Dodger

There was a little over half a day remaining before the end of the year, and I was still in my bed with no intention of getting up. I had my reasons. After a tumultuous twelve months in which my life had changed beyond all recognition, I didn’t want to take a chance on anything else going wrong. It was easier to blame all my misfortunes on a year rather than admit to making mistakes, or being a victim of circumstance. Now with the end in sight, my bed seemed like the safest place to be.

Thanks Parker for a great review. It was a nice surprise. I will add this to my list of stories to read.

@lilansui I’ve just spent a good half-an-hour browsing through your list of stories, and it’s impressive. You must be able to write in your sleep. I have to admit, up until now, I’ve been shamefully unaware of your work, but I intend to put this right. I'll be following you in the future but not in a bad way, I'm not a stalker or anything, and even if I was, I'm only after your stories. Well done, my friend.

Hey Gary. Obviously they mean well, but you're right, because it's quite sad as well.

I'm also a little confused by this, but I want to remain neutral.

You make some good points as always, @NimirRaj You're right about Nathan. He knows exactly what he's doing and he's aware that Robbie still has feelings for him. It seems like he's trying his best to scupper his ex-boyfriend's relationship with Conner. He may feel he's justified in doing this. It's difficult to ignore your feelings for someone especially if you believe they feel the same way. However, if this is the case, then Nathan should lay his hand on the table and be straight with Robbie about how he feels and then back off. Robbie can choose without having to cheat. Either way someone gets hurt, but it's only high school. Robbie may be better off on his own for a while. Forget about boyfriends and concentrate on his schoolwork.

Wild horses wouldn't stop him. Rory ticks all of Robbie's boxes except one. He's not gay.

Haha, Don isn't quite the size of an elephant but he's not going to feature in any weight loss ads, should he ever get the job. As for Nathan, Don has always seen him as a threat to his family and had all but succeeded in wrecking his friendship with Daniel when Robbie arrived on the scene. His subsequent relationship with Nathan was unacceptable to Don and one of the reasons why he exploded. In his mind, Robbie betrayed him by dating Nathan after Don had given him a home and a new life. If Robbie gets back with him then Don won't be too happy and it's likely that one or all of them will end up in an elephant sized hole in the garden.

Tom seems to have a lot of fans considering he only plays a bit part in the story. Thanks for commenting @James B. your vote has been counted.

That's right, Nathan made it easy for Don, because he fits his preconceived idea of a gay male. Even if Don is aware of their relationship, Conner would be a much safer option for him than his sworn enemy Nathan. In Don's twisted mind, Conner looks and acts like a normal boy and he lives in the middle of nowhere. Considering his limited options, Don would likely accept this as a lesser of the two evils. Maybe that's why he's so happy. I agree about the gym. If anyone's a stereotype, of course, it's Don. I think we all know people like him wherever we are in the world. They're all exactly the same.

Alex does seem like the bookies favourite. You're absolutely right about the sex. That needs to be addressed quickly before both of them become complacent and accepting. If Robbie prefers throwing snowballs then something's wrong. I doubt if that would have happened with Nathan even when their relationship turned a little sour.

Yeah, the fight scene with Nicola was written from personal experience. Robbie is lucky in that respect. I have more than one older sister. Don's office is in Toronto, which as you know, is quite a journey from Cobourg, but he doesn't go there every day and he sometimes stays in the city. This makes him very unpredictable, which has always been a problem for Robbie who has no idea if or when he's going to be at home. Sue would most likely have a better idea. I think if Robbie was attracted to Conner in the same way as he was/still is attracted to Nathan, he would have been at his door a lot sooner instead of continually putting him off in the beginning. Robbie may have felt it was the right thing to do to be with Conner, but their relationship is already flat. Robbie can either try to live with it and hope things improve or follow his heart and try to get back with Nathan, who may be unwilling to do the same. He may also want to consider the impact of such a move on his parents. Don seems happy with Conner but how will he react if Robbie gets back with Nathan. Another option would be to simply not have a boyfriend for a while. It seems to be working okay for Nathan.

Robbie and Conner are getting on but their frequent disagreements are not a good sign at such an early stage of their relationship. Conner needs to listen to Robbie and respect his wishes. Robbie is attracted to strong characters but he also needs some breathing space. His continued attraction to Nathan is worrying and unlikely to go away.

I can't imagine Don giving up his family values that easily, so we have to assume he's got something up his sleeve. Robbie is also suspicious, but he may be jumping to conclusions with Sue and Mr Andrews. We'll see.

When Conner’s mom dropped me outside my house late on Boxing Day evening, Mr Andrews was just leaving. I wasn’t in the mood for chatting with the principal, so my boyfriend got a longer than expected kiss goodbye as I waited for him to drive away. ‘What’s he doing there’? It was odd. Mr Andrews wasn’t exactly flavour of the month. Don blamed him for bringing in Jo and refusing Mr Symmonds’ request to use the school for his religious counselling sessions. Then there was the small matter o

I also have a problem with this and I'm not convinced the new reading stats are right. I had some time off work recently and was bored enough to play around with them for a while. I can tell you nothing makes any sense, and the more you delve into it the more ridiculous it gets. There are stories that have been completed for years that are suddenly getting thousands of views a month, which they didn't get before the update. How can that be? With all due respect to these great authors and stories, I don't know of any members who are still reading them, and they obviously don't appear on the list of updates. Yet somehow they are being found by random, obscure visitors in their thousands and outperforming most of the ongoing stories that have regular updates. I'm not sure exactly how these figures are compiled, but I don't believe they are correct. I know I'm going to have people on my case for daring to say this, but maybe this is the problem and not just the way the story updates are formatted.

For a minute I thought Adam was going to do the sensible thing and help his friend by telling his parents and getting the police involved. I'm disapointed in Adam he's not being a very good friend. He knows Zac is being abused, he knows it's been going on for a long time, and he's unable to think straight. Zac doesn't need Brody at the moment, he needs adult help and better friends. Another superb chapter to get me all worked up.

Me too! Been off sick for almost two weeks. The first week I could hardly move. Just getting over it now. I don't usually get sick that often, but I made up for it this time.

Tristian’s father had a round, jovial face with bright red cheeks and a neatly trimmed greying beard. There was a portrait of him hanging opposite the fireplace in full naval uniform and several photographs placed strategically around the room. In one of them, he was standing next to the Queen. It shouldn’t have surprised me. He was, after all, in charge of her Royal Navy and all of Her Majesty’s ships. I wasn’t sure how I felt about dating the son of such a prominent and powerful man, or ho

A nice ending to an enjoyable story. Billy and Brett grew on me with each chapter and if I didn't already know there were other stories, I'd be demanding more.

You're quite right @dughlas There are a couple of small clues pointing to an unpleasant past, which makes his situation even more difficult.

Yeah, James deserves better than that from his boyfriend. Now he's in an awkward position. Thanks @Parker Owens

Thanks for reading, Tim. Fritz would definitely creep me out.

Thanks, @Freerider I hope it lives up to your expectations. I can't confirm or deny your guess about the year, but it's the right decade.

Nothing like a good butler to creep you out, and Fritz is nothing like a good butler!