Timothy’s Terrible Prompt Stories - 10. Prompt 360 Why do I even bother? (I)

“Why do I even bother? It’s not as if we’re going out for dinner or anything.”

I turned away from my closet and threw myself on the bed. Jasper gave a chuckle from the armchair in the corner, and I scowled at him.

Jazz had stayed the night, because after we came home from dropping Eric off Friday afternoon, I was a nervous wreck. Being with my best friend distracted me from worrying, even if the price was a lot of teasing. We had gotten up at eight-thirty, had breakfast, and now I was trying to choose what to wear.

“Look, Nelson, dress as if you’re going to school, but choose some sexy underwear just in case.” Whoa, my best friend was getting bolder when it came to discussing guy-on-guy intimacy.

“Just in case what, Jazz?” I asked with mock innocence.

But I had to admit his advice was good. Particularly, since I hoped Eric would want to stay the night. Not that I expected us to have sex, but still…

“It’s amusing that a lot of the straight guys in school have more interest in fashion and clothes than you do, Nelson. Do you even own anything but jeans and T-shirts?” He got up and started to go through my clothes.

I shrugged. “My butt looks great in the brand of jeans I like to wear, so why change a winning strategy?”

I did have a few ‘dressy’ shirts, but Eric and I had agreed we just wanted to spend the day together, having a sort of casual date and getting to know each other better. No matter how much I wanted to impress my new boyfriend, I didn’t want to dress too sharply and make him feel awkward.

Jasper came over to the bed with my nicest black jeans and a dark gray T-shirt in one hand. In the other he held a gray hoodie with black and white geometric patterns. Hmm, not bad.

“OK, those will do.” I started chuckling, telling him, “Isn’t it supposed to be the gay BFF who picks out the straight guy’s wardrobe?”

"Nelson, I am shocked at you!" he said with mock defensiveness. "Playing into stereotypes, tsk, tsk. But if the straight guy has the better taste in clothes, he should help his buddy out. Right?"

"Shut up, Jazz," I said feeling really grateful. “Now get lost, please, so I can take a shower. It’s almost nine-thirty,” I took a deep breath.

We headed for the door and I added, “By the way, thanks. We’ll see you later.”

He grinned and slapped my back, then disappeared down the stairs. I took a long shower, and after blow-drying my hair, I checked my phone and saw I had received a text from Eric.

“My mom says no to me staying the night. “

Damn. Oh well, hopefully we’ll still have the whole day together. I finished dressing, grabbed my brush and a hair tie, and went downstairs to find my mom. She was still in the kitchen having coffee and watching the news.

“Mom, Eric needs a lift home tonight. Can you take him, after you get back from your theater event?”

She smiled at me. “No problem, but let me check the schedule to be sure. Do you know when he has to be home?”

I shook my head and waited while she got on her tablet and found the information needed.

“The play starts at three-thirty and finishes at six-thirty. The dinner is from seven to ten, add forty minutes to get back here, we should be able to get Eric home by eleven.”

“OK, thanks Mom, I’ll tell him.” I quickly wrote a text to Eric and went over to pour myself a glass of OJ. I offered my mom some coffee by holding up the pot, but she shook her head.

She eyed my hairbrush. “Did you want me to help with the tangles?”

I grinned and gave her the brush and the hair tie. Then I sat down in her seat, after she stood up. I love having my hair brushed and it calms me down. I guess it’s not very common for a guy, but what do I care?

My mom has the same thing about having her hair brushed, and my siblings and I soon discovered that the best way to persuade or distract her was playing with her hair. I can remember sitting on her lap as a small child, twining my fingers in her fine dark hair (so much like mine) and confessing to having broken her favorite tea mug. She just sighed and didn’t even scold me.

My oldest sister, who is now a successful stylist, used to babysit us by lining us up in front of the TV or with comic books to read. She would serve cookies and milk and ‘do’ our hair. I can remember her leaning over my shoulder and helping me read Spiderman while spiking up my hair with something sticky. It took ages to wash out the marshmallow cream, and after that our mom got her some proper hair styling mousse. Soon she had all her girlfriends, my two other sisters, and me, lined up to play hairdresser after school. Only our brother, who is the eldest, escaped by having a crew cut.

Anyway, since I started letting my hair grow long from age ten, I really enjoy having my mom brush it while we talk. And I guess she likes it too. She can get me to confess anything, when we have this quiet time together. It’s no coincidence that I told her about being gay during one such session, just before my thirteenth birthday. To her credit she just kept brushing my hair and said: “It’s OK. I thought you might be, Nelson. Thank you for trusting me.”

Today, I was getting jittery about Eric visiting. He means a lot to me, and I want our first date to go well. My mom probably knew, since her first question was:

“When is Eric coming over?”

“Well, hopefully Rob will drop him off around ten.”

“So we might meet him before we go?” Normally, this idea would annoy me, but the soothing strokes untangling my long dark hair made me pliant and open to suggestions.

“I thought you had to leave before ten?”

“We should, but your dad is still on the phone trying to deal with some last minute issues. However, we will have to go no later than ten past ten, or we will be late for our lunch meeting. If he’s not done talking, he’ll have to finish up in the car and let me drive.”

This made both of us laugh, since my dad hated letting anyone drive his car.

“I promise we’ll just say hello to Eric, no interrogation. But in any case, I’ll meet him tonight, won’t I?”

I sighed and nodded. I did want my parents to meet Eric, but I needed to have this day first to sort out our relationship and mutual feelings. Her fingers were gently affixing the hair tie in place to make a perfect ponytail for me. She always did such a great job, and today I really wanted everything to be perfect.

“Nelson, how come we haven’t heard about Eric before? I have the feeling you care about him a lot.”

I cringed a bit, but I guess the question was fair, since I‘d come home yesterday in an uncharacteristically exuberant mood and asked if my boyfriend could come over all day today, and maybe stay the night.

“Yeah, well, I’ve had my eye on him for several weeks, but I thought he was straight. It turned out he isn’t and that he likes me too.” Weeks, ha, almost since the beginning of the school year was more like it. God, how pathetic, but I probably should thank Rob for that stupid F-word question.

“That’s nice, how did you…” But I was saved from further questions by my dad rushing into the kitchen.

“OK, I’m done. Let’s go before he comes up with more objections.” He waved his cell phone to show he meant whoever had been on the phone.

My mom put down the brush and bent over to kiss my forehead.

“Have a nice day, Nelson. We’ll text you, when we leave town tonight. Remember, we trust you to behave responsibly.”

She checked her skirt and blouse for loose hairs and switched off the coffee machine before picking up her jacket and handbag. My dad waved at me and reminded me to lock up if we decided to go out, and they went through the back door to the garage. Once I heard the car drive off, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I ran upstairs to make sure my room was tidy and check myself in the mirror. I thought about changing my tight black briefs to something sexier, but decided not to tempt fate, and went back downstairs. I looked at my phone again, but there were no new messages from Eric, so I assumed all was well.

I waited by the front window and five minutes later Rob’s car stopped at the end of our drive. Eric jumped out. I opened the front door as he waved to his brother driving off. A huge smile formed on my face as the blond hunk strode towards me. He was wearing dark blue jeans which looked good on his long runner’s legs and a blue hoodie over a white T-shirt. We’d both gotten the casual date dress memo.

As Eric reached me, I backed up to let him into the house. His blue eyes were locked on mine with an intensity that had my heart thumping and my guts going all kinds of weird. He closed the door behind him and let his backpack and jacket drop to the floor. Before I could say anything, he engulfed me in a warm hug.

“I missed you, Nelson,” he mumbled into my hair.

“Me too, Eric. But we have the whole day together, now.” I took in the scent of my boyfriend and had to have stern words with my dick, which wanted to rise to the occasion.

“I thought I had screwed up with my parents, so they might not let me come over.” He tightened his grip and I could almost taste the anguish in his voice.

“But you’re here now, so all is well,” I patted his back, and he let go and laughed briefly. I had an idea about what the problem might be, and decided to deal with it.

“Did they worry because my parents aren’t here?” I gestured toward the door to the kitchen and he followed me out there.

“Ehm, no, I didn’t tell them that. But I think the fact that your mom will take me home tonight solved the matter.” He refused to meet my eyes as I set a glass and a bottle of OJ in front of him.

I sat down next to him and took his hand.

“Eric, I would have come over to your house, if this was an issue. In fact, that might have spared me a long lecture on ‘responsible behavior’ from my parents last night.”

His hand jerked and two wide blue eyes met mine. I bit my lip not to laugh at the expression on his face. My guess seemed to be correct.

“What… what did they say?” He looked torn between avid curiosity and I’d-rather-not-know reluctance.

“Basically, I had to give my word that I wouldn’t seduce you or take advantage of the fact that I’m two years older than you. I should respect you, and behave responsibly, and take things slow, and so on.”

Eric made a small noise which sounded suspiciously like a suppressed giggle.

“My… my dad had a go at me just before I left, telling me not to let you push me too fast. It was almost as embarrassing as Rob asking you to take me on a date.”

We stared at each other for a second before we broke down. We laughed until tears rolled down our faces and my stomach was aching. Somehow we ended up on the floor, sitting next to each other with our backs against the kitchen cabinets.

Eric held my hand firmly in his and I leaned my head on his shoulder. I might be older than him, and well able to defend myself, but the fact that he was half a head taller and built like an athlete made him feel like my protector, strong and manly. I liked that. It made us more equal, in spite of his age.

“Nelson…” The sound of my name spoken hesitantly, yet so sensually in Eric’s lovely tenor made my insides turn to mush; fuck, I was such a goner. “Nelson, can I kiss you?”