Shepherd's Crook - 11. Chapter 11

Gibby starred at Tanner. “W-w-what do you mean, you think you’re dead?” His pale brown eyes growing wider with disbelief. “You can’t be dead. You’re freaking standing in the middle of my bedroom. Dead guys don’t--”

Tanner shook his head and grinned, “Have you ever walked right through a live guy before? Jeez, Gibby, how much more proof do you need?”

When Tanner took a step closer, Gibby stumbled backwards, still clutching the towel at his groin.

“What are you doing?” Gibby cautiously watched Tanner from across his bedroom.

Holding up his hand as he approached, Tanner waited for Gibby to mirror him. They stood there face to face and hand to hand. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” Tanner gave him a gentle smile, making Gibby feel more comfortable as Tanner touched the tips of their fingers together.

An icy blast rippled through Gibby’s fingers sending tingles down his arm. He gasped at the sensation, but he didn’t jerk away. Wiggling his fingers, they passed through the misty vapors that should have been Tanner’s solid flesh.

Gibby muttered, “I can’t believe you’re really dead.”

Tanner cocked his head and winked at Gibby, “I know…me neither.”

“What on earth happened to you?” Gibby never tried to peer at the accident blocked by the emergency vehicles, so he had no idea what circumstances had taken Tanner’s life.

Staring into Gibby’s eyes, Tanner pressed his hand forward until both of them were occupying the same space, loving the soft sounds of Gibby gasping from the tingles coursing through his body.

“The last thing I remember is heading home after practice. Then I saw you,” Tanner’s voice was thick with lust.

Suddenly breaking the contact, Tanner circled Gibby standing practically naked in his bedroom. Embarrassed at the amount of exposed skin, Gibby wanted to turn with him, only keeping his unmarked chest visible to Tanner’s probing eyes, but he didn’t. He stood frozen in place as Tanner walked around him, letting the boy’s bright blue eyes graze over every inch of Gibby’s flesh.

The scars that started on the back of Gibby’s neck spread down his back and over both of his arms. They dropped dangerously low to the tops of his round butt before starting again on his thighs and calves.

Tanner let out a low whistle, bringing a flush of red to Gibby’s face. He’d never let anyone see him like this before. Grabbing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt off of the bed, Gibby stomped towards the bathroom door. He shot a look over his shoulder, “Casper, stay,” he growled at the ghost boy.

Laughter rumbled Tanner’s chest. He pulled his hands under his chin, mimicking paws, and panted like a dog, making Gibby smile.

“Cheeky bastard,” Gibby muttered as he closed the door for some privacy to change out of the wet towel and into some dry clothes.

Opening the bathroom door, Gibby saw Tanner leaning over an open binder on the desk. He cringed. He would have never left it out in the open if he knew someone would ever see it.

“So, you’re really going to the Olympics?” Tanner sounded impressed.

“No,” Gibby’s short reply had Tanner glancing back at him.

“But it says here, how great you are, that you’re a sure choice for the--”

“I missed Nationals! They were scouting me for the Olympic tryouts, but I missed it, okay, years of training and hard work, all for nothing. Everything went right down the fucking drain.” A mixture of anger and sadness darkened Gibby’s eyes.

“Gibby--”

“Don’t,” Gibby snapped before taking in a long deep breath in through his nose. He closed his eyes, held it for a few seconds and then blew the air across his lips in a slow calming process.

“I’m sorry, Tanner,” Giving him a weak smile, “I haven’t talked about the fire since it happened.”

Walking over to the binder, Gibby flipped through the pages. It was filled with photos and newspaper clippings documenting Gibby’s swimming career. “My coach made this to try and cheer me up, but instead… it just reminded me of everything that I’d lost.”

Tanner stood there watching him, not knowing what to do or say.

Gibby glanced at the newspaper article that Tanner had noticed and struggled to hold back his tears. “The fire happened almost a week after they printed this article, but instead of impressing the Olympic Coaches, I was lying in a hospital bed… in a coma.”

****

“Are you crazy?” Gibby laughed, “There’s no way that Skyrim is better than Assassin’s Creed.” Gibby’s voice could be heard from where his father hesitated halfway up the staircase.

Jonathan paused and listened. He stared up at the doorway, still slightly ajar as he overheard his son’s side of the conversation. Gibby hadn’t talked to any of his friends from back home since before the move. He wanted to talk to him about the accident tonight, since the boy who had been killed was one of his new classmates, but it sounded like Gibby was on the phone.

“No…well then, what’s your all-time favorite…really? I would never have guessed that…” Jonathan shook his head as he quietly backed down the stairs. Gibby was having a good time talking to his new friend, so the bad news could wait until tomorrow.

Just before Jonathan shut the door to his bedroom, he heard music join his son’s conversation and laughter upstairs.

“Soooo…” Gibby’s eyes lingered on Tanner sitting cross legged in the middle of his bedroom floor. It had been so long since he felt relaxed around someone.

“Soooo…” Tanner raised a blond eyebrow. They’d talked about everything from music to video games, staying on safe subjects, skirting the obvious sexual tension between them.

“Have you come out to your dad yet?” Tanner blurted out to Gibby’s surprise.

“I didn’t really have to,” Gibby smiled softly, remembering the conversation with his parents years ago. “When my second grade teacher told all of us to find a partner for a class assignment, Kristen Greenfield and I both wanted to be Stevie Johnson’s partner. She stomped her foot and announced that she was going to marry Stevie one day, so she should be his partner, at which I laughed and said not if I marry him first.”

Tanner laughed, “You didn’t.”

Gibby nodded his head and blushed, “I did, so you can understand how well that went over. My teacher and the principal both freaked out, but mom and dad were really cool with it. They sat down and talked to me. They told me that they didn’t care who I married when I grew up as long as I was happy.”

Tanner’s smile quickly faded. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Not anymore.” Gibby’s voice was barely a whisper.

“But you’ve had boyfriends before, right?” Tanner chewed at his lower lip as he twisted his fingers together.

“What about you? Have you come out to your family?” Gibby was uncomfortable and needed to shift the questions away from himself. By the look on Tanner’s face, he could have guessed the answer before he shook his blond head, no.

“I wanted to tell my parents and I know that they would’ve been okay with it, but I never got the chance to come out to them.”

A sad sigh lingered on Gibby’s lips. “Oh Tanner, I’m sorry--”

“Hey, don’t feel sorry for me.” Tanner suddenly stared at the floor before a crooked smile turned up the edge of his lips. “It could have been worse; I could’ve died a virgin,” Tanner teased.

Gibby was shocked by his revelation. “R-r-really,” he stammered thinking about Tanner having sex.

Tanner’s face broke into a huge grin as he nodded his blond head.

“Please tell me that it was with the Butler Twins,” Gibby squealed, “A double stuffed Oreo cookie with those two sexy bodies would be so fucking hot.”

Rolling onto his side, Tanner laughed and slapped his hand against the floor.

“Oh my god, no,” Tanner gasped between his fits of laughter. “Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t turn either of them down if they wanted to do a little experimenting, but those two boys are definitely straight.”

“Too bad,” Gibby waggled an eyebrow, bringing another round of laughter from Tanner.

“Yeah, they make nice eye-candy, but switch-hitters they are not.”

“Well then, who was it? Was it Ethan or someone else? Is there some hidden cock club around here on the down low, because I’m pretty sure the folks of Shepherd’s Crook wouldn’t allow any gay bars?” Gibby fidgeted, waiting to know who Tanner had lost his virginity to.

“Believe me, it was nothing that exciting with Amanda Grady--”

“What?” Gibby shouted. His brown eyes bulged from their sockets. “You had sex with fucking Satan?”

“Come on, Gibby, Amanda’s not that bad.” Tanner tried to defend the evil girl.

“Yes, she is. That bitch is Satan in a mini-skirt.”

Tanner rubbed his fingers over his face trying to hide his embarrassment as he explained. “Amanda might be a spoiled brat, but she’s really not that bad. We dated our freshman year and one night at a party in Bethany’s basement, she and I did it. It was the first time for both of us. Everyone in our group expected that we would be high school sweethearts, and then prom king and queen and one day get married,”

Gibby started making gagging noises as if he was going to throw up. Tanner shook his head and continued to describe what happened.

“But the summer of sophomore year everything changed. I’d always looked at guys, but that summer I started to feel the attraction to them more than I ever did with any girl. Ethan had spent his summer away at camp and when he came back he had changed. He’d grown and matured and was drop-dead gorgeous. Just when I was going to break-up with Amanda and confess everything to Ethan, she dumped me for him. How ironic. He and I had always been friends so settling for being his best friend was good enough for me.”

Watching Tanner force a smile to his face only showed that he had plenty of practice hiding his pain. “You never told him?” Gibby asked.

“Nope, and like you said, Shepherd’s Crook isn’t a hot bed of cock clubs so I researched universities that were supportive and active in the gay community before I decided to send in my applications.” Tanner admitted. “Principal Grady has even agreed to write me a letter of recommendation to whichever school I decide to go to.”

They both sat there staring at each other. Tanner had opened up and bared his soul; the least Gibby could do was the same.

Rushing before he lost his nerve, Gibby confessed to Tanner, “I know what it feels like to have to hide your feelings…after the fire…while I was laying in the hospital…I found out that my boyfriend was cheating on me with my best friend.” Just as the painful words tumbled past Gibby’s lips, without a word, Tanner vanished into a thick white vapor.

Gibby stared at the now empty spot in disbelief. “Well, I didn’t expect that to happen,” Gibby muttered. It had taken months to finally confide his heartbreak to someone and as soon as he did, Tanner disappeared.

Climb out from under my bed and look around. Well, what do you think?  Love to hear your thoughts on how this new development is going to change Gibby and Tanner's budding relationship.  Thanks for all of your encouragement.