Trouble Plus Trouble. - 12. Chapter 12

Double The Trouble.

Chapter 12.

***

Guess what? You're coming for tea tonight before we go to the movies again."

"Neat. What time should I get here?"

"Not just you. Beth too. Dad will pick you up at six."

They were standing at Matthew's front door so Peter said he’d better check if his mum could come.

"I'll come with you so she can't say no."

Peter was almost certain she wouldn't say no but he thought it was a clever idea.

"How come Beth's driving us? We were going to walk."

"She's coming with us. She wants to watch you swimming."

"Me?"

Peter didn't bother answering. They were at the car now and he jumped in the back and watched as Matthew got his usual hug.

"Guess what mum. Matthew's gone all bossy and ordered us to come here for tea before we go to the movies."

"Matthew bossy? I don't believe it."

"See Peter. Beth knows me better than you do. It’s dad who’s bossy."

"Well Rob’s too big to argue with. It looks like I don't have any choice."

Peter wondered why Matthew was just sitting there.

"Aren't you going in to tell Rob?"

"What for? I’m the cook tonight and he doesn't know about it anyway."

"But you said he’s picking us up at six?"

"He is. I just haven't told him about that either."

Beth laughed and complained about con-merchants starting young these days.

The pool was hard work. It always was with Matthew these days, and after some warm-up laps the whole time consisted of hundred percenters. At the end of each one Matthew told him how well he’d done and what to try for in the next, then he'd swim his own lap while Peter regained his breath. Beth watched about half the time then did her own swimming. She’d always liked swimming and had frequently joined Peter in the ocean at their old town. When they were changed and back in the car Matthew said she was a natural just like Peter.

"Stop flattering Matthew. I could never swim like that. I think you're both champions."

She liked hearing it though.

"Mum, what are you doing? That was the turnoff for Matthew's place."

"I know. I'm dropping you off at the shopping centre."

Matthew looked round but Peter gave a little shrug. He had no idea what she had in mind.

"I'm shouting you some junk food Peter. You can make yourself sick on something from the food court."

That was weird. She usually went birko about how rubbishy the food there was, and it wasn't till they were parked in the ten minute drop-off zone that she gave him the real whammy.

"You need new things Peter and I want you to listen to what Matthew says. He’s got a better eye for clothes than you."

She handed over an envelope with instructions that he had to spend it all, and that she’d pick them up in two hours. Peter opened the envelope then looked at his mum in shock.

"Mum, what's this for? We can't afford this much."

"Yes we can. It won't take long to catch up."

"I'll take half."

"No you won't. A hundred dollars hardly buys anything these days and I want you to get a good start. I've got a plan I want to talk over when you get home too."

A plan? That threw Peter and he climbed out of the car. The no argument on this one tone was in his mum’s voice anyway. The car reversed out, leaving Peter rather overwhelmed. Two hundred dollars. He'd never spent that much on clothes ever.

"What will I get Matthew? I don't even know what I want."

"Yes you do. I've heard you say you want another good pair of cargo shorts for a start. Let's get our food and think about it. I've got some ideas."

Peter was very dubious about Matthew's first idea.

"Second-hand? They're probably no good."

"Have a look and see then. There's lots of weird stuff but I've got some really good things there sometimes."

The ‘there’ that Matthew was talking about was a large opportunity shop run by the Salvation Army, where people handed in things they no longer wanted. It was a ten minute walk from the big shopping complex, but after browsing to see what was available he was astonished.

"Matthew. People must be mad to throw out this stuff. Look at this denim jacket. It's like new and it's a Jag for only $20."

"No it's not. It's $10. Try it on."

He was pointing to a sign which said half price for all jackets and coats -- 2-day sale. Matthew was nodding while Peter walked to the mirror on the side wall. Wow! It looked like a million dollars with the big metal buttons all up the front and on the pockets. $10. Now Peter was excited. Even if he didn't get anything else he'd be ahead.

"What's wrong with it Matthew? Why would anyone get rid of it?"

They looked very carefully but couldn't find anything wrong at all. Peter took it to the counter to be minded and when he asked the lady about it she said it was probably from some rich person who didn't like the color or thought it didn't suit them. The next thing Peter bought was a leather jacket. The label said it was pure leather and when he put it on Matthew's eyes widened.

"Peter. It suits you. I didn't think it would."

Peter had already made up his mind anyway, and took it over to the counter. Three pairs of jeans at $10 each were next, then a jumper and three pairs of classy cargo shorts. The lady was smiling at him every time he brought something new across, and wanted to know if it was birthday money he was spending. He explained that his mum had a new job and had given it to him to get some good clothes.

"What about shirts? Do you want any of those?"

Peter nodded, wondering why she was asking.

"Come with me. There's a whole rack of extra nice ones that just came in this morning, and we haven't got enough room to put them out yet. I’ve already bought two for my own family."

Peter and Matthew followed through a door to a messy storage area, and Matthew started exclaiming as soon as he saw the shirts.

"Excuse me? How much are you selling these for? There were five dollar and nine dollar racks in the shop."

"I'm not sure. Let's just say they're all five dollars."

She left them to it because someone had come into the shop, and Matthew started pulling out shirts, one after the other.

"We can't get all these."

"Yes we can. It must be that rich person she was talking about. These Mambo ones cost at least $40 Peter, and these two Country Roads with collars cost even more. Try them on."

The lady looked like she was going to laugh her head off when they fronted at the counter with three designer T-shirts and three collar shirts for Peter, and three more shirts for Matthew. The tally so far was $153 so they went on the prowl again. Ten books, including a deluxe edition of Lord of the Rings, then three pairs of running shorts at two dollars each was the end of it. The books weren't clothes but at fifty cents each they were irresistible. Totally loaded down, they left the shop with eight large plastic bags for Peter's purchases and three more for Matthew’s. There was $26 left and only one thing Peter still had on his mind.

"Um. Where did you get your blue jocks Matthew? I want to get some the same."

"At my old town. But there's lots of Men’s shops in the Center. They'll have them for sure."

They lugged everything back through the shopping center and then had a short wait. Peter was totally hanging out for the expression on his mum's face when she saw all this stuff. She'd think he’d robbed a bank. It was fantastic. She pulled in and parked.

"Look mum. I got a leather jacket."

Her smile turned to a kind of frown. She'd be thinking he'd have bought something a lot more sensible on that.

"And a denim jacket.

And three pairs of jeans.

And six shirts.

And three cargoes.

As he said each thing he loaded the appropriate bag onto the back seat.

She wasn't accepting it.

"Peter. Where did all this come from?"

"It was a big sale. It was too good to miss so we used Matthew's credit card and we’ll pay it off over the next twelve months."

"No you won't. You can take.... What's the trick?"

The grins were too obvious to miss now, and Peter made a big deal of pulling two dollars from his pocket.

"It's no trick mum. Here's your change."

"Change?"

"Yes. You said I had to listen to Matthew and he took me to a second-hand shop. Everything is like new though because we checked it all carefully. Wait till you see."

Beth was still dubious, so when they reached home there was a mini fashion show for half an hour while they showed off their purchases. Matthew and Beth both kidded him about how rugged he looked with the leather jacket and wondered where he'd wear it, but Peter didn't care. It was his favorite purchase. Matthew was definitely the hero of the day. Matthew had to be dropped home and on the way back from that Peter wanted to know about the plan Beth had mentioned. It had been on his mind because it sounded like it was something to do with money.

"An allowance? Mum. I don't need one."

Peter wondered what was going on. The $200 start, as she'd described it, was understandable, but otherwise they'd always happily worked money things out between them.

"I know. But I want you to have your own money so you can do what you like without having to ask me."

"I like asking you."

He did too. It made him feel special, the way they'd talked money things over for the last three or four years, from serious decisions to everyday needs. This got him a hug.

"This is still the same thing Peter. I want to give you $40 a week so you can concentrate on your school-work and not think you need a part-time job as well. Study time is important for you and I don't want anything taking it away."

"$40? Mum. That's way too much."

"Well we’ll make it $30 then and put it up when you find it's not enough."

They talked it over for a while then Peter went up to his room for a read. Well, in fact he wanted to try on his new jocks. First was the blue pair like the ones Matthew had given him, and they looked and felt just as good. Next were the red ones. They were the same style and fit but it was amazing how changing the color made them look different. The last two pairs were the more expensive ones that Matthew had persuaded him to get. Gosh. They felt great but they sure showed him off. He arranged himself in different ways and made different poses while he looked in the mirror on the inside door of his cupboard. All the fiddling round was having its effect and after laughing at himself in the rude poses the jocks came off and he locked the door for a while.

The meal and the movies were enjoyable and Rob kept pretending he didn't recognise Peter and Matthew in their new clothes. Beth dobbed Peter in to be the cook for next week when the movie trailers turned out to be must-sees.

The next day Peter had a happy hour in the morning, working and talking with his mum while they made a double batch of ginger beer to build up their supplies, which were being used at a surprising rate. The rest of the day was reading and school stuff and in the evening he dropped over to Andy’s to get a print-out of his Literature assignment. That ended up taking ages because Andy was in a boisterous mood and kept giving him treatments while they caught up with their different happenings.

"You got a leather jacket? Oh My God. Now I'm getting scared. Does this mean you're going all tough? Wait till I tell Marty."

He certainly wasn't acting very scared as he squelched the breath out of Peter with a scissor lock and gouged his ribs with his knuckles. Every time they were together they had this wrestling, where Peter came out a mangled but laughing wreck.

"Holy hell Peter. You'd better not wear those to school. You'll never get Phillips to leave you alone."

"What do you mean?"

"God. They're sexy."

They'd started stripping for another practice, and the stylish jocks Matthew had picked for him were in view. No one had ever said he was sexy before and it made Peter feel funny.

"Turn round and let's see them from the back."

Peter turned round automatically, he'd heard the same thing so many times yesterday, then leapt in the air when Andy checked his bags.

"See. You trust everyone so much you’re easy to catch. Get the jocks off so I can check if Matthew shaved you smooth enough."

"He did Andy."

"I know. But I want you to be ready for Phillips."

"Phillips? What's he going to do now?"

Andy grinned and Peter knew he was about to find out by demonstration rather than being told. He slipped the jocks off and jumped when Andy's hand reached towards him.

"That's better. Be ready for anything."

They were into the grabbing practice and Peter was so much better he was able to grab Andy twice before he was grabbed himself. Sheba! Andy was doing that rude squeezing.

"You're getting too good Peter. Keep one hand behind your back so I can still beat you."

The feelings were getting too much for him.

"Andy, we'd better stop."

"No, we're only half finished. Dodge harder."

That was a shock. Andy had that definite tone which let you know he meant it, so Peter went into a kind of overdrive of concentration. It worked and he was able to hold Andy off till eventually he lapsed and the squeezes started again. God, this was impossible. He’d started leaking and he thought Andy would never stop.

"Andy. Let's stop for now and finish after I've done my printing."

Andy gave one last squeeze then held his hand up and looked at it.

"Randy bugger. Keep trying. I'm after you one more time."

It didn’t take long. The one handed defence was just too hard. Andy's hand gripped and held him steady and almost instantly Peter knew that something different was going to happen.

"This is what Phillips will probably do Peter. Are you ready?"

There was no time to answer because Andy's other hand moved down to cup Peters balls. The sudden shock of it caused Peter to jump but the hand came straight back.

"You're meant to hold still while I check how smooth."

Peter tried, but after a couple of seconds the roving fingers were too much to take and he broke away.

"Andy. I... Um... I can't stand... That."

"It gets you doesn't it? Were you really close?"

How come he always gave himself away when Andy caught him with these questions. He hesitated so long that in the end he just nodded.

“What will you do when Phillips does it to you tomorrow?”

"It won't be as bad Andy."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well this time I think he’s the only one who might beat me, so I won't be as stirred up as you made me tonight."

"Yeah. You're probably right, but you still have to watch him. He's made three people cream so far when he’s won his bets."

"What? In front of everyone? I thought you were kidding when you said that the other day."

"Sure. That's the whole point of it. It's very embarrassing."

"You? He got you?"

"Yeah. I go off real easy."

"And everyone saw it?"

"They would have. But I tricked him and it ended up with just him and Justin and Kenny and Marty."

There was silence for a moment.

"Can we have some more practice? But without that squeezing?"

That made Andy laugh and stir that Peter liked getting his dick squeezed, but they went ahead for another ten minutes anyway. Finally they were dressed and Peter felt normal again. Well almost, and was able to get his assignment printed out.

"Oh Boy! When did you write all this? I'm glad I'm not doing Lit. It would take me weeks."

"I like it Andy, so that makes it easy. I planned it out this morning and wrote it this afternoon."

"That's unreal. Do you think Beth was stirring when she said I was King Arthur?"

The sudden change of topic caught Peter unaware but he reckoned Andy was genuinely wanting to know.

"No way Andy. She really meant it. You're the one who makes things happen out of all of us. It was your idea to take mum up the river with us wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"And you took over when Burns had me down at the beach. That's what she means. Everybody does what you want without hardly thinking about it. It's like mum said, you're a natural leader."

"I don't think I'm a leader. I don't order people round."

Peter knew how to answer because his mum had talked about this very thing.

"Ordering people round isn't being a leader, it's just being bossy. Mum says real leaders don't have to be bossy. Everyone does what they want because it feels right."

Peter started thinking about himself and couldn't help smiling.

"What?"

"Look at me. The things I do for you Andy. When I get home and think about it I can't believe it's happened."

"Can't believe what?"

"Like I’ve had a boner in front of people and even asked them to touch me. I can't work out how you get me to do stuff like that."

"God Peter! Do you think about everything? Anyhow I'm just trying to help you."

"I know. I think you're fantastic."

"Idiot, you don't say things like that. Lie down on the bed so I can give you another treatment."

He looked very pleased though and Peter was glad he’d said it.

The end of chapter 12.

Iarwain.