Be Rad - 12. Chapter 12

July 10, 1980

 

We landed in Paly at 10pm California time, all three of us exhausted from a very long day. It was hard to believe I'd left this airport 19 hours ago; I felt like I’d been awake for days. Rafael was there to pick us up and lug us up to Escorial. Tonto was really amazing. She took a few minutes to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, and then she was back at full power.

 

“Now Robbie, we live in this huge house called Escorial. You've seen my old monster downtown?” He nodded. “Well, it's at least twice as big, so prepare yourself. It's a very nice house, but it is just a house. Don't let it intimidate you.”

 

“OK,” he said, obviously worried.

 

“Yeah, and don't mind the solid gold faucets on the sink, and the fleet of Rolls Royces in the garage either,” I said joking. He did that snort/laugh thing.

 

“Now Bradley, this is not funny. It can be very intimidating for someone to walk into that massive edifice,” Tonto said in the voice she used when she was scolding me.

 

“I don't recall you being scared by it.”

 

“Hmph,” she said and gave me a dirty look.

 

We pulled up to the gates and they parted for us magically. We drove up the long drive and then we were finally at the front of the mansion, finally home.

 

Robbie got out and looked at it and caught his breath. I watched his eyes scan his surroundings in a methodical manner, taking in the huge house, the outlying buildings, and then the rest of the view. “Wow. This is pretty impressive,” he said, as he gazed out over the horizon. It was dark, so he wasn’t commenting on all the land, he was commenting on the house and the view. The lights of the Bay Area twinkled in the distance. He seemed transfixed by them until he realized Tonto and I were waiting for him, then he turned away and followed me into the house. I saw him checking out the huge foyer, and the great hall beyond it that was Medieval in character, although none of us knew why that was so.

 

My mother was there instantly. “Tonto, welcome home. It hasn't been the same around here since you've been gone.”

 

“Not the same eh? As in better?” she groused while my mother smiled at her and hugged her anyway. I saw Tonto flash a small smile.

 

“And Robbie! What a pleasure that you could come to visit! I hope you will feel at home here. We will get a room ready for you.” She gave Robbie one of her “hugs”, which were a bit cold and distant compared to the ones she reserved for members of her family. She called Anna to come help her get a room set up for Robbie. Tonto took that opportunity to retreat back to her room for some well-earned rest.

 

Next out were JP and Stefan. They both looked flushed, like they'd just finished fucking. “Welcome,” JP said, giving Robbie a nice hug. “I talked to your father today and he told me you were coming. You are to treat this home as your own, is that clear?”

 

“Yes sir,” Robbie said, abashed.

 

“You do not have to call him sir,” Stef said. “Unless you are in bed with him and he has you handcuffed.” JP rolled his eyes while I couldn't help laughing. Robbie looked a little shocked.

 

“Stef takes some getting used to,” I told him. “You two look awfully flushed. Were you exercising?” I asked playfully.

 

JP blushed, something both rare and funny, which made Stef laugh uncontrollably before replying, “As a matter of fact we were. And we were not done yet either.” He grabbed a mortified JP and dragged him off again.

 

“Your uncle is hilarious. I really like him,” Robbie said.

 

“I'm glad. Some people can't get beyond the fact that he's so, well, gay. It’s their loss, because he's one of the coolest people you'll ever meet. You know that concert we're going to?” He nodded. “Stef got us backstage passes.”

 

“No way! Really!”

 

“Really!” Boomed a voice behind me, and I turned to find Lark standing there with Claire.

 

“Robbie, this is Lark, my best friend.” Lark beamed at that reference.

 

“Hey Lark,” he said affably. “Nice to meet you. Brad says you're an amazingly cool guy.”

 

“Well Brad has poor judgment. I'm Claire, and what exactly are you wearing?” Lark and I started giggling, while Claire looked Robbie up and down with disdain, as if evaluating his disheveled appearance and unfashionable Midwestern clothes.

 

“Uh, clothes. No big deal.”

 

She reached forward and grabbed the hem of his T-shirt. “This has polyester in it! Look. I'm getting a rash.” That brought Lark and me from a giggle to a full-blown laugh. Robbie looked a little pissed off, but I didn’t worry about that. I stood back and watched Claire in action as she turned on her charm.

 

“You are such a handsome guy Robbie. You have the most beautiful eyes,” she said, almost flirting with him. His pissed off mood vanished and he just grinned at her. He had the cutest grin: it was boyish, but with a hint of naughtiness. “If you're going to be in California, you're going to have to fit in. Tomorrow morning we'll go shopping. It will be fun.”

 

“Uh, I don't know what we have planned,” he prevaricated.

 

“Don't worry. There will be time. Do it for me. It will make me happy to make sure you look great.”

 

“OK,” he said as he caved like the rest of us. She gave him a friendly kiss on the cheek and headed toward her room. Billy was in the background watching all of this, and after she'd left he moved up and gave Robbie a big hug.

 

“It's a waste of energy to resist her. Besides, she has great taste in clothes.” We all nodded at that.

 

I led the guys back to my room to drop off Robbie's bags, and then we headed to Ace's room to bug him. He was on the phone talking to some girl, but we harassed him until he hung up. Another warm welcome for Robbie, and then now that we'd finished all of our greetings, it was kind of anti-climatic, and there was a pregnant pause.

 

An idea popped into my head. “Let's go swimming,” I said. Just the thought of being in the water was refreshing.

 

“I don't have a suit unpacked,” Robbie said.

 

“Well, it's just us guys, so you don't need one,” Ace said. “Let's get stoned first.”

 

Ace was amazing that way. He assumed that we'd all go with the skinny dipping idea, then came up with an entirely different course of action which locked it in. I tried not to get too excited as I pondered that I’d get to do two things I’d been dying to do: get stoned, and see Robbie naked.

 

“Not for me,” Lark said. “I have to bail.” That kind of killed a little of my excitement. Lark was fun to hang out with.

 

“Bummer,” I said sincerely. “You're shopping with us in the morning?”

 

“If I value my life,” he joked. I knew that he had a major crush on Claire. If we weren't friends, he'd ask her out, or at least I suspected that he would. Instead, he let her rule him almost as much as she managed Billy and I. We watched him walk out of the room, and then the four of us headed down to the pool. I thought about how familiar this was, how like the time I first hung out with Doug, and hoped this relationship would turn out better. I stripped off quickly and jumped in the pool, primarily so I could gawk at Robbie while he got ready.

 

Robbie started to take off his T-shirt but paused to look at me. I’d assumed he’d just pull it off, but when he stopped, he’d caught me blatantly staring at him. He got a mischievous grin on his face, and slowed down his pace just enough to look slightly seductive. He lifted his arms up and pulled up his shirt, showing off his gorgeous upper body. He wasn't very hairy; he had hair under his arms and that was it. I could see his muscles flex as he pulled the shirt over his head, and then when he put his arms down the muscles were invisible, covered by a thin layer of fat. But he wasn't fat, it was like padding. Damn he was sexy.

 

I was distracted as he started to pull down his pants. I gulped involuntarily and he smiled at me again. I was so fucking busted, but I couldn't pull myself away. It was like he had me in a trance. He lowered his shorts slowly, showing me more and more of his pubic hair, a darker blond than the blond hair on his head. Then he suddenly pulled them all the way down, exposing a nice cock, not entirely limp, draped over two nice balls. Before I knew it he did a cannonball into the pool, drenching me. I didn't even realize that Ace and Billy had jumped in at the same time.

 

After that we splashed around for a while, then stopped to smoke some more pot. Now fully stoned, we decided to play Marco Polo. I was it, and I was thrashing around trying to find Robbie. “Marco,” I said. “Polo,” they answered softly. That went on until I knew I had Robbie cornered. I lunged and grabbed, and ended up grabbing his dick. I opened my eyes and stared at him and he just grinned at me with a playful look.

 

“Looks like you caught me,” he said with a laugh. “You can let go anytime now.” The other guys were laughing too. Only they didn't know what I knew. He was hard as a rock. And that boy was hung. He wasn't as big as me; he was probably on a par with Ace. About seven and a half inches, I'd bet, only he wasn't as thick as Ace. Right before I let him go I gave him three quick strokes, jack off strokes, and watched him cringe as he enjoyed it. Billy and Ace couldn’t see since his dick was under water, and that made it kind of intimate in a weird way.

 

We played around for a while until we ended up just hanging out around the edge of the pool. “So I'm wondering if you and Billy look alike everywhere?” I said.

 

“You just want to see my dick,” Billy said, then got nervous, worrying that he'd outed me.

 

“Well yeah, but I need to go get my magnifying glass first.” He and Robbie both snaughed at the same time. It was weird the way they both made that same sound.

 

“Alright, stand up,” Ace ordered. They were both hard, but that didn't surprise any of us. I was hard too, and so was Ace. I studied their dicks, pretending to be no more interested than the normal, curious heterosexual guy, but I’m not sure I pulled that off. Their cocks actually did look somewhat similar, although Robbie was about an inch longer than Billy.

 

“Don't worry little bro,” Ace said condescendingly, “It may get bigger when you grow up.” That pissed Billy off and he jumped on Ace and they wrestled around. Before I knew it, Robbie followed suit and tackled me. He grabbed me from behind, his hard cock poking my ass cheeks, his strong arms locked around me. I squirmed to get loose but I didn't really want to. The feel of his skin, his amazingly soft skin rubbing against mine, was way too stimulating. He went to grab my leg and bumped into my throbbing cock on the way. I felt his fingers wrap around it and I moaned involuntarily. I was glad that Ace and Billy were wrestling and didn’t seem to notice. He stroked me three times, just as I had, only unlike him, after the third stroke I shot my load. I was mortified. How gay was that? Wrestling in the pool with another guy and blowing your load? I wasn't sure if he could tell or not, but he acted totally cool with it and just dunked me, letting me blow my load in peace under the water.

 

When I came up, shocked and worried, I faced the three of them and they acted as if nothing had happened. I sighed with relief and went with it. “I'm kind of tired,” Robbie said.

 

“Me too,” I agreed. I got out of the pool after first surreptitiously squeezing any residual cum from my dick. The other guys followed me and we dried off and headed upstairs to our rooms.

 

As soon as we got to the top of the stairs, Ace and Billy retreated to their own rooms, leaving me alone with Robbie. “So where do I sleep?” he asked.

 

“I don't know.” I looked around and couldn’t find anyone. Evidently everyone else was already asleep. We headed to my room and found his bag still there. “Well, we can try and figure out which of the rooms they made up for you, or you can sleep in here with me tonight and we'll figure it out in the morning.”

 

“So first you grab my dick in the pool and now you're asking me to sleep with you?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. I could see him trying hard to not grin as he teased me.

 

“Seems you returned the favor,” I joked back as I winked at him. “So since we basically jacked each other off, sharing a bed should be no big deal.”

 

“Guess not,” he said, exposing his suppressed smile. I turned away from him and dropped my towel, flashing him a great view of my ass. Something made me want to tease him, to push him to the limit. I wanted to find out if he was gay like me. I bent over and dried off my legs, really giving him a show, then I slipped on some boxers and turned around to see him gawking at me. I’d busted him just as bad as he’d busted me earlier. Was his towel tenting out a bit? I smiled at him and climbed into bed, scooting over to make room for him as he laid down on his back next to me.

 

He rolled over toward me so we were lying side by side, facing each other, and he pulled me into a big hug. “It’s really great to see you. I’ve been looking forward to this since you called.”

 

“Me too,” I said. I was in heaven. I savored the warmth of his body, the way his skin pressed against mine, and the feel of his strong arms as they held me. His cheek was against mine and I could feel his breath as it wafted gently in my ear. I wrapped my arms around him and we just held each other like that for the longest time. He moved to let go but I didn't, so he renewed his grip. When he did, he moved a little closer, and I felt his hard cock poke into my leg, just as mine pushed into his.

 

My hormones went into overdrive. My mind told me to resist him but my body refused. I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him on top of me. He thrust ever so lightly into me, and I responded in kind, feeling his hard cock smashed across mine. He pushed again, this time a little harder, and I moved back into him. He moaned in my ear and that did it. I pushed hard against him and he responded eagerly. Soon, with my legs wrapped around him, and my arms holding him tightly to my body, he began thrusting against me, rubbing his cock against mine through our boxers. It was so erotic; all I could do was moan. I felt his lips on my neck, tentative, so I grabbed his head and pulled him to me. A deep growl emerged from his mouth into my neck, then his mouth traced my neck, and cheek, exploring until his lips found mine. I was losing it now, becoming totally unhinged as I moved more quickly against him and forced my tongue into his mouth. He responded willingly. I noticed that he wasn't a very good kisser, but that didn't bother me.

 

Now it was a frenzy, a total physical frenzy between us, part sex, part wrestling match. I reached that point of no return and knew that I was going to blow. “Robbie, I'm gonna shoot,” I said, maybe too loudly.

 

“Me too. Me too!” he said with his deep, sexy voice. And then we came, not quite together, but close enough, blasting into our boxers, drenching them as we released our pent-up desire. We thrust against each other so hard I almost thought we’d compress ourselves into one person. When we were finished, he pulled off of me and smiled down. I was so relieved that he wasn't pissed, or disgusted, or even uncomfortable. He seemed as happy as I was. He pulled off his boxers, then mine, and then crawled back into bed and lay on my chest, half of his body sprawled across mine. It was sheer bliss.

 

He looked up at me and kissed me. “Thanks for saving me Brad,” he said. I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face. I wondered briefly if I'd wake up with one.

 

July 11, 1980

 

I wasn’t smiling the next morning. I woke up all alone, and it made me sad. We’d drifted off to sleep holding each other so I just assumed that we'd wake up in the same position. Not having him there, having my expectations foiled, put me in a foul mood. Did he wake up in the morning and get grossed out at being with me? Did he regret fucking around with me? Was he even here? Would this end just like it had with Doug? I let the paranoia and sadness turbo-charge my bad mood. I got up, took a shower, got dressed, and headed off to the kitchen to find something to eat. I found our whole entourage in there, evidently waiting for me to get ready.

 

“Morning,” Robbie said to me with a friendly smile. Even that irritated me. It wasn't the smile, the greeting you'd give a lover, it was the smile you’d give to someone who was just a buddy.

 

“Eat quickly, Brad,” Claire said. “We've got a lot of work to do, especially since Lark's coming along too.” That made everyone laugh but me. I just scowled.

 

“Why don't you guys go ahead without me. I’m still pretty tired. I'll be here when you get back.” That was a mistake, because now they all knew that I was pouting. My bad mood got worse.

 

“Come on, B. It won't be nearly as much fun without you, and it will definitely take much longer.” Lark smiled and pleaded with me as he said that, and I remembered how I'd pleaded with him just a few nights ago. Fuck Robbie. If he was going to play games, that was fine. I had enough people in my life that I wouldn't be celibate or lonely.

 

“Alright. For you Lark, I'll devote my morning to clothes.” Lark grinned, while Robbie just looked worried. We headed out to the limo. Claire had asked Rafael to drive us, and he couldn't say no to her any more than the rest of us could.

 

We headed to the Stanford Fashion Plaza and plowed through stores, from Macy's to Emporium Capwell, and everything in between. Claire was a demon, totally re-equipping Robbie's wardrobe, not to mention picking up a few things for Lark. Billy and I got some new stuff too, but not as much since we'd done this with her not too long ago. That made us the pack mules, lugging stuff back out to the car. Watching Robbie try on new clothes and seeing how good he looked in them made me feel a little happier, even though he obviously didn’t want to be with me. I was still pretty bad company.

 

At 1pm, I finally stopped the shopping extravaganza by appealing to the thing most guys will prioritize even above sex: Food. Claire grumbled as we stopped for lunch. “So Robbie, it seems that just yesterday I was telling you not to pack clothes.”

 

“You were right,” he said, giving me a big grin. He had dimples in his cheeks that I hadn't really noticed before, and I found all of my irritation with him fading in the face of his cuteness.

 

After lunch we headed home and Lark took his stuff and bailed as soon as we got there. My mother had given Robbie the room directly across from mine. That was a little odd since there were a lot of rooms to choose from, and that one certainly wasn't anything special. It was as if they were trying to make it easy for us to be together. Only Robbie didn't want to be together. He jumped out of bed as soon as he could and abandoned me. I was in a petulant mood and I knew it, which made me even more petulant. Billy, Robbie and I lugged all of his shit back to his room, and Claire took a look at the stuff in his suitcase and started tossing it in a pile.

 

“What's that pile for?” Robbie asked.

 

“That's for charity,” Claire said firmly. He was about to argue but stopped. I wondered if there was a man Claire couldn’t wrap around her finger.

 

“What's your plan for the afternoon?” I asked Billy.

 

“I'm playing tennis with Ace.” He looked at his watch. “Shit, I'm late. I gotta go.” With that, he tore off. That left me alone with Robbie, and he was just standing there, giving me a strange look.

 

“You mad at me?” he asked. Suddenly he looked so vulnerable. Here he was, invited out here as our guest, and I was pouting because he didn't want to cuddle with me in the morning. I felt my bitchiness change into guilt. I thought about how he’d told me he felt left out when he was a kid visiting us for Christmas, and how I’d resolved to have better manners. I’d failed miserably. Instead, I’d spent the whole morning trying to make him feel as bad as I did. That ended right now, I decided as I firmly took control of my mood.

 

“No, I'm sorry if I'm crabby. Come on, let's get out of here.” He smiled and followed me down the hall. I thought we might actually make it out of the house without being stopped when JP and Stef intercepted us in the hallway.

 

“Good afternoon boys,” Stefan said cheerfully, and just having him there managed to completely erase the remnants of my bad mood.

 

“Hey,” we chimed nonchalantly, almost in unison.

 

“I was looking for you,” Stef said to me. “I got you a present.”

 

“You got me a present? It’s not my birthday, or Christmas,” I teased, smiling at him.

 

“I wanted to do something special for you, something to make your senior year a little more fun,” he said sincerely, his cheerful demeanor replaced by sincerity.

 

“You don't need to do anything for me Stef. You already do enough. You fly us all over the place, you get us kick-ass concert tickets, and sometimes you even get me laid.” I saw Robbie cringe at that last reference. What was the deal with him anyway? If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was jealous.

 

Stef smiled at me. “Well I want to. You’re the most important person in the world to me, just don’t tell Greg I said that.”

 

I felt my eyes getting watery. “I love you too Stef,” I said, and gave him a big hug. I broke our embrace and smiled at him. It was time to change this maudlin mood. “Alright, so what did you get me?”

 

“I got you a new car. I figured that maybe you could let Robbie use your Jeep while he's here, but then you'd need something new.” He was suppressing a huge grin, and even JP was having a hard time not smiling.

 

“Neither one of you can keep from smiling. You must have gotten me one awesome car.” Their faces broke out in full grins now, and Stef tossed me a set of keys. There was a prancing stallion on the key chain. It was the Ferrari logo. I looked at the keys, then at Robbie, who looked as stunned as I was.

 

A fucking Ferrari? I couldn't believe it. I felt a smile blow out my face and ran toward the garage with Robbie right on my heels. I ran out of the house and there, parked on the drive, was a clone of the car Magnum P.I. drove. It was bright red, as a Ferrari should be. I walked around it, awestruck by what an awesome machine it was. It wasn't one of those anemic 208's or those problem-plagued Mondials, no, this was the real deal. A 308 GTS with a targa top. I turned to find Stef next to me and I gave him a big hug, then picked him up and twirled him around. I couldn't stop the tears. Not over a car, or at least not totally over a car, but because it was such an amazing, thoughtful present. How typical of him to think of new ways to make me happy. What a great guy. I put him down and saw Robbie smiling at me.

 

Then a new thought temporarily destroyed my euphoria. “What about Ace?” I asked. We always watched out for each other. No way did I want him to feel left out, or cheated somehow.

 

JP smiled, a big smile. “I told Stef that would be the first thing you'd say,” he said. “As a matter of fact, Ace picked it out for you.” That still didn’t answer my question, but I ignored it. I’d deal with that later.

 

“So I get your Jeep?” Robbie asked playfully. I smacked him and hopped into the driver's seat.

 

“Hop in, asshole, we're going for a ride.” He jumped in and I fired up the motor. I hadn’t even put it in gear, I just sat in it, feeling the rumble of the engine. It was a running piece of art. We waved goodbye and headed down the drive and to I-280. From there, we shot up the freeway into the City. My bad mood from the morning had completely evaporated. I looked sideways at Robbie and couldn’t help but admire how handsome he was. The targa top was off, so the wind blew his thick hair around, making him look really sexy.

 

“You've never been to the City?” I asked him.

 

“You mean Frisco?”

 

I flinched. “We don't call it Frisco and we don't call it San Fran. It's either San Francisco or the City. Got it?” He nodded and smiled at me. We drove up Highway 1 and went across the Golden Gate Bridge. There's a turnout on the other side with great views of the City, so I stopped there and got out to gawk at my new car.

 

“This is an amazing car,” he said.

 

“It's fucking incredible,” I said, as I ran my hand across the fender almost like I’d run my hand across Karen’s breast. “So how long are you planning to stay with us?” I asked, changing the subject.

 

“Why? You want me to leave? That's it. You want me to leave. Did I make you mad? Shit. It was last night wasn't it? I knew this morning that I totally fucked up.” He was almost crying.

 

I put my hand on his arm and smiled at him, a sincere, caring smile. “I had a great time last night. I loved what we did.”

 

“Then why have you been so fucking mad at me all day?” he asked. The frustration in his voice was palpable. It broke my heart to see him so sad.

 

“Because you were gone when I woke up. I thought you were disgusted with me and that you just blew me off.” He looked at me, amazed.

 

Then he laughed. “I woke up this morning and it was awesome being with you, but I was worried you'd freak so I got up.” It was my turn to stare at him and look stunned. I pulled myself out of my daze and smiled at him.

 

“Come on,” I said.

 

“Where are we going?” he asked.

 

“To bed,” I said with a slutty leer. He snaughed and hopped in.

 

“I, uh, I haven't really been with other people,” he said nervously. He’d really gotten tense when he said that.

 

“You think I'm a slut?” I joked, trying to help him relax.

 

“Well, I was hoping,” he said, and I laughed.

 

“So how long are you going to be here?” I asked.

 

“I'm supposed to leave at the beginning of August,” he said. “Why?”

 

“Because it seems like people are making plans for you to be here a hell of a lot longer than that.”

 

He looked worried, and sad. “Typical. Everyone pulls the strings, makes decisions about me without even bothering to ask me what I want.”

 

“Well, no one has said anything to either one of us, so I'm thinking that we should just go with the flow. In the meantime, I'm going to try and convince you that you want to be here.” I got a grin, a grin with a loving expression behind it, as a reward for my comment.

 

We got back to the house and Stef stopped me. “Do you like your new car?”

 

“I love it! It’s awesome!” I told him. It was so cool, the way he smiled because he’d made me happy. I decided to play with him a bit so I whispered in his ear: “Stef, the car was awesome, I love it, but I can't talk. We have to go fuck.” He looked at us, and then wandered off laughing.

 

We got to my room, shut and locked the door, and then I was in his arms and his lips were on mine. I took my time this time, showing him how to kiss. He fought me at first, until he finally gave in and followed my lead. We just stood there, making out, and it was magical. None of the other guys I’d kissed, not Jake, not Doug, not Armand, not even Lark had connected with me like this.

 

“You trying to teach me how to do this right?” he asked with a smile.

 

“Yeah, and you're a quick learner.” Part of me just wanted to make out with him all day long, but the other part, the hormonal part, surged out of control. His mouth on mine had fueled my libido to the point where there was no stopping it. I pulled off his clothes as we kissed while he did the same to me. I pushed him onto the bed, onto his back, and lay on top of him, being the dominant one this time.

 

He responded readily. He wrapped his body around me as I thrust against him, building us up and then slowing down. He turned me on so much I had to really regulate myself to keep from blowing too soon. Then I broke our embrace and moved my mouth down to his chest. I licked, sucked, and nibbled on each of his nipples which he seemed to like, because he moved against me frantically, trying to get enough friction to set off his fuse. I moved lower and lower. I looked up and locked onto his eyes, then lowered my mouth down onto his cock. His eyes shot open wide, and his mouth opened too, and within two seconds he blasted his load in my mouth. I had wanted to do that for so long, and now that I had, now that I finally tasted his seed, I knew why. It tasted great.

 

“I'm sorry; I kind of shot off there without saying anything and...”

 

I cut him off with a kiss. “I wanted to make you cum, to taste you. It was great.” He grinned and blushed. He reached down and grabbed my hard, throbbing dick. He started stroking me, gently at first, then more quickly. I lay next to him with my mouth below his ear, moaning like crazy while he used his hand to bring me off in a fantastic orgasm.

 

“That was great,” he said as we lay next to each other. He sounded a little apprehensive.

 

“It was. What's bothering you?” I asked.

 

“I'm not very good at this,” he said. “Plus, you're so big, it's kind of scary. I don't know if I can fit that thing in my mouth, much less my ass.”

 

I laughed. “Well, I bet you can, but only if you want to. In the meantime, what we're doing is just fine.”

 

We got out of bed and got cleaned up for dinner. It was the first big family dinner we'd had since Tonto got back. Everyone was here, only they weren't. I don't think any of us really thought about Sam being gone, but now that he wasn't here, things seemed incredibly empty. I know we all felt it. JP finally said something.

 

“You all know that Sam isn't here with us and you all know why. Sam and I are no longer a couple, and he's moved out.” He paused to look at each of us. I felt the sadness in his gaze. “We talked yesterday and he's gotten an apartment in Palo Alto, near campus. He doesn't know where he'll be next semester. He asked me to give each of you his address and to ask you to stop by when you can. Sam is a part of all of us, part of our family. We shouldn't shut him out. I'm not going to, and I'm hoping you won't either.

 

JP paused, as if he expected some argument or something, but none of us said a thing, we just looked at him supportively. I saw Stef grab his hand under the table, and wondered again at how close they were, how strong their bond was.

 

JP evidently decided that since no one else was going to say anything, he’d finish his speech. “Thursday is the big party for Bastille Day so the house will be in chaos for the whole day. We were going to have the party down at the winery this year for business reasons, because Stefan simply needs the money.” We all laughed at that. “But we changed our mind. We've held it here every year for over ten years, and it's become a Palo Alto tradition. I'm hoping that you all will be here. As hosts of the party, I want you to keep your eyes open for anyone who may be too drunk to drive home. Rafael will drive them instead. If anyone gives you any crap about that, or anything else, let me know and we'll handle it immediately.” We all nodded.

 

“Sam has promised that he will be here too,” added Stefan. “Hopefully this family gathering will be less dramatic than the last one.” We all laughed, except JP, who gave Stef a dirty look. Stef knew better than to care.

 

“Well, this is your house,” said Tonto, “but it sure is disruptive to have people coming and going all the time.” Tonto liked Sam, and she was just grousing because she missed him.

 

“It’s not always disruptive Tonto,” I said. “Robbie's here. Aren't you happy about that?” I watched her eyes narrow as she got irritated at being backed into a corner.

 

“That's not what I meant Brad,” she said, giving me one of her fearsome looks that didn’t have any effect on me. “I'm glad Robbie is here too.”

 

JP looked directly at her, his blue eyes drilling into hers. “Tonto, no one is unhappier about Sam being gone than I am. I loved him very much, and part of me always will.” Was that a tear in his eye? Shit. “Life doesn't always work out the way we want it to.” He was so sad when he said that, I felt myself getting angry, mad at anyone who would hurt him that badly.

 

“I love you JP, you know that. Hell, usually I have to promise people that I'm leaving them money or they won't even be nice to me, but not the people here at this table, and you foremost among them.” How typical of Tonto to make me want to laugh and cry at the same time. “I know I'm in my golden years, and I know I'm a pain in the ass, but I'm happy here. I guess I just don’t want anything to mess that up.”

 

He smiled at her fondly. “I love you too Tonto. I always have. Even when you thought I was corrupting Stefan.”

 

“Now that's not fair. That was before I knew he was sleeping with the entire city.” We all started laughing at that.

 

“There were a few people I did not sleep with,” Stefan said defensively. “Of course, it was their loss...” Stefan was incorrigible.