Wayne Gray

I did take it! No, these are tic-tacs!

Damn it, rick!

Damn it, droughtquake! Lol

Christmas, the following year. Ben and Frank lay in their bed together, warm in the afterglow of lovemaking. Ben dozed contentedly on Frank’s muscular shoulder, while Frank lay with his eyes closed, his arm holding his lover close. "Bennie." "Mmm, yep?" Ben’s hand moved down his man’s chest and abs. Frank grunted and briefly enjoyed Ben’s silent demand for more. "Okay, just stop that." "What?" "That. I need to talk to you." Frank grinned. "Don’t play innocent with me!"

Thanks! That was the entire idea. Thanks for reading the chapter. You've got another to go and there will be yet another soon!

Thank you, tim. 🙂 I appreciate you reading and for the comment!

This one made me smile, in spite of his unknowing ... I particularly like the last line.

I have to call this bit out. Gerry must have anti-zombodies, an sex wit Tom isn't enough to turn 'im back, but it seem reasonable that if we feeds deez fishes to Gerry, den he will be a zombie. Den him and Tom can be happy again. Simple, yeah? Two plus two. I laughed so much writing this with tim, and "anti-zombodies" was one of those things that made me just giggle.

FYI, we're going to be busy working on another project. 😉

🙂 I love the analysis. The short of it is Georgette didn't actually reveal a thing. To her, the tone in her voice was not a tell. She genuinely wanted Troy and Grant to sit beside one another, not for them to spill their guts to her. Had Grant not felt hyper-guilty, and the friends eager to avoid tipping their hand, it would have passed without scrutiny. The reveal happened when all of the friends reacted how they did to their fairly obvious friend. But ... I'm happy you're feeling so protective of Grant. That's really nice. He's a likeable guy, even though he's made decisions that may not sit well with some readers. Thanks for the great comment.

Thanks, Parker. We've all had doubts about our own worth. I think we can all relate to Ben in some way or another thanks to that. Ahhhh ... Terrence. I could envision that scene with absolute clarity in my mind, and the moment everyone in the room realized what was happening. It made me shiver, and then laugh in maniacal glee. I may have gotten a look from my husband for that when the scene was completed. Hehehe. One more to go. And that's coming tomorrow.

Yep. A pair of guys who exclusively bottom or top can be in relationships with one another. I know a pair of tops that make it work. Okay ... so that involves bringing home lucky guys who enjoy bottoming ... but still. 😉

Did you truly expect it to not be Soap Opera-like? I find your lack of faith ... Dramatic! Hehehe. Thanks for reading and commenting, droughtquake.

Hehe. I'm so glad you enjoyed that scene. Yeah, I've been waiting for it too. And we'd all best get that right - Terrence is definitely The Man! Thanks for the comment, Jaybee!

Thanks, chris! Our pairs of guys seem to Finally be moving toward happiness. And, yes ... Terrence was indeed faithful to his boss, Gail. He had the power to undo her, and he chose not to. It was so hard to avoid giving things away when people were so angry at him! 😄 There's one more chapter to go. See you then!

We wanted it to feel as if you were watching a soap when they were in that boardroom. I hope that came across! There's one more short chapter to go. We've got a few things to wrap up yet. Thanks, Tony!

Late in the afternoon on Monday, Frank sat at his desk. Ben had already done his work on the script, and now he watched over his partner's shoulder as Frank finished the rest of the scene. &&& As the Houseboat Floats Episode Scene: Tom and Gerry’s Bedroom "Come on." Lupe pulls Weatherby to his feet. He kisses him soundly … deeply … Weatherby groans as the kiss doesn’t stop. Gerry watches for a few minutes but the moaning and groping make him turn away. "Holy shit.

Hrm ... your fishing expedition nearly worked. 😛

Yes! You nailed it. Georgette didn't come right out and ask if they were screwing each other. Trust me, she wanted to. She's the kind of person who just needs to know! But ... this was her showing restraint. She truly can't help herself. She's not mean, she just wants to be included and to know what is going on. Grant did sort of spin off, I suppose. Brian is tromping over to see if he can pull him back to the group. We'll see how that goes. Troy is definitely having a conversation with Aaron, Georgette, and Natalie. What that might be will be revealed on Thursday. More to come. 🙂 Thanks for writing!

Thanks for commenting, Chris. When it was just him and Troy, Grant could handle things. He was okay with opening up to Troy, baring his soul. But now, at the center of the attention from the friends, Grant is definitely having a harder time. We'll see if Brian can help smooth things over. And since you're so sure about the journal, I guess that means I'll just have to make sure it comes up again. 😛

LOL. You guys are so down on poor Georgette. She didn't actually say anything that might have given things away. It was in how her non-secret keeping mouth verbalized something that should have been innocent. It's just that Grant and all the rest of the friends were hyper-alert for any sort of sign that things were wrong. The reactions of the group really pushed it over for Grant. Almost all friend groups have someone similar to her. Maybe not to her degree, but similar. I love her. She walks into a scene and both the friends and readers sort of just wait for something crazy to come out of her mouth! 😄

That’s a good point - that new relationships can be challenging to friendships. Yet the reverse is true, that friends can be a challenge to new relationships. Friends can make or break them. If they really wanted to, this little pack could do some damage to our guys. Thanks for the great comment, and for reading!

Grant has a right to be pissed. There's a scene in the next chapter that explains why in the best possible way that I can. It's so hard to explain to straight people what it's like to come out, particularly to those who accept you for it (oddly). Yeah, Troy would have made for a bad choice to go get Grant. He's hurting for Grant, and feeling responsible. It wouldn't have been good. Is Brian much better? We'll just have to see how that goes. Brian's number one priority is the happiness and safety of his friends. He knows Grant has been good for Troy ... so let's find out what he does. And ... as I've said above to others, Georgette's sin is that she's a terrible person to safeguard a secret. Any secret. I have a friend like this, and I asked him once, "Why can't you just not talk about stuff when you know I don't want you to?" His response was, "I don't know! I just think about not saying anything, and if something I'm about to do is going to be suspicious, and it eats at me until it just comes out! I'm sorry!" Two days later, another friend approached. "Hey. So, are you mad at Michael (no, not any of the ones here on GA)?" Me: "No. Why?" "Oh, he said you were mad that he can't keep a secret." Guess who I based Georgette on?

Eh, Georgette is who she is. She's not the one creating secrets and creating situations where they're either kept or people get hurt. FYI - you'll see that Georgette and secrets simply don't get along ... not even the ones she really wants to keep. 😉 Firefly rocks!

So, what needs to happen more? Do Grant and Troy need to develop communication skills, or does Georgette need to learn when to keep secrets she should never have had to learn in the first place? 😉 Troy needs his friends, and Grant does need patience and understanding from those friends. He's in a weird place in life ... and you're certainly right about him being fragile and volatile. We'll have to see how things with Mr. Brian go. Thanks for the comments! 🙂