Puppy Love - 1. Chapter 1

Blaine Riley stepped down from the cab of his Chevy pick-up and glanced around, wondering exactly when it was that his life had gone to such hell. Six months ago everything had been great, he had a great relationship with his parents, he had someone that he loved with no reservations, and he’d had a home to go to every night, who would have thought that things could change so quickly. He looked around at his surroundings and sighed. No matter how much he loved the outdoors he had never figured that he would end up living in the woods.

Losing Christian had been bad enough, but it was when he went to his parents to seek some sort of solace that things had turned for the worse. His parents had told him in no uncertain terms that he was no longer welcome in their home. From what they said, it appeared that his family had found out the truth about him and stoically refused to acknowledge that they had a gay son. The only way that they could have found out was through Christian, and after he’d kicked him out, the only place that Blaine had to go to was his parent’s house.

When his parents refused to let him in, Blaine had simply sat in his truck outside the house, completely dumfounded. As much as it hurt, Blaine was able to accept the fact that Christian no longer loved him, if he ever had in the first place, but he never had expected him to be so vindictive. Christian had started spewing words about how Blaine had corrupted him and how Christian himself was never gay. Blaine knew that it was bullshit, but Christian had been determined that it was the truth.

Reaching into the cooler that sat next to his tent, Blaine grabbed a Budweiser before settling himself into his lawn chair to stare out at the shimmering lake that sprawled across the landscape. He had always enjoyed the time right before the sun disappeared, when the colors brightened up the horizon in hues of red and orange, sometimes even a pale purple. It tended to give him a sense of peace when nothing else would. Taking a sip of his beer, Blaine was startled by the sound of leaves crunching behind him. Turning his head, he smiled a greeting when he recognized his best friend.

“Hey Mark,” Blaine said softly, turning back towards the lake as the sun finally went below the horizon.

“Sorry man, didn’t mean to startle you. How you doing bud?”

“As good as can be expected, just enjoying the silence. It’s pretty peaceful out here, ya know?”

“Yeah, that would explain why we both spend so much time out here.”

“Yeah, I guess. So how’d you find me Mark?” Blaine asked, getting to his feet and grabbing another lawn chair and beer. Setting up the chair next to his own, Blaine passed Mark the cold beer before lowering himself back into his chair.

“It wasn’t hard, I went looking for you at Christian’s and he told me you didn’t live there anymore, which surprised me. Then I went to your parent’s house where I was told that they no longer had a son and that if I was smart that I would stay as far away from you as I could get.”

“Ah, the whole being gay will rub off on ya thing?”

“Yeah, that about sums it up. The only place I could think of to look after that was out here. This is usually where we ran away too when things got too tough. So how are you doing Blaine? Seriously?”

“I’ve definitely had better days, but I’m getting through it.”

“Why didn’t you come to me Blaine?” Mark asked, a hint of hurt evident in his voice. “You know that you can always crash at my place.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just; I needed to get away for a while, clear my head.”

“What about work?”

“Took some time off, didn’t really want to deal with a lot of people at the moment.”

“Yeah well, some of us do worry about ya Blaine. I still wish that you had come to me though.”

“I know Mark, and it’s nothing against you, but I needed to be by myself for a while. Shit has been kind of screwed up lately, and I needed time to think things through. I need to figure out what I’m going to do now.”

“What do ya mean?”

“Well, the little bit that I have saved up is not near enough to get a new place and Christian kind of ruined the option of staying with mom and dad for a while.”

“I can’t believe that he called and told your parents.”

“Yeah, well, it surprised me too. After he kicked me out and the things he said I knew he was an ass, but I never figured that he was that vindictive.”

“Can I ask what reason he gave? Why he suddenly got so pissed off with you that he just threw you out of the house?”

“You mean besides living and breathing? I haven’t quite figured that one out yet; when I do I’ll let ya know. He says that he isn’t gay and that I corrupted him, that it’s my fault. He’s the one who picked me up, so that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. When you add in the fact that he enjoyed the sex, it just makes it that much more confusing.”

Blaine was having a difficult time going through the thoughts in his head and finally climbed to his feet. He made his way slowly towards the edge of the lake and sat down on the cold ground, pulling his knees up to his chest and gazing out at the silent lake. He could not figure out exactly how he had come to being alone. He had loved Christian more than he had ever loved anyone, but as far as Christian was concerned, it was not enough.

“So what’s on your mind now?”

“Still wondering what I am going to do now. I never in a million years thought this would happen. I thought that he loved me Mark, but it must have just been me being delusional. I wasn’t prepared for anything like this to happen. Sure, there’s always a chance that it could, but it was so unexpected, everything seemed fine yesterday.”

“I know,” Mark said softly, taking a seat next to Blaine. He hated to see his friend in so much pain, but he knew that there was nothing that he could do that would fix what had happened. He wracked his brain for anything that he could have done to spare his friend the pain that he was going through at the moment and as much as he hated to admit it, there was really nothing that he could have done.

“Mark, I know you want to help right now, and I appreciate it, but I want to be alone right now.”

“I understand bud, just promise that you’re not going to do anything rash.”

“I’m not; I just need time to think and to figure things out. I’ll be out here for the next few days at least, I know I have to move forward, but I need to figure out exactly how to do that.”

“Just remember, if you need a place to crash or even a friend to talk to, my door is always open, okay?”

“I know Mark, thanks.”

“Anytime, that’s what friends are for,” Mark said as he stood up, dropping one hand to Blaine’s shoulder and giving it a solid squeeze before heading over and climbing into his truck. With one last look at his friend sitting by the lake, Mark put the truck in reverse and left Blain in peace.