After Life - 1. Chapter 1 - The Last Night

Chapter 1 – The Last Night

Soccer practice had just ended. My duffle bag in hand, I started making my way to my car. Halfway there, my teammate and best friend, Sam, caught up with me.

“Hey, Paul!” he said breathing heavily.

“Hey. Damn you run fast,” I said, smiling.

“Yeah, I wanted to catch you before you drove off.”

“What’s up?” I asked, putting my duffle bag on the trunk of my vehicle.

“You know, I could ask you the same thing, Sam said. “You seemed off at practice tonight. Is everything ok?” Sam asked.

“Will and I got into a big fight before practice. He asked me if I wanted to go with him and his family to Florida for Spring Break. I had to tell him I couldn’t because coach said we were going to practice over the break.”

Sam nodded. “I imagine he didn’t take it well, then?”

I shook my head, feeling sad that I upset Will. “No, he did not take it too well. He said some things to me that were pretty hurtful. He accused me of choosing soccer over him and that I didn’t want to spend any time with him.”

“Damn, what a shame.” Sam shook his head.

“He should know that I think the world of him. I mean, I love him Sam and I spend as much time as I can between school and practice with him. I mean, we still see each other three or so times a week plus most weekends when we’re not away for a game. Plus, all I said was that I couldn’t promise on going to Florida with him. I told him I’d talk to the coach but that was all could promise.” I was now starting to get frustrated at the situation.

“So did you talk to the coach?”

“No, I have not. I don’t think the coach will let me go,” I said sadly.

“Dude, you are the star player of the team. I’m sure coach would let you take some time away. You’re already at the level he needs you to be and then some. The rest of us are playing catch-up compared to you.”, Sam smiled. He really was an awesome friend.

“Do you think I should talk to him?”

“Go for it. At least you tried if he says no.” I smiled at Sam and pulled him into a hug.

“You’re the best friend ever,” I said holding him tightly.

“Yeah yeah, I love you too, buddy,” Sam said, patting me on the back. “Now let go of me; I don’t want your gay to rub off on me.” Sam laughed.

I heartily laughed at his comment and playfully punched his chest. “Whatever, you so want me,” I said..

“Ha ha bro, you’re with Will,” he stated.

“True, but things can be arranged, of course,” I replied flirtatiously.

“Whatever, dude. You need to catch the coach before he leaves if you want a shot at going to Florida with your boyfriend,”

“Oh dude, you’re right. You want to go with me real quick to his office?”

“Nah, I gotta get home, its taco night. You know I don’t miss taco night at my house.” Right on queue his stomach growled.

“Dude, go home.,” I laughed. “I’ll call you after dinner. Come and hang out with me. It’s the weekend, after all.”

“Ok. Should I make preparations to stay the night?” Sam asked hopefully.

“Dude, you are so there,” I enthused. “See you in a while.”

He waived at me and walked off to his car.

I hurriedly put my duffle bag in my car, taking my cell phone out of one of the pockets as I did. I’d call mom after I was finished with the coach. I locked my car and turned to walk back toward the locker rooms. The coach’s office was tucked in a corner in the back. I walked to the office to find the he was still there. He looked like he was about to leave.

“Hey, Paul. I thought you’d be gone already,” he said, smiling at me.

“Sorry, Coach Myers, I know you’re ready to go, but I had a question if you don’t mind.”

“Fire away.”

“Well, Will and his family are going to Florida over Spring Break and have invited me along. I know we have practice and that’s important. However, I was wondering if I could go with them?”

The coach stood at his desk looking at me observantly, his eye brows furrowing as he did so.

“You know, Paul, you’re the best player we have on the team,” began Coach Myers.

“I know coach, I know, and I get that I’m needed at practice and what not,” I replied hastily.

“Paul,” he chuckled. “You didn’t let me finish. You’re the best player we have on the team. You know your stuff. I know I can count on you to deliver. So, as long as you promise to come back from Spring Break in top shape and ready to roll, then yes, you can skip practices and go on your trip with Will.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “Oh, that’s awesome coach! Thank you so much!”

“You’re welcome. Now, get outa here!, he said, chuckling.

“Alright, Coach, see you Monday after school!”

“See you then.”

I jogged to my car feeling so elated. Will was going to be thrilled. I couldn’t wait to share the news with him. I took my phone and called home.

“Hey mom, it’s me. I’m headed home. I should be there in five minutes.”

“Alright, sweetie. We’re having your favorite tonight, chicken casserole,” she said warmly. “Oh, Will is here, by the way. He’s having dinner with us.”

“Oh ok great. That’s a good thing because I have great news to share with him,” I said proudly.

“Oh? What’s that?”.

“Coach let me have Spring Break off so that I could go to Florida with Will and his family.”

“Oh honey, that’s wonderful! He’ll be so pleased! He told me you all had gotten into an argument about it.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t pretty. Anyway, I’m about to drive so I’ll see you in a few minutes, ok?”

“Drive safely, Paul,” mom said. I began to drove out of the parking lot. I put the windows down and blasted some Paramore on my speakers.

Tonight was shaping up to be awesome.

When I got home, I walked into the kitchen to the smell of the casserole baking. It was the best smell in the world.

“Hey guys!”

“Hey babe,” replied mom.

“Hey Paul,” said my dad.

“Paul!” yelled my little sister, Dana, as she ran up to me to give me a hug.

“Hey, kiddo,” I said holding her tightly.

“You stink!” she exclaimed, pushing me away, a disgusted look on her face that caused my mom and me to laugh.

“Well yeah, I’ve been at practice,” I replied, sticking my tongue out at her.

“Honey, dinner will be ready in a half hour. Why don’t you go up to your room and shower? Will is up stairs playing video games,” said mom from the stove as she stirred the gravy for the mashed potatoes.

“Ok sounds good, see you all in a bit,” I said.

I headed upstairs to my room. When I walked in, I saw will on the floor playing my Xbox. He seemed angry when he looked at me, but had seemed to have calmed down since the argument.

“Hey Will,” I said cheerfully.

“Hi Paul,” he replied flatly.

I walked into the study nook and stood watching him for a second.

“Hey, stop playing for a second. I’ve got something to tell you.”

“Well whatever it is will have to wait. I’m just about to destroy Bowser.” Will continued paying attention to his game.

“Will, come on,” I didn’t like that wasn’t paying me any attention.

“Nope, you can wait.”

I sighed and decided that the only way I would get his attention was by pulling off my shirt. Will absolutely loved my body, especially my chest. If that didn’t get his attention, then I didn’t know what would. I pulled off my shirt over my head and called his name again. When he saw me, his eyes got big and he paused his game. Will stood up and came right over to me and wrapped his arms around me, laying his head on my shoulder as he did so.

“I’m sorry Paul”, he said sadly. “I’m just upset about our argument. I’m treating you like shit. I should know how important soccer is to you.” I just got caught up in the idea of you going with me to Florida."

I sighed into his neck and pulled him tighter to me. “It’s ok, Will. I can understand why you were upset. Besides, I’m sure time on the beach together will do us some good.”

“Huh? Time on the beach?” Will asked me quizzically.

“Yeah,” I smiled. “It will be so awesome to spend time with you in the sand,” I said, hoping he’d get the message. After a moment, he pulled me in for a nice kiss..

“Oh my God!” he exclaimed. “How did you pull it off with the coach?” he asked, amazed at the news.

“Oh I have my ways.”

Will pulled me in for another kiss. This time, it was more sensual. Within no time, we were making out; I developed quite a nice hard on that threatened to burst the fabric of my gym shorts. Using my upper body strength, I picked Will up and carried him over to my bed and pushed him down. I had to move quickly since I still needed to shower.

I unbuttoned and unzipped his shorts while kissing him fervently. Then in one swift movement, I got Will out of his boxers, exposing his hard cock. At that moment I stopped kissing him and looked down at it with a sly grin on my face. Will began to say something to me, however, before he could even finish his sentence, I dove down onto his cock began blowing him.

It took no time at all before Will was blasting his load into my mouth. When he was finished and panting, I got up from the bed and stripped naked, exposing my nicely trimmed and firm ass.

“You are so awful, showing me that right after I’ve just came,” he said, still panting.

“Well, I need to shower and you’re in my room naked form the waist down,” I replied playfully and turning around so that he could see my hard cock.

“You need to take care of that,” he said looking at my cock.

“Shower with me and you can do it,” I replied.

~*~*~*

We finished dinner and went back up to my room to play video games. I called Sam and checked that he was still coming over. “Yeah, we’ve just finished taco night, so I’ll be over in a few minutes,” he said.

“Sam is coming?” asked Will as we continued our video game.

“Yes. He’s staying over tonight,” I said as I shot Will’s character in the face.

“Damn you,” he replied in response to being shot. “It’ll be fun to hang out, the three of us.”

“Yes it will.”

Will and I continued playing our game, having a lot of fun and laughing as we did. It was the simple things with Will I enjoyed. Just being with him made my life feel so complete and fulfilling. Even though we were both young, being only 18, I knew that Will was the one and only for me. We had already decided to go to the same college together and were going to be sharing a dorm room as well. I was so stoked to go to college with him. He major was going to be music, while mine was Business Administration.

“Paul, Sam’s here!”

“Ok mom, we’ll be right down,” I called back. “Let’s go get him,” I said to Will, pausing the game as I did so.

We rushed down stairs to greet our friend. We found him sitting on the floor in the den with Dana, who was enthusiastically showing him a drawing of a pretty pink princess and her royal family that she drew for her art class. “And this one is the princess’ evil sister. Her name is Matilda and she’s after the princess’ boyfriend who is called Prince Keith. It’s scandalous!”

“Hey you two,” I said smiling as Will and I walked in. Sam looked up at us and look relieved. Dana, cute girl she was, had developed a crush on Sam since he was always over at our house.

“Hey Paul! Will. Dana here was just showing me her artwork. He patting her on the back as she looked at him with a cute smile.

“Yeah, she’s been showing off her royal family all week. It’s all she talks about anymore. It’s getting annoying,” I said with a chuckle, which earned me a disapproving look from Dana.

“You’re just jealous because I draw better than you,” she retorted.

“Ah yeah you’re so right. You’ve one-upped me, kiddo. I winked at Will and Sam.

“So Sam, wanna come up with us, we’re playing Halo.”

“Sure thing, let’s go so I can kick your behinds,” said Sam, who had quickly gotten up off of the floor.

“Nuh uh,” said Dana loudly. “It’s game night, Paul, remember? You can’t play video games until game night is over,” said Dana, with an air of authority in her voice.

“Well, yeah, Dana, it is game night; Halo is a game too,” I replied sarcastically.

Dana shot me a dirty look.

“No, you know what I mean. It’s game night as in board games,” she said with a sly grin on her face.

At this point mom walked in smiling and lightly shaking her head at Dana. “Paul, how about you three play one round of Yahtzee with us and then you all can go up and play video games? Is that fair?” she asked, giving me the look that said all too well that I better agree.

I looked at Sam and Will for silent approval.

“Sure mom, that sounds great.” I replied.

“Excellent,” she responded smiling and ruffling my hair. “Howard!” she called after my dad. “Come on, we’re playing Yahtzee!”

“Alright Carol, be there in a second,” called back my dad from his office.

All of us went into the kitchen and sat down at the table while mom went to go get the game from the closet. Dad came in and joined us as we waited for mom to come back.

“Hey Sam, glad you could join us for game night,” he said with a slight hint of sarcasm causing me and Will to chuckle.

“Oh, sure thing, Mr. Goodman; always happy to hang out with you guys,” replied Sam politely, which caused me and Will to chuckle even more, since Sam was being so proper.

“Sam,” my dad began. “You’ve been coming to this family’s house for 15 years. You can relax a bit and call me Howard,” dad said, patting Sam on the back, causing him to blush slightly.

“Oh ok Mr. umm, I mean, Howard,” he replied sheepishly.

“Ok guys!” said my mom. “Who’s ready for some Yahtzee?”

“Oh me me me me!” exclaimed Dana.

“Alright guys, let’s play,” said mom as she sat the game on the table and sat down.

~*~*~*

We had a pretty fun night playing Yahtzee. Everyone, including myself, was having a great time. Mom was kicking our butts at the game. She was a self-proclaimed ‘Yahtzee expert’.

“Huh HA! I still got it!” she said as she yelled Yahtzee for the third time tonight.

“You never cease to amaze me, dear,” said dad lovingly to mom.

“Thank you, baby. Remember how we used to play Yahtzee when we were first married?” she asked him, with a hint of flirtatiousness in her voice, causing dad to blush.

“How could I forget, Carol,” he replied.

“How did you used to play Yahtzee Mrs. Goodman?” asked Will, genuinely curious.

“Oh, God, I don’t even want to know,” I said, feigning embarrassment. Mom laughed and continued.

“Well, when Howard and I were first married, we played so much Yatzhee. The rule we had was whoever would roll a bad group of dice, would remove an article of clothing,” explained my mom.

“Oh mom! No one needs to hear this!” I exclaimed.

“Eww mom, gross!” shouted Dana.

“Carol, that’s enough. Just don’t tell them what happened to whoever lost the game!” exclaimed my dad laughing and very red in the face.

“Oh now THAT is a story!” laughed my mom. “Whoever lost the game had to remove all of their clothes!”

“Oh my God, I’m not even hearing this,” I said, mortified. Will was laughing hysterically by this point and Sam was just sitting there looking bewildered.

“Well, son, to put it bluntly, your dad lost a game one night and was pretty upset. Needless to say, I did what I could to make your dad feel better about losing,” she said, laughing at the memory.

“Oh God mom!” I replied laughing and feeling embarrassed at the same time.

“That’s how you got made,” she said to me, causing Will to lose control of his laughter. Even Sam was trying so hard not to burst out in a fit. Dana, at this point, was finished.

“OK, I’m going to my room to watch My Little Pony,” she said, getting up out of her chair and hastily leaving the kitchen.

“Ok Carol, game night is over now,” said my dad.

Will, Sam, and I took the opportunity to get up to head up to my room.

“You guys go on up, I’ll be there in just a sec,” I said to Sam and Will.

“Ok,” replied Sam.

I waited for them to go upstairs before turning my mom.

“Mom,”

“Yes, sweetie?” she asked me standing at the table stopping her chore of picking up the board game and our cups to give me her attention.

“I love you so much,” I said, giving her a tight hug. “Thanks for an awesome evening.”

“Oh baby, I love you so much too. Don’t you ever forget that,” she said taking my face into her soft hands and looking at me intently. My dad got up from his chair and gave me a hug as well.

“I love you too, son,” he said.

“Thanks, dad,” I replied.

I smiled at both of them and left the kitchen to go upstairs. As I left I heard my dad say to my mom “Looks like I lost the game tonight.”

I smiled and shook my head. I made my way up the stairs join Will and Sam in an intense game of Halo.

~*~*~*

We played Halo all night long. It was nearly 2 a.m. when Will finally gave up and said he needed to go home.

“I’ll walk you out,” I said getting up to join Will. “I’ll be back in a few.” Sam nodded and continued.

I followed Will out to his car. He put his things in the backseat and shut the door. At that moment, I pinned him against the frame of his car and started making out with him. He moaned his approval. We made out for what seemed like eternity, but it was likely only just a couple minutes. When we finished Will sighed contentedly as I hugged him.

“God, I love you,” he said.

“I love you too. I can’t wait to go to Florida with you. I think, this trip is going to be so special for us.”

“Why do you say that?”.

“I think,” I began, trying to get the words together. “I think I’m ready to lose my cherry,” I said honestly. Will just looked at me intently for a moment before nodding.

I leaned in for a kiss and savored the feeling of his mouth against mine.

“Oh God, I’m ready too,” said Will.

“I’m so happy you feel the same way.”

“Yeah, I’m glad you feel the same way too. I was actually going to bring this up at some point before the trip,” replied Will.

“Oh you were?” I asked flirtatiously before going in for yet, another kiss. We kissed for another moment or two before Will finally motioned that it was time for him to leave.

“I gotta go home now, baby. I’ll text you in the morning, ok?”

“Ok. I look forward to it.” I hugged him tightly.

“Goodnight, Will.”.

“Goodnight, Paul,” he whispered back.

“I love you so damn much.”

“I love you too.”

Will got into his car and drove off. I stood there on the driveway until his tail lights were out of sight. Then I headed back into my room. When I got there, I found Sam fast asleep on my floor. I chuckled and gently shook him.

“Sam, get off the floor. You’ll be sore,” I told him.

“Oh damn” he said groggily before getting up. “Can I stay in here with you tonight?”.

I shrugged. I did not see any issue with that. “Um, sure Sam, that’s cool. You know I only sleep in boxers right?”

Sam nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m the same way. It’s cool.”

We stripped down to our boxers and got into bed. We laid there just staring up at the darkness above us before Sam spoke again.

“Paul, this is kinda a weird question, but can we cuddle? I feel like I want to be held.”

I was a little confused at Sam and what he was saying, but he sounded upset so I obliged him.

“Of course we can. You’re my best friend Sam, you know I don’t mind,”

“Ok.”

I spooned up behind him and put my hands around him on his chest. Sam was very nicely built. I allowed my hands to gently rub his chest. He felt nice. I liked rubbing his chest. I was worried that I would become sexually aroused at this situation, however, I was pleased to see that I didn’t.

“Paul?” Sam asked a few minutes later.

“Yeah?”

“I need to tell you something and it’s kinda hard to say.”

I turned him so that he was facing me.

“What’s up with you?” I asked.

Sam sighed and then began to speak.

“Paul, I’ve liked you for a while now. Um, I… I feel really bad because you’re my best friend and you’re with Will.

I thought about what he saying. I thought about Sam and our friendship. I wasn’t freaked out about what he just said. Honestly, I was happy about this new development.

“Aww, Samuel. That’s so sweet.”.

“I thought you’d be mad at me,” he said quietly.

“No, I’m not mad at you. I’m actually rather happy that you like me. I mean, if I wasn’t with Will and totally into him, I’d totally give you a proper chance.”

“Really? He asked, amazed at my response. “You’d do that?”

“Well, yeah. I um, I like you in that way also, but I can’t cheat on Will.

‘Wow, really? You like me like that, too?”

“I think I always have, but I was too scared to say anything because I thought you were straight. So when Will came along, I just pushed those thoughts about you out of my head for a while.”

“Only for a while?” he asked with a hint of playfulness.”

“Yeah for a while, until today. After my fight with Will, my feelings for you came to the surface. I was trying to avoid you after practice because I knew you’d walk me to the car. I was worried that if I told you about the fight and I’d gotten upset at Will, I would had then told how you how I felt,” I admitted.

“Ok, but I did catch you and you told me about the fight. So why didn’t you do anything then?” he asked.

“It just wasn’t the right time.”

“Wow,” he said.

“So, are we still cool?” I asked him, rubbing his back.

“Yes. You’re my best friend, after all,” replied Sam.

“Good,” I said, smiling.

“Paul, one more thing.”

“Go for it.”

“May I please have a kiss?”

I leaned in and planted my lips softly to Sam’s rubbing his back as I did so. The kiss only lasted a few seconds, but it was electric in a way that was different between me and Will.

“There you go,” I said after the kiss.

“Wow, that was awesome,” said Sam, panting slightly.

“I’m glad you liked it,” I replied.

I pulled away from Sam and closed my eyes. Sam sighed and turned over on his side.

“Goodnight, Sam. I do love you. You know that right? You’re the most important person to me,” I said honestly.

“Goodnight, Paul. I love you too. You’re awesome.”

“Heh, I know,” I chuckled earning a chuckle from Sam as well.

Soon after that, we both dosed off into sleep. I began to dream about mom, my family, and my friends. I even dreamed a bit about Will and our trip to Florida. However, the most vivid dream was about Sam.

They were the happiest of dreams.

~*~*~*

I woke up to a thudding feeling in my chest that jolted me. I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe. I looked over at the bedside clock and saw that it was 4 a.m. I was able to catch my breath for a moment and sat up, breathing heavily. I felt weird; something was definitely wrong with me. I didn’t know what it was. Carefully, I slid my legs out of bed and rested my feet on the floor. I needed to stand, but felt like if I did, I’d fall.

Eventually, I gathered enough strength to put weight on my feet to stand. Pushing myself up with my legs, I then tried to walk. The room suddenly began to spin and once again, I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The sensation was too great. Suddenly, a sharp piercing pain shot through my chest. With the force of the pain and the inability to breathe, I couldn’t even call for Sam. As if a huge weight pushed me down, I then collapsed to the floor. I landed first on my knees and then onto my face with a noticeable ‘thump.’

I laid there with my eyes still open, struggling to breathe with the piercing pain. All I could see was the carpet. My last thought was that this couldn’t be good. I hoped my mom wouldn’t be devastated. As quickly as my thought finished, the vision of the carpet faded into darkness. I could still feel myself on the floor, but couldn’t see and still couldn’t breathe. Worse than not being able to breathe was that I couldn’t feel my pulse.

Without any warning, I had the sensation of being dragged upwards from my body. I saw myself lying still on the floor and Sam still asleep in my bed. Then suddenly, a bright light washed over me.

Everything around me was gone.

Just gone.

~*~*~*