The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - 30. Planning In Secret

Danny and Dion came up to speak with me one evening, and I quickly learned they wanted to discuss their plans about Valentine’s Day.

“Dad, Danny and I have been talking and we need your help. We can’t think of anyplace we can go dancing, after we take our sweethearts out to dinner, at least no place that we won’t standout in the crowd,” Dion told me. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Not locally! Going to any establishments around here you’ll take the risk of being stared at or becoming the brunt of derogatory comments,” I replied. “I know most people in this area are used to us being with male partners, but there are still enough folks who either don’t approve of it or who are merely curious about seeing two guys together, and that’s what causes the problems. They will gawk and whisper, if they see you out dancing with each other, or they can get downright rude. Other than that, I don’t know what I can tell you.”

“I know what you mean and we wanted to try to avoid becoming the center of attention or getting involved in an incident while we’re out,” Dion agreed. “That would ruin the whole purpose of the evening. Sometimes I wished we lived closer to one of the major cities, where they have gay clubs and things.”

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Are you boys going to go out on Monday night then?” I wondered.

“Actually, since Valentine’s Day is on Monday, we were thinking we might celebrate it on Saturday instead,” Danny answered. “That way we’d avoid the worst crowds and maybe even get to enjoy ourselves a little longer, since we can stay out later that night. It happens that I have Sunday off.”

“That’s not a bad idea! Jake and I have hinted at doing that as well,” I confessed. “It’s hard on Jake to go out on a weeknight, seeing he has to get up so early the next morning, so he can go to work.”

“I think it would be better for Trey and me too,” Dion agreed. “I don’t want him having to face his students if he’s tired out and then have a terrible day at school. Going out on Saturday would solve that problem. By the way, I’ve decided to order a half-dozen red roses for him too, so I’ll just have them delivered on Saturday and avoid the rush.” Dion laughed after saying this.

“That’s not a bad idea either,” I confirmed. “Look, after listening to what you’ve been saying, I think I have an idea, if you’re interested in hearing it.” Both boys nodded their heads.

“I was thinking that I could call our favorite restaurant and see if the small private dining room is available for Saturday the twelfth,” I suggested. “If it is, I’ll reserve it, so we can all go there for the night. You can also bring some of your music with you, so after we eat we can shut the door and dance with our lovers without bothering anyone else or having them bother us. What do you think?”

“That’s a great idea, Dad,” Dion nearly shouted.

“I agree and I think I’ll order a half-dozen red roses for Brand too,” Danny added.

“Do me a favor then. Okay? When you boys are ordering your flowers, order a half-dozen red roses for me to give to Jake too,” I concurred. “If you guys will take care of that for me, then I’ll make the arrangements with the restaurant.”

Both boys agreed, so I think we had tentative plans for our little celebration. I just hope the small dining room is free that evening. If it is, I’ll reserve it starting at 8:00 and explain to the owner that we’ll need it for the rest of the night.

The next day, I called the restaurant. Fortunately, my timing was good and the room hadn’t yet been booked for that particular Saturday evening. I’m glad we thought about this with a couple of weeks still remaining until the big day, otherwise it might have been taken. Now, I can iron out the details with Dion and Danny, so we can surprise our lovers. I’m not worried about the others planning something as well, since they know the three of us are usually the ones that make the arrangements.

Since all of this was taken care of, I went to check and see what the other boys were up to. They’ve been home from school for about an hour and I haven’t heard much from them. After looking in a couple of different places, I found them in the family room with Joshie. They had been playing Wii together, but now the older boys were teaching Joshie how to play some of the other games too. I stood in the doorway for a while and peeked in on their interaction with each other. I enjoyed seeing the older boys working with Joshie and he was certainly reveling in being the center attention.

I eventually slipped away and went back to the kitchen. I’d been puttering around in there for a while, when I suddenly heard Elliot on the piano. He was playing the ‘Peanuts Theme’ again, so I guess Joshie must have requested he do that. I was really proud of the older pair and how good they’ve been with Joshie. A few minutes later, Joshie came hurrying into the kitchen.

“Papa, I’m thirsty,” he told me, as he strolled up beside me.

“Okay. What would you like? Juice or water?” I asked.

“Apple juice,” Joshie replied.

I poured him a glass and he drank part of it down immediately. Then he looked up and started talking again.

“Elliot played the Peanuts song for me,” he stated, while smiling at me.

“I thought I heard that,” I replied.

“Uh huh and Jesse and Elliot were playing games with me,” he continued. “It was fun.”

“I’m sure it was,” I agreed. “I guess it’s nice when the big guys do things with you.”

“Uh huh. It’s fun when we do that,” Joshie agreed. “I’m going back in there with them now. I just told them I was coming out here to get a drink, so they’re waiting for me.”

“Then you’d better get back in there with them,” I confirmed. “Just don’t spill your drink.”

“I won’t, Papa, and thank you for the juice,” he stated, as he started toward the family room again.

“You’re welcome, little man,” I replied, just before he disappeared from sight.

The boys stayed in there until the others came home from work and then we sat down and had dinner together. Danny and Brandon had just finished asking Elliot about his day, when Brandon looked over at Danny and asked him a question.

“Have you planned anything for Valentine’s Day yet?” he wanted to know. Danny glanced at me quickly and I gave him a very slight nod.

“Yes, dear. I have,” Danny assured him. “We’ll be going out to celebrate on Saturday though, not Monday. I don’t want you to be yawning and all worn out the next day when you’re drilling in someone’s mouth.”

I heard some snickers from the others after Danny said this.

“Don’t worry, I’ve made plans too,” Dion told Trey. “We’ll be going out Saturday night as well.”

“Can I go too, Daddy?” Joshie asked next.

“No, honey. You’ll be spending the weekend with your Mommy,” Dion informed him, and Joshie beamed after hearing this.

Since I saw Jake staring at me, I knew he had the same question on his mind, so I decided to reassure him too.

“Same here,” I told him. “I guess great minds do think alike. We all made plans for Saturday, so our wonderful, strong, sexy lovers won’t be tired out when they go into work the next day.”

Jesse and Elliot clutched their throats and made gagging noises, but we ignored their antics.

“Great!” Jake exclaimed. “I’m glad church doesn’t start as early as my job. That way I can at least get a little more rest before I have to get up, since I know you’re not going to let me sleep through the Sunday service too.”

The boys all laughed at Jake’s comment.

I think everyone was feeling pretty good about the upcoming holiday now. Jesse and Elliot were also looking forward to it, because they understood they would be on their own for a few hours that evening, while the rest of us celebrated the day for lovers. I knew it didn’t bother them at all and Elliot had even asked his fathers if he could have Hayden come over and spend the night with him, while the rest of us were out. Danny said that was fine, as long as Hayden’s parents knew they would be home alone for a short time.

I was reading in the living room when Elliot came up to me and asked if we could talk. When I told him we could, he said he wanted to do it somewhere that his dads couldn’t hear what we were talking about. This comment made me very curious, so I agreed and followed Elliot up to his room.

“What’s up?” I asked, as he shut the door.

“I know Dad Brandon’s birthday is next month and I want you to help me plan something special for him,” he stated. Now, I understood his need for secrecy.

“Maybe you should ask your other father to help you with this, since I know he will probably want to plan something too,” I offered.

“I know he is, because that’s how I found out when Dad Brandon’s birthday is,” Elliot explained. “It’s just that I want to do something special for him too. I want to show him how much I appreciate everything he’s done for me.”

“Okay, I can understand that,” I told him. “So what do you need from me?”

“Well, I know that you plan most of the parties and things that go on around here, so I was hoping you could help me do this,” Elliot confessed. “I want this to be perfect, but I don’t want Dad Danny knowing what I’m doing either. I know you’ll help me and not give anything away to them.”

“That’s very true,” I agreed. “If you want this to be a secret, then I won’t tell another soul.”

“You’re going to have to help me do something else too,” Elliot told me next.

“Whatever you need,” I confirmed.

“You know my dad left me a lot of money when he died,” he stated, and I nodded in agreement. “I want to use some of that money to do this, so I’ll need you to help me get to it, so my dads won’t find out.”

“That will be a problem then,” I told him. “Only your fathers are authorized to get at that money for you, so I’d need one of them to help pull this off.”

“Damn, but I don’t want them to know about this until it happens,” Elliot whined.

He was looking very distressed at this news, so I tried to think of another option. Eventually, an idea came to me.

“Maybe I can help you with that after all,” I offered. “I’m willing to cover the costs for you until after the party, and then you can ask Danny to reimburse me from your account, if that’s what you want to do. Would that work for you?”

“Yes, that would be perfect,” he agreed. “I know Dad Danny wants to have a party for Dad Brandon on the weekend and he’s already swapped days at work so he has it off. Since Dad Brandon’s birthday is on Friday, I want to do something for him that night. Do you think that will be all right?”

“I think it would be perfect,” I told him.

“Will you tell me how old Dad Brandon is going to be?” he asked next.

“Certainly. He’ll be turning twenty-seven this year,” I confirmed, after doing the math in my head.

“Damn, I’m fourteen and my dad is only twenty-seven!” Elliot exclaimed. “He must have started fooling around really young then.” Elliot laughed after saying this.

“Yes, both of your fathers turn twenty-seven this year,” I advised him. “Danny’s birthday is May 6^th.”

“Wow, they were naughty AND precocious,” Elliot joked, and I could only agree with his statement.

For the next several minutes, Elliot told me what he wanted to do for Brandon and I offered suggestions and advice, whenever I thought something might be a problem or felt he had overlooked a detail. In the end, we planned to do nearly everything the way Elliot had envisioned and I knew this would not only surprise Brandon, but it would please him as well. This was one truly special kid.

“Well, it looks as if we’ll be partying every couple of weeks now,” I teased. “First Valentine’s Day and then Brandon’s birthday.”

Even though I tried to convince Elliot that his plans should just be for his two dads and him, he was insistent that all of us living together in the house should come too. Therefore, when helping him make his plans, he wanted to also include Dion, Trey, Joshie, Jesse, Jake and me. This meant he’d be spending a lot more of his money on the party than I considered prudent. Elliot dismissed my objection by insisting that he wanted to do this and he had more than enough money, so it wasn’t going to be a problem. The thing was, I knew this was true, but the money was supposed to be for him. However, since he was being so adamant, I stopped trying to convince him to change his mind.

There was still a little over a week left until Valentine’s Day, but I didn’t have a lot of other things to do, other than what I normally would. During this period, Jesse seemed kind of lost after he came home from school, because Elliot wasn’t here with us. Earlier in the week, Hayden had talked Elliot into staying after classes ended, so they could go to the school gym and start getting ready for tennis season. Elliot told me they’d start these sessions by stretching and then jogging for a while first, and then they’d practice serving against the wall in the gymnasium. They’d even volley some after doing that for a while, so they could work on strengthening their forehand and backhand shots. Once they’d finished, they’d shower and then he would call me to give them a ride home. I was glad to do this and happy that he’d found something to do with his best friend, even though Jesse was feeling a little left out.

After seeing Jesse moping around the house again, I decided to sit down and talk to him about this.

“Jesse, what’s troubling you?” I asked him.

“I just don’t know what to do,” he confessed. “Since last October, I’ve been spending most of my time doing everything with Elliot, so now I feel, I don’t know – kind of lost. I mean, he’s spending every afternoon practicing tennis with Hayden and soon they’ll be practicing and playing with the school team, so this is just gonna keep going.”

“Are you jealous of Hayden now?” I asked, point-blank.

“I’m not sure I’d call it jealous,” Jesse replied, “but I do miss having Elliot around, so I can do things with him.”

“Are we talking sex things?” I asked.

“Nah, we still have time to do that at night, if we feel like it,” Jesse confessed. “It’s just that we used to do a lot more than that together too, but now he spends most of his time with Hayden.”

“So you are jealous,” I announced.

“Not in a romantic way,” Jesse clarified, “but I guess I am a little jealous that he’s spending so much time with Hayden, instead of with me. I know I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do.”

“I guess I can understand how you’re feeling,” I confessed, “but Elliot has quite a few interests that you don’t share with him and Hayden does. I think that leaves you with two choices. You’ll either have to learn to like some of the other things that Elliot does or you have to find someone else to spend your time with when Elliot’s doing these other things. If you don’t think you could learn to enjoy doing the other things that Elliot likes, then maybe you should try to spend a little more time with one of your other friends, someone whom you have more in common with.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Jesse agreed. “I’m not sure I’d be able to enjoy everything that Elliot does, but I also know that even if I do, I probably wouldn’t be able to make the school teams that he’ll be on. I just don’t see any way to avoid this, so I guess I’m going to continue to miss spending time with him.”

“This may turn out to only be a seasonal problem,” I offered. “When summer comes, things may change again.”

“Maybe, but in this case seasonal means swimming season and tennis season,” Jesse suggested. “That’s almost the whole school year. I’m sure they’ll also be spending time playing more tennis together over the summer too, but at least I’ll be able to swim with them in our pool.”

“You may be right about that,” I agreed, “so it might be best that you have your own friends whom you can do things with when Elliot’s not available. I’m afraid you won’t be able to rely solely on Elliot for companionship, so it would be best if you had other options or you’ll end up driving yourself crazy.”

“Yeah, I know you’re right, Dad, and thanks,” Jesse agreed, before he took off to call one of his buddies.

It seems our little conversation must have helped him work out his problem, at least for now. Over the next few days, Jesse began hanging around with his two friends that had helped him with the Haunted House. Since both Jesse and Elliot were now busy and that problem had been handled, it was time for me to turn my attention back to Valentine’s Day. The holiday was nearly here, well at least the day we were going to celebrate it on.

On Friday, Hayden came home with Elliot. His parents had agreed to let him spend the weekend with us, not just the one night, but we soon discovered they had ulterior motives for doing this. According to Hayden, they were going to use this opportunity to spend some time alone and were going to New York City for a romantic weekend together. I’m glad this worked out for them too.

I was worried that Hayden and Elliot would end up ignoring Jesse and just spend their time together, but shortly after Hayden arrived, I noticed Elliot and Hayden were making sure this didn’t happen. You see, for the first time in quite a while, Elliot and Hayden hadn’t stayed after school and came directly here instead. As soon as they arrived, they asked Jesse if he wanted to go with them for a run. Jesse looked surprised when they asked, but happily agreed, and then I saw the three of them jogging up the street together.

While the boys were gone, Dion and Trey got Joshie ready and packed a few of his things in a small suitcase. Joshie came over to hug and kiss me before he left and seemed excited about doing this. He was going away for the weekend with his mother and maternal grandparents and his enthusiasm meant this wasn’t going to be a difficult or emotional parting. Once we’d said our good-byes, Dion and Trey put him in the car and drove way. As they were pulling out of the driveway, Joshie turned around and waved at me. Damn, I sure do love my little man.

When the other boys got back from their run, almost an hour later, they immediately went upstairs to shower and change. It was a good thing we have multiple bathrooms. Everyone was showering alone, because nothing else was going on between them, so this kept it from taking forever. Once they finished and had changed into clean clothes, they came back downstairs. About forty minutes later, we sat down together for dinner.

Once we were all at the table, Danny and Brandon were about to ask the boys what they’d been up to, when Hayden spoke first.

“I just want to thank all of you for letting Elliot invite me over for the weekend,” he began. “Not only do I like being here, but it also gave my parents a chance to get away. They know I don’t want them hiring someone to stay with me and I don’t like being shipped off to stay with another relative or one of their friends when they want to do stuff by themselves, but they won’t let me stay alone. I guess they’re worried I’m going to have a party or invite a girl over or something. That’s why I was glad Elliot invited me to come here this weekend, since I enjoy spending time with him. This way my mom and dad also get to spend the weekend alone and I didn’t end up someplace I don’t want to be. Thank you for that.”

“Hayden, you’re welcome to come here any time,” Brandon assured him. “We’re really happy that Elliot and you have hit it off so well and, as far as we’re concerned, you’re part of our family now too.”

I think Hayden was really pleased with Brandon’s response, so he went ahead and started to fill us in on what the three of them had been up to. He stopped after a couple of minutes, so Elliot could jump in and tell us more about what they’d done together. Then Elliot asked Jesse to tell us about one of the other things they’d done, once they got cleaned up after their jog. It was obvious Elliot was making certain that Jesse was being included in on this too.

After dinner, the boys decided they wanted to watch a movie and asked the rest of us to join them.

“Do you know what you’re going to watch?” I asked, since that would help me decide if Jake and I were interested in accepting their offer.

“Anything but a horror film,” Hayden announced, quite emphatically.

“Yeah, Hayden doesn’t really like scary movies,” Elliot agreed, without making Hayden look bad. “What if we watch ‘Inception’? That’s not scary. It’s a mystery and should be exciting.”

The others readily agreed with his suggestion, so we went in and watched the movie with them. Although I wasn’t initially familiar with this flick, it turned out to be a thought provoking film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Leonardo’s character had the ability to invade other peoples’ dreams and was hired to do something that was really complex and involved. In the end, his success depended on his ability to be able to tell what was part of the dream and what was real.

I think we all enjoyed watching this movie with the boys, but then we left them alone to watch another DVD, while we went to do something else. After all, I still had a few things left to finish, so I would be ready for my big date tomorrow tonight.

I didn’t hear a peep from the boys for the rest of the night. I’m not sure what they did after the second movie ended, but they were certainly quiet about doing it, whatever it was. However, that wasn’t true about them the following morning.

They made quite a racket when they came bouncing down the stairs, around 8:00. They were all hyper and talking about a bunch of different things, but they were louder than normal as they were doing this. Eventually, they took off and raced down the street again, as they took off to go running before they ate. Their sudden departure left the house peaceful for nearly an hour, until they came bursting back in to the house again. Unbelievably, they were more invigorated now, than when they’d left.

Excitedly, they recounted tales about their jog and told me they had been chased by a dog at one point, until its owner called it back. After telling them I was glad that none of them had been bitten, I suggested they should probably avoid that area in the future. After we finished our conversation, the boys disappeared so they could shower and change, but then they reappeared again, about twenty minutes later. This time, they were quick to inform me they were all starving and wanted something to eat.

After feeding the troops, I went to chat with Dion and Danny. I wanted to make certain that the things they had promised to take care of were all set for tonight. After they assured me they were, I went to spend some more time with Jake.

Shortly after noon, the doorbell rang and Elliot raced to see who was there. After I heard the door open, Elliot spoke briefly with someone, and then I heard the door shut again. A second later, we all heard Elliot call out.

“Dad Brandon, Papa Jake and Uncle Trey, you each just had something delivered for you.”

A few moments later, the three who had been summoned were heading into the foyer, where they found three vases, each containing six red roses and a few sprigs of baby’s breath. Each vase also had a silver ribbon tied around it, with a card attached, bearing one of their names. Once they realized what this was, they took the vase meant for them, opened the card and then thanked the individual who had sent it. It was really quite nice.

Once we’d received our hugs and kisses from our sweethearts for our thoughtfulness, possibly to Hayden’s shock and dismay, the three of them excused themselves for a minute, as they rushed to their rooms. When they returned, each one was carrying a rather large, heart-shaped box containing some very special chocolates. They handed the candy to us, along with a card, hug and a kiss. It was obvious that Danny, Dion and I weren’t the only ones who had been planning today together.

After opening our present, each of us enjoyed a chocolate and offered a piece of candy to our lovers. Then, I offered a chocolate to Jesse and Danny offered some candy to both Elliot and Hayden. Unfortunately for Dion, he wasn’t able to do this with Joshie, because Joshie wasn’t at home.

Now that we had enjoyed a sweet treat, Jake took his vase and set it on the dining room table, where he stated ‘it will serve as a lovely centerpiece for all of us to enjoy.’ Seeing this, Brandon took his vase into the family room and placed it on top of Elliot’s piano. He was careful to ensure it wouldn’t leave a water-ring by placing a coaster under it. Brandon thought it would be nice to share his roses with Elliot too, so he selected this very special place of honor for it.

After noticing the other two doing this, Trey took his vase back to the rec room and placed it on a small stand there. He felt by doing this, it would be where Joshie could see it and enjoy it as well, since he spends a great deal of his time on the basketball set. Trey felt by doing this, it was the place where the three of them could best enjoy the roses as a family, while they lasted.

Since we had already exchanged our small gifts and cards, we followed that up by spending some quality time with our lovers. Around 6:00, we stopped what we were doing and started to get ready. Before I did this though, I put dinner in the oven for the boys and made certain it would be finished before we left. I certainly didn’t want them to go hungry tonight, while the rest of us were having such a good time.

Once their dinner was cooking, I showered and changed into my suit. When I came out of my room, I called the boys and made certain they took the food out of the oven and placed it on the dining room table. Once they began eating, I rounded up the others and loaded them into the Suburban, so we could leave for the restaurant. Our special night was about to begin.