I gotta call your papa.”
“Mom,” Rob asked from the other side. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, Robert,” she said. “Just… let Mama make this call, okay?”

Outside of Rensselaer, Todd said, “The ladies’ lights are flashing.”
“Adele’s pulling to the side of the road.”
“That’s odd,” Simon murmured.
“Well, let’s not just think about how odd it is,” Fenn told his brother-in-law. “Let’s stop.”
When they did, Adele and Nell both hopped from the front seats of their car, and Nell tapped on the window where Bill was.
“Meredith is in labor,” she said. “Dena’s on her way to Chicago.”
“I guess that means we’re going to Chicago too.”
“Does she need a thousand people to see her give birth?” Fenn said.
Everyone seemed so excited, and Sheridan and Brendan had anxious faces.
“Well, I’m going,” Sheridan said.
“Of course you are,” Fenn said. “But does she want all of us?”
“Let’s just split up into who’s going to Chicago and who’s going back to Rossford.” Todd suggested. He turned to Fenn, “Are you going back to town?”
“Yes.”
“Nell, you go. And Bill, of course,” Adele said. “I’ll take Mama home.”
“Do you need me?” Todd asked his sister.
“She’s not supposed to be having the baby this early.”
For the first time since they’d known him, Bill sounded panicked.
Nell shook her head at her brother rapidly.
As they began separating, and everyone going back to town got in the Land Rover, Sheridan looked panicked until Bill touched him and said, “Come on. Of course you’re going with us.”
When Brendan followed behind, Sheridan looked at him surprised.
“What?” Brendan said.
Sheridan nodded and they caught hands, climbing in the back of the Jeep.
For a while they drove on together, but at the Gary pass, flashing lights and honking, the Land Rover headed east and the Jeep headed west into the darkening afternoon.

“Alright, Riley,” she said, kissing the golden skinned boy with the tangle of copper colored hair, “goodbye, and don’t let Rob near your model airplanes, cause you know he’s clumsy.”
“Alright, Aunt Dena.”
“Claire—”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Claire told her.
“Thanks for keep the kids.”
“Like I said…” Claire came forward and kissed her.
“Just go. And tell Meredith… I was going to say, tell her our prayers are with her, but… That just sounds hoaky. It’s true,” Claire said. “But it’s still hoaky.”
Claire kissed Dena again, and Julian was at the door talking to Milo. The two women joined their husbands, and Julian said, “I know what you’re thinking. I’m thinking it too.”
Dena nodded. “I wish Layla was here.”
Claire and Julian saw their friends off, and watched the car roll down the street.
“Is Meredith going to be alright?” Rob asked.
Julian was about to say yes, but he realized Rob was asking his cousin Matthew.
“I’m sure everything will be fine,” Matthew said.
“Are you staying for dinner?” Rob asked him.
“Of course he is,” Riley insisted.
“Riley,” Claire said to her son, “what have I told you about volunteering your cousin’s time?”
“It’s actually fine,” Matthew said. “Elias and Bennett aren’t talking, and I don’t think my Dads had much planned for New Years Day.”
Julian sighed.
“Huh?” Claire looked at him.
“I had forgotten,” he said. “With all this going on, it’s still New Years.”

There was a tap at the door and Bennett said, “Yeah.”
The door opened and Bennett said, “Oh.”
Elias sat down at the foot of his brother’s bed where Bennett was stretched out.
He touched his brother’s feet.
“What?”
“I’m sorry for this morning. I’m sorry for… being really fucking crazy.”
“I’m sorry for pushing your buttons,” Bennett told him, putting the book down.
“I was just worried for you,” Elias said. “And… I don’t like Maris. I don’t trust her. But if you want to date her—”
“Elias, I’m probably never going to see her again.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“You sound like Dad.”
“I don’t sound like either one of our dads,” Elias chuckled, “because if they found out about you—or me—they would be furious.”
Elias thought about this and said, “They wouldn’t be understanding.”
“No. they would not.”
“So… how do you feel?”
“How did you feel?”
“I don’t know,” Elias shrugged. “I knew I was gay. I never talked about it. I still don’t. And… I knew I wanted him to be my first. I didn’t think we’d be boyfriends. And we’re not.” Elias shrugged. “It was what I wanted. I felt odd because I wasn’t a virgin anymore and… I felt changed, but I didn’t know how. But it was a good experience, Ben. So, I guess it was good.”
Elias looked at his brother and said, “You know what? It’s been over a year and the verdict’s still out. In my head, by myself I’m happy about it. But I don’t want people to know. I think that kids that have sex are sort of skanky. But I’m a kid who’s had sex, so I guess I’m a hypocrite.”
“I guess my verdict’s still out, too,” Bennett said.
“Why’d you do it?”
“I really don’t know. You did it cause you loved him, right?”
“Of course,” Elias said. “I mean, you know I do.”
Bennett nodded. “I wish it had been more that way last night.
“Uh…”
“Yeah?” Elias looked at his twin.
“You still love him?”
Elias smiled, but didn’t seem to be looking at anyone in particular.
“I’m not in love with him. Not like I was. But, yeah, I definitely still love him.”

GOODNIGHT BOYS AND BOYS, COVID KISSES AND CAVIAR DREAMS. SEE YOU SATURDAY NIGHT.

 

[CharmedFan28]

Wow a lot going on and Meredith in labor! I hope it all goes well for her. I am glad Elias and Bennett made up. I think Bennett is definitely going to see Maris again. That was some great writing as usual and I look forward to more in a few days!