The Cockney Canuck - 36. Chapter 36 The Sleepover

The next morning, I fell out of bed, quite literally. I had never done this before, but for some reason, I guess I must have just rolled right off the side, because I woke up on my back on the floor, still wrapped in the duvet. I couldn’t remember if I had been dreaming or not and I couldn’t remember actually falling, but when I hit the floor it was loud enough to wake Daniel, who, after realizing what had happened, sat up in bed laughing. Seconds later, after a light tap on the door, we were joined by Nathan, who looked down at me, with a slightly bemused expression. When Daniel explained to him what had happened they both fell about laughing.

It was daylight and although the blinds covering the three windows were closed, blocking out most of the early morning sunlight, I was still able to get a good view of him. He was dressed in the same tight, designer ‘Y’ fronts and vest and looked even sexier in the semi-darkened room, than he had done he night before. From my position on the floor, I found myself staring at his cute, rounded toes and I think that he noticed me too, but it didn’t really matter anymore.

Embarrassed by my unfortunate mishap, I tried to unravel myself from the duvet with the intention of going back to bed. I was still tired and the sight of him, brought back into focus our conversation of the previous night.

“Here,” he said, leaning over and offering me his hand. I was having some difficulty freeing my legs, but I didn’t really need anyone’s help, especially as I could see that he was trying hard not to continue laughing. I frowned, but grabbed his hand, reluctantly accepting his help and allowing him to pull me to my feet. His touch was soft and warm, and he gave my hand a gentle squeeze before letting go; another cryptic message for me to decipher. Standing beside him, wearing just my pyjama bottoms; our eyes met briefly and he offered me a sympathetic smile that went beyond my little tumble from the bed. Then, almost inevitably, I followed his eyes down to my chest and his blatant stare was noticed by Daniel, who found it funny. He jibed his friend and tried to reassure me.

“Ignore him dude, he’s a freak,” said Daniel, “he gets excited by the sight of bare skin.” He started to laugh, but Nathan frowned at his best friend. I knew that Daniel was only joking, but I wasn’t comfortable with his use of the word ‘freak’. I had been given a quick preview of Nathan’s character just a few hours before and there was nothing even remotely freaky about the boy, if anyone was a freak, I thought that it was probably me.

“Nothing that I haven’t seen before,” said Nathan, and he was right of course. I had allowed him countless views of my body over the weekend, but now, after he had turned me down, I was starting to feel a little shy in front of his still eager gaze. I watched as he strolled over to the messy side of the room and picked up a pair of Daniel’s discarded boxer shorts.

“Oh my god, don’t tell me that you’re still wearing these things,” he said, holding them at arm’s length and screwing up his face, as if they were truly disgusting.

“You love me in them,” said Daniel.

“Ha, listen to you,” said Nathan, as he casually spun the shorts with his hand and let them fly across the room, stripper style. “Well, looks like you got a bit of competition now. You’re not the only piece of eye candy around here.” Nathan spun his head towards me and gave me a wink that Daniel couldn’t see, then jumped onto the bottom of his friend’s bed, trapping his legs underneath.

“Ah, get off me, pervert,” said Daniel, freeing his legs and trying to kick him off.

“He likes it really,” said Nathan, fighting back and looking towards me again with another cute smile. I looked away, desperately trying to ignore their little games, if that’s what they were. I was beginning to think otherwise and the conversation had my groin tingling and my penis rapidly growing under the unrestricted, loose cloth of my pyjama bottoms. I had to move, before it became a full on boner and visible to both boys. Under the circumstances, nothing would have been more embarrassing, so I threw my duvet back onto the bed and scrambled under it, pulling it up to my neck. Instinctively, my right hand; now hidden from view, dropped down inside the loose waistband of my well-worn flannel bottoms and gripped my penis. A familiar, warm sensation rapidly flowed from my groin, making my body tingle with excitement as I watched them fooling around, oblivious to the effect that their antics were having upon me. After no more than half a dozen gentle, but well-practiced touches, I had to let go as I found myself balancing on the brink of an orgasm. I was scared that even the slightest touch would trigger a release, that I desperately needed, but wasn’t sure if I would be able to hide. It was uncanny, to think that nothing that Fran had done to me the previous night in the cinema, had got me anywhere near as excited.

“Why don’t you get in bed with Robbie instead,” said Daniel, who was now holding Nathan’s arms and wrestling with him. “You know you want to.”

I froze under the duvet, and inevitably, once again my thumb and forefinger grasped the shaft of my swollen penis. Daniel wasn’t supposed to say things like that, even in jest. It made my dick twitch excitedly, but Nathan seemed un-fazed.

“I would, but he’s already taken,” he said. He didn’t look at me when he said that, but he didn’t need to either, it was crystal clear that he wasn’t joking and those words speared me straight through the heart. It summed up our night time conversation perfectly, as if to let me know that his position hadn’t changed.

‘If only he knew what he was doing to me, how he was making me feel. I need to talk to him again and try to explain my situation. How can he act like this and still turn me down’?

“Okay, I don’t mind,” said Daniel, letting go of his friend and falling back onto the bed, before rolling onto his front. “You can poke me in the ass, if you really want to.”

I lifted my head, unable to continue pretending that I wasn’t interested. Daniel’s face was buried in his pillow and his arm and leg were hanging off the side of the bed. He was dressed as I was, in only a pair of pyjama bottoms and lying on top of the duvet.

“You’re disgusting,” said Nathan, making a hasty retreat and jumping from the bed.

“Come on what are you waiting for, you know you want to,” said Daniel.

“Screw yourself, gay boy,” said Nathan, before turning to give Daniel a firm slap across his buttocks.

“Ah, that hurt,” said Daniel.

“If you think that hurts then you should be careful what you ask for,” said Nathan and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “Now you’ve woken Robbie up, maybe he’ll poke you up the ass.”

“I’m not into incest,” said Daniel, laughing getting back under his duvet.

I was shocked, Nathan’s presence certainly brought Daniel out of his shell. He had never joked that way with me and I found the whole thing extremely erotic as I moved my forefinger across the tip of my glans to smear my leaking cum, trying to keep it from my pyjamas.

I dragged the covers over my head, pretending to be sleepy and not interested in their banter, but nothing could have been further from the truth. I was wide awake, my mind racing at a million miles an hour, trying to decipher every word that was said, as if it were in code, with a dozen different meanings. There was certainly a lot going on in that room, that morning and I wasn’t sure if any of us actually understood it all.

I still wasn’t convinced that there wasn’t something going on between the two friends, as once again they started to get very close and touchy. Daniel had relented, allowing Nathan half of his bed and they sat up next to each other, crossed legged, whispering and giggling like a couple of little school girls. They were close friends, admittedly, but there were also three empty chairs in the room.

They were obviously trying to let me sleep, as if that was ever going to be an option and I strained my ears trying to listen, but it was impossible to hear them clearly. At least their tone was upbeat and lively, which was a relief. When I had gone to bed the night before, Nathan was in tears and the thought of it, had kept me awake for ages, tormenting my already battered conscience.

Eventually, after struggling with an erection that I was unable to keep my hands from touching and squeezing, I decided to make a quick dash for the bathroom, where I could shower and jerk off, without being discovered. The sight of Nathan parading around the bedroom in his undercrackers, was all the inspiration that I needed to get started, but when my mind conjured up images of him poking his best friend in the ass, as he had joked, I was soon coating the walls of the shower. If only Fran’s real life attempts in the cinema could have been as effective, as my imaginary, all boy orgy. Afterwards, came the inevitable shame and self-questioning, I was beginning to believe that I was truly depraved for indulging in such fantasies.

‘Daniel’s my brother, I thought I was over that shit’.

After drying off, I headed nervously back to the bedroom with a towel wrapped around my waist, but with clean briefs on underneath as insurance. The sofa bed where Nathan had slept was still empty and unmade, meaning that he was still in our room with Daniel and I could hear the sound of muffled laughter as I approached the open door. It was still early, too early even for Amy to be downstairs and I had every intention of jumping straight back into bed. I would have done just that too, had Nathan not already taken my place. He wasn’t in my bed, but sitting on top of it and engaged in a vociferous game of dodgeball with Daniel, throwing what looked like a larger version of a baseball at each other. They weren’t holding back any either and the intention seemed to be to hit each other with the ball as hard as possible.

I stood back in the safety of the doorway, my eyes fixed like glue upon Nathan, who had answered my prayers and removed his vest. Perhaps it was what the rules of the game demanded, but I wanted to believe it was for my benefit alone. One thing was certain; if I hadn’t of just jerked myself silly in the shower, then I would probably have cum right then and there, in front of the pair of them.

From the corner of my eye I could see Daniel standing on his bed launching a fierce throw at his friend and a split second later came the familiar, loud slap of leather hitting skin, followed by an equally loud cry from Nathan, who rolled back on my bed clutching his side with what seemed like a mixture of a pain and laughter. Daniel was jumping on his bed in delight, as if he had just thrown the pitch to win the World Series, while Nathan looked at me with all the confidence of someone who knew that he held the winning hand in a game of poker. He jumped up from my bed and stood facing me in just his briefs looking down towards a bright red mark on the right side of his ribcage just below his right nipple.

“Look at that,” he said. He didn’t have to tell me, although I was grateful for his permission to feast my hungry eyes on his perfect torso. It was no surprise that it matched, even surpassed my expectations. He looked even better than what I had imagined, even in my darkest fantasies and I think that he knew it too. He walked over and stood as close as he could to me, to show me the mark that the ball had made on his tender skin. I wanted to rub it better for him, kiss it, lick it, or simply touch him in some way. I was staring in much the same way as he had done at me earlier and it took a monumental effort to lift my gaze from his succulent, ripe, dark brown nipples, they looked almost too good to be true and I wondered if they had ever been sucked. Our toes touched briefly as he turned to walk away from me and once again, I felt my penis rapidly growing, despite the constraints of my tight briefs. It was too much for me to bare, I wanted out of there, I needed to run and hide someplace, before I collapsed. I don’t think that I had ever felt as horny as I did then, not even at Alex’s house after I had been loaded with alcohol and amphetamines.

“You two play some weird games,” I said, turning my head towards Daniel, who had calmed down and was sitting on his bed watching me, he didn’t reply and it made my heart jump.

‘He knows; he’s seen it. It couldn’t have been any more obvious. Shit, what now’?

I was sure that Daniel had noticed me drooling over his friend, it would have been difficult not to notice our little show of mutual admiration, or feel the sexual energy between us. I could see a definite bulge appearing in the front of Nathan’s briefs and it made me go weak at the knees as I walked to my dresser and pulled on the first t-shirt that I could find. Nathan must have also read the situation and he quickly donned his vest and attempted a light conversation with Daniel, changing the mood instantly. He was good at doing that, he seemed to be good at everything, except perhaps dodgeball.

I casually let my towel slip from my waist and both boys turned their heads towards me. Daniel laughed when he saw that I was wearing my briefs underneath.

“Nathan got all excited then,” he said, “he thought that you were going to show him your winkle.”

“I don’t wanna see his winkle!” said Nathan.

“He does too,” said Daniel, “just show him, Robbie and he’ll leave you alone.”

“I don’t mind,” I said, playing along with Daniel and I placed my thumbs under the waistband of my briefs.

“NO, DON’T,” yelled Nathan, “I really don’t wanna see it, okay.”

“Well I wasn’t gonna show you anyway,” I said, brushing him off. It was the truth, but I think that I was a little disappointed by his lack of interest. I sat on the bed and pulled on some clean socks, and then grabbed a well-worn pair of jeans from the wardrobe, as Nathan fumbled to find his clothes from the day before. Fully dressed I left the bedroom to go and sit in the family room and watch some television. The intention had been to take my mind off him for a while, but it proved impossible and I was soon day-dreaming and thinking how nice it would be to have him in bed with me, with those beautiful legs and feet wrapped around my waist or my neck even.

“… Do you wanna come?” said Nathan, walking into the family room and catching me off guard.

“Sorry,” I said, “what did you say?”

“I was just asking you if you wanted to come,” said Nathan, with the faintest of smiles across his face.

‘Is this a joke, a play on words or is he really asking me if I want to go somewhere’?

“Sorry Nathan, I wasn’t listening,” I said, “come where?” He looked at me, trying hard not to laugh and did well to resist the obvious double entendres.

“It’s Nathan’s birthday, next Thursday,” said Daniel, following him out of the bedroom.

“I’m having a few friends over to my house after school,” Nathan took over from his friend. “You're welcome to come along if you want, Daniel’s gonna be there.”

“I’m not sure,” I said, raising my head. “I have extra math on Thursdays.”

“Can’t you miss one week,” said Daniel.

“Or you can come over straight after your class,” said Nathan, “you know what bus to catch, I’ll tell you where to get off and if you want I’ll wait for you at the bus stop.”

“It’s easy,” said Daniel, “he’ll find it on his own.”

“I don’t know,” I held out, hoping for a little more persuasion from Nathan.

“You can bring a change of clothes with you and change at my house, you can even use the shower if you want, I promise not to peek.”

“I’ll see how I feel,” I said. It was taken by Daniel as a concession, but I could see the obvious disappointment on Nathan’s face and he didn’t try to hide it as he kept his eyes on me for a lot longer than he needed to. I knew that it would upset him, if I didn’t make an effort to go and the thought of showering and changing at his house, probably in his bedroom, was definitely appealing.

“Don’t go expecting a big party or anything,” he said. “There’ll only be a few of us, just close friends and family but it’ll be fun. We can fool around for a while and listen to some music. Do you like ‘Take That?’ They're English aren’t they?” I could see Daniel pretending to throw up and so could Nathan.

“Ignore him; he has poor taste in music, they're my favourite boy band.”

“They're alright I suppose, better than some of the other boy bands,” I said, although I had never felt the need to listen to any of their songs, other than on the radio.

“That means you don’t really like them, so what music do you like?” he asked.

“He’s into house and shit,” said Daniel.

“Really?” said Nathan, “that’s cool, what kinda stuff do you like?”

I named a few artists that I liked, as well as a couple of DJ’s who were very popular in the UK. I knew that Nathan had at least some interest in this genre, because I remembered him listening to that dance tune when I first saw him at the bus stop. I had since remembered the name of the tune, and I threw it in for good measure. Nathan seemed to be quite impressed, but Daniel saw it as an opportunity to take his morning shower.

“Have you ever been to Ibiza?” asked Nathan, and I was surprised that he even knew about the Spanish Island, that had become a popular location for clubs and clubbers from all over Europe. I would have been too young to get in to most of the clubs over there and I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to go anyway.

“No,” I said laughing, “I’m only fifteen, but I would love to go there one day.”

“Do you think that you’ll ever move back to England?”

“I dunno, probably not,” I said, “I would have to finish school over here and be old enough to leave home, if I ever did want to go back.”

“Are they still gonna adopt you?”

“Yes,” I said, “and I’ve agreed to it now.”

“That’s cool, you could do a lot worse than that family,” he said, “but Don’s lost in the dark ages.”

“How do you mean,” I asked, but I thought that I probably already knew the answer.

“I don’t wanna influence you in any way Robbie. They're good people just very conservative.” He left it at that, keeping his eyes on me, until I looked away nervously.

“So do you hate me now?” he said.

“What, no, of course not, why would I hate you?”

“Because of last night…you know?”

“No Nathan, I don’t hate you,” I said, quickly looking around to make sure that there was nobody within earshot. “I hate myself for being such a jerk. I’m sorry for coming on to you, the way I did. It was stupid.”

“It’s okay, you don’t need to be sorry. I probably over-reacted, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“Well you didn’t, okay,” I snapped back at him. There was a long silence and he watched me the whole time, as I sat up on the couch with my legs crossed, playing with my phone.

“Things can still be different if you want them to be, you know that right?”

“I don’t understand,” I said, “I can’t work you out. What do you want?”

“What do you want Robbie?”

“You know what I want,” I said.

“Well if you really want it that badly, then go for it,” he said. “I’m serious dude, I like you a lot.”

I threw my phone down on the couch and shook my head.

“What do you mean ‘go for it’, bloody hell Nathan, that’s exactly what I did. I don’t get it, do you want me to come out, is that it?”

“No dude, that’s not what I’m asking. I would never ask you to do that.”

“Well I did it anyway,” I said, “I told Fran last night.” He looked surprised.

“You mean…you told her…”

“That I’m gay Nathan…I told her last night okay, and I told her that I’ve met a guy who I really like.”

“Seriously?”

“Of course, seriously.”

“Oh…what did she say?”

“She doesn’t believe me; she thinks that I’ve met another girl.” I could see a faint smile appear on his face, then disappear when I looked at him seriously.

“You didn’t say that last night,” he said.

“Would it have made any difference?”

“No, but it would have meant something.” He sat down beside me on the couch and turned to face me, but I resisted the urge to do the same and stared straight ahead towards the television. There was a long silence and I could hear Amy’s voice upstairs, Sue was making her breakfast and I knew that both of them would be on their way down soon. I could feel his eyes burning into me.

“Did you really tell her that, because of me?” he said.

I turned my head towards him and stared into his soulful eyes, he looked so incredibly gorgeous. Sad suited him too, it made him even more irresistible and I had trouble moving my lips to talk. He waited patiently for my reply, but he must have already known the answer.

“What do you think Nathan? Of course it’s because of you and you’re the only person who I would ever have done something like that for.” I stood up and walked over to the doors to stare at the pool, trying to hide my teary eyes from him.

“Nathan!” It was Amy, running down the stairs. “Did you stay over?”

“No,” he said, “I can transport myself places, using magic. I went home and came back again this morning.”

“No you didn’t,” she said, “you slept on the sofa bed.” She jumped on the unmade bed, before making a beeline for the couch, where she plonked herself down next to him. “I know because, you’re wearing the same clothes as yesterday and you’re not wearing any socks.”

“You’re getting way too smart for me Amy,” he said, “how old are you now, is it fourteen?”

“Eight,” she said grinning.

“Are you sure?” he teased.

I watched their interaction with interest and perhaps even a little jealousy, when Nathan was there she seemed to forget all about me. I guess she knew him a lot better.

Soon afterwards, we were joined by Daniel, clean and fresh from his morning shower and I didn’t get much opportunity to talk to Nathan for the rest of the day. Our planned cycling expedition was cancelled when it clouded over and started to rain, but I was pleased when I saw him calling his parents later that morning to ask if he could stay for dinner. I thought that it was cute that Nathan, like Daniel had opted to walk around the house barefoot and I took as many peeks at Nathan’s feet as I dared whilst pretending to think nothing of it.

Sue seemed really happy to have him around and back in the fold. Don however was a little less enthusiastic about it and chose not to say a great deal during or after dinner. I kept watching him for anything that would give me a clue as to the extent of his homophobia, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for me. There were other things that gave him away though and I could tell that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with the way that Daniel and I were being so friendly to Nathan, although there were no outward signs of hostility. It was a shame that Don hadn’t been able to accept Nathan in the same way as he had done before he came out.

Daniel had laid much of the blame on his deteriorating friendship on Ginny, but I got the feeling that this was also down to the fact that Nathan had sensed that his presence was going to causing problems between Daniel and his dad. If so, then this was a selfless thing for Nathan to do and something that had gone unnoticed. It made him even more special to me, but I was still confused about what I needed to do to get close to him, or if this was ever going to be possible.

Thankfully they decided to leave the Xbox alone and the three of us spent the day lounging around in front of the TV, surfing the internet, telling jokes and finding different ways of annoying Nicola. At exactly five o’clock, Nathan’s dad arrived to pick him up. It was probably the only way that they were going to get him home that day. Although officially, he had come over to see his best friend Daniel, I had really enjoyed spending time in his company and getting to know him. Before he left, he came over to remind me about his birthday the following week.

“Definitely show up dude,” he said, then when Daniel was out of sight, he kissed his fingers and put them to my lips, while giving me that cute little wink of his. “I’ll message you later, okay.”

* * * * *

I should have been revising for next week’s Canadian history test, or finishing my math homework that needed to be in on Tuesday. Instead, I spent the evening sitting around the house in a daydream, detached from everything and everyone around me. I did make an attempt at getting some homework finished, but as I tried to focus on the questions, my mind just went back to him. I could even see his image plastered across my textbook.

I thought about the first time that I saw him, at the bus stop after school. I had been unable to keep my eyes off him. He had smiled at me more than once and had definitely been flirting with me. Finally, over the past three days, I had been fortunate enough to get to know this kid and was now completely in awe of him. Whatever spell he had cast over me, or whatever drug he had slipped me, was so powerful and intoxicating that I was now almost completely under his control.

When I was in his company, I wasn’t worried about being seen with him, or concerned about what people would think of me. The only thing that was important to me was him and I could think of nothing else. He was all consuming and demanding of every thought that entered my brain and every emotion that I felt. When I talked to him, it felt as if every part of my body was operating at its optimum level of performance, trying to impress him, or make him laugh. Every look, every smile, every pose, every touch, every word that I spoke were all part of a complex and well-rehearsed operation designed to make me attractive to him; to make him notice me and think of me in a different way to every other boy that he met. It wasn’t a conscious decision that I had made, in fact, I had very little say in the matter. Something else was giving the orders, something inside me that wasn’t swayed by common sense or influenced by any logic or manmade rules.

I had told my girlfriend that I was gay and even though she had seemingly dismissed my revelation at the time, I wasn’t sure how she was going to react now that she had been able to sleep on it and give it some more thought. I had expected her to call me first thing that morning or at least send me a text. We would usually talk quite a bit the day after a date and the silence worried me.

‘Maybe she did believe me after all. Maybe she hates me for it. What if she decides to tell her friends what I said? What if she decides to out me to everyone? Maybe she already has’.

The thought of it sent a shiver down my spine as I sat at my desk in the bedroom, looking at my computer. It was late and we had the door shut; Daniel was already stripped down to his boxers and lying on his bed texting Nathan, when I decided to call her. I needed to put my mind to rest or at least test the waters, before I saw her in school the next day. She was in bed when I called and seemed a little surprised to hear from me.

“Are you okay,” I asked cautiously.

“Of course I’m okay, why are you calling me so late?”

“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about you, that’s all”

“Ah well that’s nice baby, I was thinking about you too.”

“You were?” It wasn’t the reaction that I was expecting, but Fran was full of surprises.

“Yeah, I was just thinking about how nice it would be if you were here in bed with me now, I liked it when we slept together.” I was lost for words.

‘Why is she talking like that after what I told her last night’?

“Fran, I don’t know…do you remember what I told you last night?”

“You don’t have to explain to me Robbie, I still love you okay, no matter what.”

“I think that we need to talk Fran, I mean properly talk.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“I can’t now,” I said, looking over to Daniel. He was still playing with his phone but I knew that he would have been able to hear me quite clearly.

“Well why did you call then?”

“You’re right,” I said, “we can talk another time, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, that’s all.”

“You just wanted to make sure that I hadn’t told anyone, right.”

“No, that’s not…”

“C’mon Robbie, I know that’s why you called. Do you really think that I’m going to tell anyone that my boyfriend thinks he’s gay?” I couldn’t help feeling a little relieved by this statement and I had an overwhelming temptation to leave it as it was.

“I suppose not.”

“Did you enjoy what I did to you last night in the cinema Robbie?”

“Yes.”

“So did I and I wanna do it to you again. I wish you were here with me now, so I could suck you. I liked it when you cum in my mouth.”

“Fran, please don’t.”

“Why not baby, we can have phone sex if you want, my friends do it to their boyfriends all the time.”

“They do?”

“Yeah, I can talk dirty to you while you jerk off, just tell me when you’re about to cum. I love it when you’re in my mouth Robbie and I love it when you’re inside of me and fucking me. Are you hard Robbie?”

“Fran I can’t, not now,” I was whispering into the phone and trying not to look over at Daniel.

“Well, are you or not?”

“Yes,” I said, it was true I had a raging boner and this time it was down to her, “but I’m not alone.”

‘Shit, I think Daniel heard that’.

“Oh I see, do you wanna go to the bathroom to finish off?”

“No, can we just leave it for now please.”

“Okay baby, but I really don’t think that you’re gay. Oh and don’t forget that we’re gonna have the whole of next weekend to ourselves. You can stay over on Friday and Saturday and then I can do it to you for real. Don’t jerk off before then okay.”

“Fran I…”

“Promise?”

“I promise, goodnight Fran.”

“Ti amo.” I hung up, put my head in my hands and sighed loudly. When I looked over towards Daniel he was giggling.

‘Maybe it’s a good thing that she doesn’t believe me, I’m not ready to come out yet and I don’t think that Nathan wants me to either. I just have to end it with Fran somehow, I think’.

“Do you want me to switch off the light?” I said.

“Yeah,” said Daniel, “I’m ready to go to sleep.” He put his phone down and I switched off the light before stripping down to my briefs and climbing into bed. “Nathan’s funny eh?”

I wasn’t expecting any more talk from Daniel and certainly not about Nathan, I froze in bed anxious of where this was going.

“Yes,” I said, “he’s cool.”

“Yeah, he just sent me a text, telling me how much he likes you.” My heart must have missed a beat, I felt it jump and I started to sweat.

‘Why would he say that to Daniel, is he crazy’?

Daniel started to laugh. “I’m only joking; you dork, he was worried in case he freaked you out or something.”

“Freaked me out, no of course not, I knew he was only mucking about.” I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, he’s just joking eh.”

“You two are really good friends,” I said, “you should invite him over more often, I don’t mind I’m not homophobic or…”

I was interrupted by the text alert on my phone and when I looked at the display it required my immediate attention.

“Text sex,” said Daniel, he giggled but he was wrong in his assumption that it was Fran. The text was from Nathan and I sat up in bed eager to read it.

‘New text from Nathan. Hi Robbie, I want you to know that I’ve been thinking about what you said all day and I think it’s really cool that you would do that for me but please don’t come out if you’re not ready. I liked spending time with you and getting to know you better and I would really love it if you wanted to be with me like you know more than friends. I hope I didn’t scare you away last night. You just freaked me out that’s all. I doubt if I will ever meet anyone as cute funny and charming as you are but I have to be true to myself or I have nothing. I know that you are embarrassed, but there’s no need to be. You didn’t do much wrong and I haven’t shut the door on you. You just need to come up with a better line than you managed last night. Maybe we can go on a date or something, that would be cool. I’m looking for a boyfriend, to have fun with and share my free time with and love. I just don’t want to be used that’s all. I think that you're really cute Robbie and to answer your original question. YES, I will have sex with you. I would have sex with you every minute of every day if you were my boyfriend. Nathan XX’.

I dropped my phone, it slipped right out of my hand.