Wayne Gray

Mwhahaha! 😄

This is so very true. They all love him, and they all worry about him ... so they're going to watch carefully. There are so many "OMG, why didn't they do ..." moments. Absolutely. And that's what makes them human. Thanks, molly! 🙂

You're right. Grant is still processing himself, and now they all know. He's not having a very good time at the moment. The friends are genuinely confused as to why Grant might have trouble with them knowing. We'll get to more of that in the next chapter. Good comments. Thanks for leaving them. 🙂

Love, sex, food, secrets and exposure ... this chapter has it all! Troy and Grant are both guilty of a few things now. Troy could have told Grant that the friends had already figured things out, and it would have been far less of a shocking moment to him. Grant of course has been guilty for a while of deceiving Troy and Brian too. Yeah, not doing so hot on the communication front. They had some nice sex, yes. Sweet, loving, and free of all those pesky questions about if they're doing the right thing or not. So, that's nice. That buffalo/chicken dip is exceptional. Here's the recipe for an improved version of it. It's idiotically good. Try it out. It is hard to find your place in an established friend group. It really is. But, Grant feels it's worth the effort, simply because Troy loves them. Stuck ya with the cliffie! I know. Evil. Thanks for reading! 😄

26 November 2018, Monday 6:00 a.m. Grant's phone chimed, and Troy reached across the sleeping man. He turned off the alarm and lay back down. Troy curled around Grant, enjoying the last few moments of warmth and coziness before they both had to get up. Grant was still out, and Troy smiled. He'd always loved this time of the day with John. He'd slowly wake John with soft touches, little kisses, and gentle prodding to get his man out of bed. Grant wasn't exactly "his". Troy knew that. But

We did warn readers this time. The name of the chapter is "All Cliffs All the Time," after-all!

Thanks for the comment, Etotsira. Grant is in pretty hot water at this point. He's now in something of a relationship with Troy, and that was made possible by the journal. So ... we've got a group of people who have known and loved Troy for five years, and we've got Grant, who Troy met a couple of weeks ago. Let's go through the list of sins each is guilty of. Grant - Hid how he knew about Troy. Manipulated him through knowledge gained from the journal. Flat out lied to Brian when asked how he knew Troy lived in the house. Troy - Revealed that he and Grant engaged in sexual activity, outing Grant in the process. Friend Group - Discussed among themselves the interloper (Grant) and how they're worried for Troy. Engineer a "test" to get to know Grant better. I will mention again ... Brian likely holds the keys to a wrecking ball that he could swing any time he sees fit (proof that Grant lied to him). But ... he's yet to pull that trigger. He knows Troy likes Grant, and so far Troy is doing better than he has in over a year thanks to him. So ... Brian is just sitting on that knowledge.

Yes, as I said above, this seems driven to encourage posting often to stay on the updated stories sidebar. If that's the case, then fine. I don't see the logic for the shift working any other way. There are a few prolific posters who will benefit from this change, the rest of us will be pushed off of the front page fairly quickly (yesterday the last story on the list when I looked had been posted three hours prior). Edit: Though today it harks all the way back to 7PM yesterday. So perhaps I caught it during a spate of updates. I don't think the impact will be tremendous. It just seems odd, and designed to encourage quantity over quality.

Well it shouldn’t matter the sexuality of the friends if the issue is just the interjection into the lives of Troy and Grant. If the issue is that straight people are doing it as opposed to gay friends, then that’s a different ball of wax.

Yeah. If Brian could trust Grant a bit more things would have been a bit different. But ... he knows Grant lied to him. So now, well, now he’s out to find out what kind of guy Grant is. Though, he has, thus far kept Grant’s deception to himself ...

We had a good writing day. We’re maybe ... 1/2 through chapter 3 or so. It feels Like it’s moving fast to me. We’ve also gotten a ton of the research done needed to write it correctly too. It feels good. This is going to be a really good one ... I know it.

Haha. Yeah. I don’t know if I could handle someone who didn’t understand when I said something was “shiny,” or if they couldn’t sing the Firefly theme song. 😝

I think it's a very adaptable recipe. Just use what you have in terms of dried fruit and nuts, and it's going to come out good. tim started a trend here.

Very curious how it turns out, Reader. Let us know ... and let us envy you!

Just as a snapshot sort of experiment, I hovered over everybody's name on the Forum index page. For the 91 members online at the time 27 were on the Forum Index page, and were the greatest proportion of those logged on. It's a single point in time, but I consistently go back to the Forum Index as my "jumping off" for anything else I do on GA. A lot of folks probably do the same thing, and ... yes ... it feels odd to limit the updated stories on the page most people seem to visit the most often. I don't think people will stop going to the Forum Index as a result, which means updated stories will just have exposure for less time. Is the idea to encourage authors to post more often to ensure their work is listed? I'm genuinely curious.

It really is tough to internalize that message. Grant knows it, but it will take a lot of reassurance from people Grant trusts and values for him to really feel it. Maybe the friends can become that for him, the same that they are for Troy ... but that will take time, if it's possible at all. You may be right about the journal. Maybe he was suddenly very invested in the story of "T" once he found out he was a guy. It absolutely gained complexity when Troy became a real person - one in front of him and suddenly a part of his life. I like that name "The Quad Squad." See what you've done, @Parker Owens? Hehe. They all love Troy, and he has disappeared on them once. So they're all worried about him getting pushed back into a situation where he finds himself under stress. They're afraid their friend will break if Grant hurts him. So, yes ... it's likely this Bratty Author will push those boundaries. 😉 Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter!

Hehehe. Or that. 🙂

Thank you, JACC! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I definitely have a particular style, and I don't believe there's a way to get away from that. I'm thankful that people enjoy it, since I don't think I can change that aspect of how I work. There's more story to come, so hang on. 🙂

Hehehe. I suppose I do like writing Trainwrecks! Perhaps they are evening things out in the secret department. Would Troy feel the same way? That Grant's secret is equal to his own? Hrmmm ... I guess time will tell. Thanks for commenting, tim. 🙂

Troy has the benefit of knowing and loving all of his friends for years, so he feels safer with them knowing things than Grant might. With Grant feeling super raw and still processing through his self-discovery, he's likely not going to be happy with them all knowing. Oh, these next few chapters are fun. 😄 And yes ... it certainly looks a bit Trainwrecky, eh? Thanks for commenting, Parker!

I didn't. I went from "Never, that could never be me." to "Well, shit. I'm gay." Write what you know. 😛

Oh man. My straight male friends make no secret of their man crushes. "If NPH wanted to take a swing at me, hell yeah! He's on my list!" James, the guy who did my tattoos announced at dinner once with his wife, son, and six or seven others present. His wife leaned over, "Honey, if NPH wanted to take you to bed then you go for it." I think maybe my friends are just super liberated. lol. I've always been friends with people who looked at the lines drawn around sexuality, put a toe on it and smeared the line a bit. Almost all have dabbled, gave it a shot, then decided they were straight after all. Sexuality is complex. Brian may be one of those guys who could have a romantic relationship with a man, but not a sexual one. Make no mistake though ... he loves Troy.

Gossipy friends, with a worried Brian at the head. He knows Grant hasn't been honest with him, so ... yeah, he's a bit worried. Yet he hasn't revealed the deception to anybody else. If he wanted, he could probably do a lot of damage, but he's holding off. Let's see what happens. 🙂 Thanks for commenting, Chris!

24 November 2018, Saturday 6:03 a.m. Grant came awake to the sensation of a bristly face as it rubbed the back of his neck. Troy held him tight, and as much of their bodies as possible pressed together. Grant's heart beat a little faster when he realized that Troy had an erection. "Good morning," Troy said, in his rough morning voice. He continued to gently rub his face against the skin of Grant's neck. God, this feels so natural to me. Grant's mind struggled with how good and easy t

Goodnight, Mike. Sleep well.