The Price of Friendship by Graeme

[wildone]

Well much to my surprise, Graeme our esteemed anthology coordinator , has started a new story over at Awesomedude. The First Chapter is up for The Price of Friendship.

 

I don't really want to spoil anything, but Graeme has taken a very interesting POV on a coming out story (okay, maybe not a traditional coming out story )

 

In usual style his character development is fairly quick and complete. I'm already comfortable with Rick, Drew, Sue, Joe, Peter, and Claire.

 

Graeme kind of leads us on for probably the first 3/4 of the first chapter and then hits us with the fact that will make this story very interesting.

 

Thanks Graeme

 

Steve

[steph]

What a great start! but I'm already wary of the outcome... :wacko:

[Benji]

Well much to my surprise, Graeme our esteemed anthology coordinator , has started a new story over at Awesomedude. The First Chapter is up for The Price of Friendship.

 

I don't really want to spoil anything, but Graeme has taken a very interesting POV on a coming out story (okay, maybe not a traditional coming out story )

 

In usual style his character development is fairly quick and complete. I'm already comfortable with Rick, Drew, Sue, Joe, Peter, and Claire.

 

Graeme kind of leads us on for probably the first 3/4 of the first chapter and then hits us with the fact that will make this story very interesting.

 

Thanks Graeme

 

Steve

 

Perhaps the real surprise is negated by the main character's realization that he has been set up. Rick is the clueless one, being knighted with gayness and an impending 'boyfriend' in one day in front of newly acquired friends.

Edited September 22, 2008 by Benji

[acassimaty]

Yay! Graeme has a new novel in progress and, of course, it is a delight!!! :2thumbs:

 

I have to say I was a little worried as I was reading this. Sure, we were presented with potentially interesting characters and the writing was as good as ever, but it immediately seemed as it was the usual boy meets boy in high school scenario with little else. It seems I've read enough gay fiction through the years to be finally over this set-up. When I got to the final reveal though, I gasped out loud and instantly could not wait for the next chapter. I should have known Graeme would have something better than what was first evident.

 

One can be certain things won't end well for Rick and Drew (and particularly Drew, who seems will come out of this the worst). Although I want Rick to realise he actually is gay so that they can have a happy ending, I'm more of a realist and I'm sure Graeme is too. Though I could be wrong. What is certain though is that I'm along for the ride!

 

Well done Graeme

 

Alex

[steph]

Although I want Rick to realise he actually is gay so that they can have a happy ending, I'm more of a realist and I'm sure Graeme is too. Though I could be wrong. What is certain though is that I'm along for the ride!

Alex, I feel the same way! Maybe Graeme will surprise us with a Hollywood ending, where everything predictably works out?

[TalonRider]

Graeme has brought us another issue to look at and I'm sure in the end, all will turn out good.

[Graeme]

I have to say I was a little worried as I was reading this. Sure, we were presented with potentially interesting characters and the writing was as good as ever, but it immediately seemed as it was the usual boy meets boy in high school scenario with little else. It seems I've read enough gay fiction through the years to be finally over this set-up.

Everyone knows that the new kid in school is almost certain to be gay (we've all read about it enough to recognise that basic truth ), but there is that small subset that aren't....

 

As for speculation on where the story will go and what will happen to Rick and Drew's relationship, I can't comment. There are certainly a lot of possibilities

 

Thanks, everyone!

[C James]

I have to agree; this is superb, and as for the twist.. Wow!

 

I know Graeme's work well enough that I knew there would be some kind of massive unexpected angle, and so I was looking for one from the start. All the clues were there, but I missed it until the reveal. Superbly done, Graeme!!

[Benji]

I have to agree; this is superb, and as for the twist.. Wow!

 

I know Graeme's work well enough that I knew there would be some kind of massive unexpected angle, and so I was looking for one from the start. All the clues were there, but I missed it until the reveal. Superbly done, Graeme!!

 

...........I think the title spells it out for us Rick is not nor will ever be gay. The fun part will be how he tactfully disengages himself without wounding Drew.

[TalonRider]

Chapter 2 has been posted.

[Benji]

Chapter 2 has been posted.

 

..........Another great chapter as

Rick digs himself further into a hole

 

[TalonRider]

As I told Graeme in an email, the last sentence is priceless.

 

And I agree, Benji.

[wildone]

Yep, he must be about six feet down in the ground by now.

 

It is funny how that both guys more or less had the same feelings of lonliness in the past, but were for different reasons. Maybe that is how Rick will have to broach the subject with Drew. At least it might give Drew a chance to see how he was wrong to assume so much and why Rick was willing to play along.

 

On the other hand, Graeme may totally suprise us, and have Drew kiss Rick, slip him the tongue and this turns on Rick, and makes him re-evaluates his gayness .

[Benji]

Yep, he must be about six feet down in the ground by now.

 

It is funny how that both guys more or less had the same feelings of lonliness in the past, but were for different reasons. Maybe that is how Rick will have to broach the subject with Drew. At least it might give Drew a chance to see how he was wrong to assume so much and why Rick was willing to play along.

 

On the other hand, Graeme may totally suprise us, and have Drew kiss Rick, slip him the tongue and this turns on Rick, and makes him re-evaluates his gayness .

 

.............I don't know about that last statement, I would find it hard to believe you can 'turn' someone gay! It will be interesting to see how far Rick goes with this!

[B1ue]

I have a hard time finding sympathy for Rick in this situation. He is, knowingly, stringing someone along for popularity. I realize that he's not in the best place mentally at the moment, and kudos to Graeme for setting that up in an interesting way, but I still want to smack him one for this charade. He does know the wheels are going to come off, and quickly, right? It's not even "poor Drew, he's going to be wrecked" that irritates me the most. It's the lack of professionalism. You never lock yourself into a lie that you can't back out of later, or that you can't gloss over the details if questioned. From my point of view, there were two points at which Rick could have backed away from it all. The first, when Sue gave him the heads up that Drew had him targeted, he SHOULD have been honest and taken the consequences. Drew would have been disappointed, and there would have been a bit of a scene, but ultimately Drew himself would have led them all back to Rick's side, if only to stave off his own guilty conscience. (I think anyways. My own checkered past might be biasing me).

 

I can understand Rick's panic though, and why he didn't feel that was a viable option. He doesn't "do" scenes, and the need to avoid one on his second day in town crippled his mind. I'll buy that. The second point, however, was when Rick and Drew were on their own. Rick should have come clean then, and spun it so that he lied and evaded earlier because he wanted to not embarrass the other boy in front of all his friends. "I really like you, but I'm just not attracted to you," should have been emphasized. Who knows, Claire might have given him bonus points for willing to act gay for an entire night to spare someone else's feelings, though I doubt Sue would have been amused. Drew would still be hurt of course, but he kind of has it coming for attacking some kid he barely knows like the conquering Huns.

 

Instead, Rick has now lied publicly and privately about his orientation and interest in Drew, effectively becoming a closeted Straight male.

 

And I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

 

 

Betcha he gets into a fight with James.

Edited October 9, 2008 by B1ue

[Benji]

I have a hard time finding sympathy for Rick in this situation. He is, knowingly, stringing someone along for popularity. I realize that he's not in the best place mentally at the moment, and kudos to Graeme for setting that up in an interesting way, but I still want to smack him one for this charade. He does know the wheels are going to come off, and quickly, right? It's not even "poor Drew, he's going to be wrecked" that irritates me the most. It's the lack of professionalism. You never lock yourself into a lie that you can't back out of later, or that you can't gloss over the details if questioned. From my point of view, there were two points at which Rick could have backed away from it all. The first, when Sue gave him the heads up that Drew had him targeted, he SHOULD have been honest and taken the consequences. Drew would have been disappointed, and there would have been a bit of a scene, but ultimately Drew himself would have led them all back to Rick's side, if only to stave off his own guilty conscience. (I think anyways. My own checkered past might be biasing me).

 

I can understand Rick's panic though, and why he didn't feel that was a viable option. He doesn't "do" scenes, and the need to avoid one on his second day in town crippled his mind. I'll buy that. The second point, however, was when Rick and Drew were on their own. Rick should have come clean then, and spun it so that he lied and evaded earlier because he wanted to not embarrass the other boy in front of all his friends. "I really like you, but I'm just not attracted to you," should have been emphasized. Who knows, Claire might have given him bonus points for willing to act gay for an entire night to spare someone else's feelings, though I doubt Sue would have been amused. Drew would still be hurt of course, but he kind of has it coming for attacking some kid he barely knows like the conquering Huns.

 

Instead, Rick has now lied publicly and privately about his orientation and interest in Drew, effectively becoming a closeted Straight male.

 

And I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

 

 

Betcha he gets into a fight with James.

 

.........I'm thinking the straight guy is going to feel the ostentation from the group, somewhat like the shoe is on the other foot.

[Graeme]

It is funny how that both guys more or less had the same feelings of lonliness in the past, but were for different reasons. Maybe that is how Rick will have to broach the subject with Drew. At least it might give Drew a chance to see how he was wrong to assume so much and why Rick was willing to play along.

I've found that people tend to view others based on their own experiences. I don't know how many times I've seen people make assumptions about others because of one piece of behaviour -- when there could be multiple reasons for that behaviour. It's a very human trait to read too much into something, because we want to read it.

On the other hand, Graeme may totally suprise us, and have Drew kiss Rick, slip him the tongue and this turns on Rick, and makes him re-evaluates his gayness .

.............I don't know about that last statement, I would find it hard to believe you can 'turn' someone gay! It will be interesting to see how far Rick goes with this!

No spoilers, but I have to agree with benji that I find it hard to believe you can 'turn' someone gay. On the other hand, if someone is a suppressed bi-sexual, it can look like you've turned them gay if you help them to accept their sexuality.

 

And, of course, there are cases like myself, as has been mentioned above, where I'm gay, but I'm in a happy heterosexual relationship.

 

I have a hard time finding sympathy for Rick in this situation. He is, knowingly, stringing someone along for popularity. I realize that he's not in the best place mentally at the moment, and kudos to Graeme for setting that up in an interesting way, but I still want to smack him one for this charade. He does know the wheels are going to come off, and quickly, right? It's not even "poor Drew, he's going to be wrecked" that irritates me the most. It's the lack of professionalism. You never lock yourself into a lie that you can't back out of later, or that you can't gloss over the details if questioned. From my point of view, there were two points at which Rick could have backed away from it all. The first, when Sue gave him the heads up that Drew had him targeted, he SHOULD have been honest and taken the consequences. Drew would have been disappointed, and there would have been a bit of a scene, but ultimately Drew himself would have led them all back to Rick's side, if only to stave off his own guilty conscience. (I think anyways. My own checkered past might be biasing me).

 

I can understand Rick's panic though, and why he didn't feel that was a viable option. He doesn't "do" scenes, and the need to avoid one on his second day in town crippled his mind. I'll buy that. The second point, however, was when Rick and Drew were on their own. Rick should have come clean then, and spun it so that he lied and evaded earlier because he wanted to not embarrass the other boy in front of all his friends. "I really like you, but I'm just not attracted to you," should have been emphasized. Who knows, Claire might have given him bonus points for willing to act gay for an entire night to spare someone else's feelings, though I doubt Sue would have been amused. Drew would still be hurt of course, but he kind of has it coming for attacking some kid he barely knows like the conquering Huns.

Have a scenario where this would be difficult for Rick to do was one of my biggest challenges. Fear can do strange things to a person, and make them behave in a manner that's not completely rational. Then again, most of us are not completely rational in our behaviour all the time, so it's not that unusual. Rick is just a more extreme case

 

Instead, Rick has now lied publicly and privately about his orientation and interest in Drew, effectively becoming a closeted Straight male.

 

And I can't wait to see what happens next.

The next chapter will be posted in just over a week's time.

 

 

Betcha he gets into a fight with James.

Hmm....

[TalonRider]

Chapter 3 has been posted.

[Benji]

Chapter 3 has been posted.

 

.............Very fast moving chapter, The kiss well was just a kiss, but I still think that Rick isn't gay. The big surprise was Ricks admission to Brandon. It may leave him something for Rick to fall back on, if things get too messy for him. A great chapter Graeme, I waiting to see how he worms his way out of this situation.

[TalonRider]

I didn't read too much into the kiss either.

 

Something in the back of my mind tells me there's more to Brandon which goes deeper that what we already know.

[TalonRider]

Chapter 6 has been posted.

 

This story just keeps getting more interesting with each chapter.

[Benji]

...........Another great chapter Graeme, I was surprised Rick wasn't more banged up then he was. I guess it was lucky Phil was pulled off by his mates, I wonder if he will face attempted murder or just a simple assault. No doubt it was premeditated and kicking the victim in the head while he was down would probably be seen as attempted murder here in the states. We will see how it plays out 'down under' I guess.

[Graeme]

...........Another great chapter Graeme, I was surprised Rick wasn't more banged up then he was. I guess it was lucky Phil was pulled off by his mates, I wonder if he will face attempted murder or just a simple assault. No doubt it was premeditated and kicking the victim in the head while he was down would probably be seen as attempted murder here in the states. We will see how it plays out 'down under' I guess.

Thanks Jan and Benji!

 

Based on some recent high profile cases here where someone has died after a fight, if Rick had died, Phil probably would have face manslaughter charges, rather than murder. Prosecuters appear to not be as zealous in Australia, compared with the USA.

 

On that basis, Phil is probably facing assault charges, rather than attempted murder. For it to be attempted murder, the prosecution would have to prove to a jury that Phil had intended from the start to kill Rick, rather than to just beat him up. That would be a very tough ask, as there appears to be little evidence that killing Rick was the intention.

[TalonRider]

Even if his mates turned against him, it will still be a tough case.

[Benji]

Even if his mates turned against him, it will still be a tough case.

 

.......Gay or straight this is a crime committed to to inflict anger at another person