Special Forces - 17. Chapter 17

JOSEPH

Joseph heard Sam whoop for joy when he recounted his success with Tyler’s parents. He was tempted to tell Sam about ‘the kiss’ too, but something made him hold back. It felt better to keep that a secret—a special secret shared only between him and Tyler.

Sam passed the phone to Nick who was equally as congratulatory as Sam, but in his own, less ebullient, manner. When Nick said sincerely, “I’m really happy for you, Joseph,” Joseph choked up. Affirmation wasn’t something he’d had much of, and Nick’s words warmed him to the core.

Later, when he was saying goodnight to the Williams, the Colonel remarked on his good mood, adding, “I take it things went well at the Mulrainey’s?”

Joseph said, “Yes, sir, it was good,” and he blushed thinking, If you only knew how good....

Joseph and Tyler exchanged a few circumspect texts, but there was no doubt in Joseph’s mind that Tyler was looking forward to the next kiss as much as he was. And that thought led to another aching hard on.

He tried reading a few pages of Hunger Games to settle himself down so he could get to sleep, but Katniss Everdeen’s adventures were no match for Tyler’s soft lips and the harness he had felt pressing against his own.

Joseph felt a little guilty about using Tyler as a masturbatory fantasy, but he was no more able to prevent his hands from reaching their sensitive target than he was to prevent himself from breathing.

He closed his eyes and pictured himself kissing Tyler again. What would it feel like to brush Tyler’s tongue with his own? Or maybe he could reach down and feel Tyler’s dick? He tried to imagine what it might look like. He wanted to examine it closely. Maybe fist it like he was doing just now to his own. Joseph’s abdomen was on fire, and with the hair trigger of a fifteen year old he reached the point of no return quickly. He stifled a cry as his body convulsed and he soaked the kleenex he’d had at the ready. In the afterglow of what had to have been the best orgasm of his young life, and as his breathing slowed to normal, he became conscious of a strong feeling toward Tyler. And he knew the name for that feeling: Love.

For the next couple of days Joseph was walking on air. He was in love. Of course he couldn’t tell Tyler that yet. And he thought the adults might dismiss it as a crush, if they knew. But Joseph was never more certain about anything in his life.

He began to wonder if there were other students in the school who were in love. So he started noticing the obvious couples. Of course they were all boy-girl couples, and they were a little older than him, usually, but he started to observe them, to see if there was some tell, or giveaway, that would indicate they were in love.

The couples that really stood out were the jock-cheerleader pairs. And one day, as Joseph walked down the hall toward his locker, he spotted a good pair of specimens. They were facing him, talking to a group of friends, seemingly oblivious to the comings and goings of the hallway. Joseph figured he could give them a good once-over without getting caught. The guy, wearing a letter jacket, was well built and tall and had his arm casually, but possessively, draped over the girl’s shoulder. The girl was petit and very pretty, and she, too, had her arm casually around the guy’s waist. But when he looked at their faces, as they talked and joked with their friends, what Joseph didn’t see in their eyes was love. No, the message they were sending was: Look at ME! Like they were each other’s Rolex watch. Mutual status symbols perhaps, but Joseph didn’t think there was a real spark of love. They looked like seniors, and Joseph figured they were probably having sex, but his intuition told him they didn’t have the intensity that he and Tyler had.

His stare must have been a bit too indiscreet, because as he passed them the guy called out, “Hey, punk, you checkin’ out my girl?”

Wisdom would have dictated that Joseph hightail it out of there, but for some reason he stopped dead, like he’d run into a wall. His instantaneous assessment of the situation was that, because the guy was smiling, he wasn’t an immediate threat. He wasn’t being a bully, he was just joking around and showing off for his friends.

And Joseph was feeling a little cocky, because he was carrying a delicious secret about himself. He had something that jock didn’t have. And he somehow sensed that the best way to deal was this guy was play to his ego, so he stood tall, and squared his shoulders, like Sam would have wanted him to, and said, “Well, uh, she is, uh, very pretty.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet! Thank you!” declared the girl.

Then the guy scowled took a fake lunge toward Joseph saying, “You little....”

Joseph jumped back and let out a little yelp, which caused everybody to crack up. Then the guy, laughing, said, “Get out of here, punk, before I kick your ass! And keep away from my girl!”

Joseph snapped off a salute and said, “Yes, sir, Mr. Football Jock, sir!” then headed quickly off down the hall before the guy’s sense of humor went south. And he heard one of the jock’s friends say, “Jesus, Pritchard, you just got your ass handed to you by a thirteen year old!” Joseph didn’t think it would be wise to correct the guy’s estimate of his age.

He kept up his observation of other couples, but a little more discreetly, and for most of two days he didn’t see a couple that he really thought were in love. Then he spotted one near an open locker. The guy was tall and clean cut; not really handsome, but there was just something about him.... And she was small and curvy—maybe just a bit too curvy. Not homecoming king and queen material. But they way they looked at each other with longing was the tell. Joseph knew they were in love.

He wondered if he looked at Tyler that way. I better be careful, he thought.

Joseph was trying to think of a way he and Tyler could ‘hang out’ on the coming weekend. The Colonel was great when they’d had their art project, but Joseph couldn’t envisage just having Tyler over for the day. He sensed it would be really awkward, and there wasn’t much they could do in his neighborhood up by the golf course. He thought about asking Tyler if they could hang out at his house, maybe play some of Tyler’s games, but he could hardly invite himself over. Maybe he’d just ask Tyler about hanging out in general and see where that went.

But it was LeShawn’s girlfriend, Amber, who got the ball rolling. At lunch on Friday she suggested the four of them hang out at the Monterey Center on Saturday and take in a movie after doing a bit of shopping and maybe having pizza for lunch. Everyone thought that was a grand idea, except for Joseph, who was mortified that he had no money to do anything like that! He’d be getting his five dollars from the Colonel that afternoon, but that wouldn’t go far if they were talking about pizza and a movie. He tried not to rain on everybody’s parade—they all seemed pretty excited by this idea—but it was all he could do to keep his expression neutral when he really felt like crying. Tyler would think he was such a loser if he couldn’t go.

LeShawn and Amber headed off to class and Tyler reached and grabbed Joseph’s arm to prevent him from leaving too.

“Joseph, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing!”

“Yes there is! Tell me!”

“I can’t go to the mall tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

“Because!”

Joseph was near tears, but he saw the panicked expression on Tyler’s face, and figured he’d better be truthful. Might as well let Tyler know what a loser he was. “I don’t have any money,” he admitted.

“Can’t you get some from the Colonel?”

“Only my allowance, and that isn’t enough.”

“But that’s not fair!”

Joseph just shrugged, knowing that life, as he knew it, was over. Tyler wouldn’t want to hang out with a loser like him. When Joseph realized he’d never get another of Tyler’s kisses tears flooded his eyes and he turned in shame and ran down the hall toward his class.

Tyler felt like shit. He’d screwed up and hurt Joseph’s feelings. Now he’d never get another one of Joseph’s wonderful kisses—the one he’d been dreaming about all week. He looked for Joseph after school, but Joseph was nowhere to be found, so he headed home feeling utterly dejected.

Of course his mom noticed his mood immediately and asked him what was wrong.

“Everything!”

“I’m guessing it’s something to do with Joseph?”

“Mom, I screwed up. Now Joseph hates me!”

“Calm down, Tyler, and tell me what happened.”

So Tyler relayed the lunchtime scene to his mother finishing with Joseph running off.

“And Joseph isn’t comfortable asking the Colonel for a bit of extra money?”

“I guess not....”

“Should I talk to the Colonel?” she asked.

“No! Mom! You’ll really screw things up!”

“Well, this is a muddle.... Why don’t I talk to Nick or Sam? They’ll know what to do.”

Tyler allowed himself a ray of hope....

Nick and Sam were devastated that they’d put Joseph in this situation. Of course five dollars a week wasn’t enough spending money for a fifteen year old. They berated themselves on being so thick. But unlike Joseph, who considered his tenure with the Williams to be fragile, they knew a discussion about money wasn’t going to be the end of the world. They hoped the Colonel would be sympathetic.

The Colonel and Amy Williams were by no means ogres. “It’s just that the boy doesn’t ask for anything!” said the Colonel. “He’s always trying so hard to please us. He’s so different from our own kids. And he’s never gone to the mall with his friends before, we just didn’t think....”

“With all due respect, sir,” said Sam, “Joseph is afraid to rock the boat, if you know what I mean, sir?”

When the Williams summoned Joseph into the family room for a ‘chat’ he knew this was the end. Next stop: group home.

And the Colonel’s first words, “Son, we owe you an apology...” only confirmed that suspicion. Joseph sat, shoulders slumped, head down and hands between his knees. He’d never felt smaller in his life.

The Colonel, who wasn’t used to beating around the bush, took one look at Joseph’s whipped posture and declared. “Lordy, boy, you got nothin’ to fear! We’re not going to kick you out if you track mud across the floor! We’re not going to kick you out if the lawn isn’t cut perfectly! We’re not going to kick you out if your bedroom’s a mess! And we sure the hell aren’t going to kick you out if you need a few extra bucks to go to the mall with your friends!”

Joseph jerked his head up at that.

“Are we clear, boy?”

Joseph, about as confused as he’d ever been in his life, shrugged and shook his head in the negative.

“Joseph, Son, listen. Amy and me, well we’re not real huggy sort of people, if you know what I mean. So maybe we seem a little...unapproachable.... But we like you, Joseph, we really do. You’re a wonderful, sweet natured kid, and we’re real happy you’re here with us. You don’t have to walk on eggshells around us. You’re allowed to be a fifteen year old kid. Lord knows, our son at fifteen led us a merry chase! You’re safe here, Joseph. We’re here to catch you if you stumble. And you have a home with us for as long as you like. Our commitment to you doesn’t end when you turn eighteen. You get what I’m saying, Joseph?”

“How did you find out?”

“You mean about the money? Well, I guess Tyler told his mom. Then she called Nick and Sam. Then Sam called me. So you see, Joseph, you got a whole network of friends and people who love you and look out for you. This isn’t about money for going to the mall, Joseph. This is about trusting me and Mrs. Williams, hmmm?”

This was all such a reversal of what Joseph expected that he had a hard time taking it all in. He got what the Colonel was saying, but he couldn’t quite process it.

“Um...can I phone Tyler?”

“Yes, by all means,” said the Colonel. Then he got up and came to Joseph with his hand outstretched as if to shake. Joseph stood and extended his own hand, and when they made contact the Colonel pulled him into a quick shoulder bump hug. Then Mrs. Williams approached and hugged him, whispering in his ear, “How I make good Vietnamese food without your help, eh?”

Joseph phoned Tyler: Hey. Hey. You cool? Yeah, you told your mom? Yeah, that okay? Yeah, I can come to the mall. Cool. Of course the real conversation was in the silences between the words, in those pauses where the two boys reached out, almost telepathically, to each other. It was Tyler who finally drummed up the courage to say, “I want to kiss you again.” To which Joseph replied, “Yeah, me too.”

It should be noted that, a little later, two fifteen year old boys, in their respective beds, across the city from one another but thinking about each other, reached near simultaneous, earth-shattering orgasms. It’s a wonder the seismic shock didn’t send the Monterey Peninsula tumbling into the sea.

*****

It was a week later that the boys got their chance for a second ‘real’ kiss. Joseph had been invited to Tyler’s for dinner on Friday after school, so the boys walked home together. Tyler’s phone chimed with a text message from his mother: Delayed at work. Home at 5. Okay?

Tyler showed Joseph the text and they both stopped breathing. One whole hour, alone!

Tyler quickly texted back: No prob. CU then.

Well, they went a little farther than kissing. They didn’t take off all their clothes, but lying on the bed they pushed their shirts up and their pants down. Joseph had never seen anything so beautiful as Tyler’s creamy white body and his reddish nipples. And much to Joseph’s delight, Tyler’s sparse pubic hair was red! Joseph got to explore Tyler’s dick with his hand, and he was very gentle. Tyler explored Joseph in the same gentle way. After that, in their naivety, innocence and guilt, they were at a loss at what to do, so they pulled their pants up, and their shirts down, and lay on the bed just holding each other and kissing. French kissing!

Tyler’s bedroom was at the front of the house so they heard the minivan pull into the driveway. They jumped up, made a couple of adjustments and went downstairs to greet Tyler’s mom.

She wasn’t fooled by their ‘innocent’ smiles. Their flushed faces gave them away. She raised an eyebrow and said, “Cookies?”

After that it was only two busy weeks before they buckled into the minivan for the drive to Los Angeles. They left early in the morning, and with luck they’d be arriving at Marina Del Rey at about the same time Sam, Nick and Jorge got there in the boat.

Somehow the two families managed to meet and Joseph, bursting with pride, stumbled through the introductions. Everyone fussed over Jorge, who stuck close to Joseph and couldn’t take his eyes off Tyler. Naturally, the Mulrainey’s were in awe of Budweiser, and after Sam’s tour they all settled on the deck with ice tea and sodas. The Mulrainey’s had booked a hotel not far from the marina, but it was Joseph who turned to Nick and Sam and begged for him and Tyler to sleep on Budweiser that night. Sam and Nick exchanged wordless glances, and Sam answered in the affirmative, providing the Mulrainey’s approved. Tyler begged his parents, who looked at each other, nodded, and it was Henry Mulrainey who said, “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt Siobhan and me to have a night alone in a hotel room.” And everybody laughed.

They all went to a pizza place for dinner then the Mulrainey’s headed to their hotel.

The boys were thrilled to find they’d be sleeping together on a double bed in the salon—the only drawback being they were only a few feet from Nick, Sam and Jorge who were sleeping in the big bed in the bow. They lay not touching, but facing each other, and in the ambient light in the boat they could see each other’s faces. And being two mischievous fifteen year olds they got a bad case of the giggles.

Sam growled, “Jesus you two, settle down,” which only set them off worse. So then Sam said, “Will you just give each other a good night kiss and go to sleep!”

So they took that as permission to have a good snog, then rolled onto their backs holding hands and drifted off to sleep with the boat’s gentle motion.

Joseph woke up sometime in the wee hours of the morning to find Tyler plastered to his back with his arm draped over his stomach. So he put his hand over Tyler’s then made a slight adjustment of his body to fit better to Tyler’s and drifted back to sleep.

It was Jorge who woke everybody up early declaring, “We’re going to Disneyland today!”

Somehow the logistics of going to Disneyland ‘en groupe’ worked out, and for the next two days there were various meetups, pairings off and group get-togethers that seemed to satisfy everybody’s needs—the only rule being that Nick and Sam were always with Jorge.

The Colonel had given Joseph one hundred dollars for spending money, but he didn’t really need all that because the adults kept buying all the food he needed. So he bought himself a cool t-shirt and some memento gifts for the Williams and what he hoped was a nice thank you gift for the Mulraineys.

Much to the Mulrainey’s relief, Sam had bought each member of the ‘crew’ a personal locator beacon (PLB), so in the unlikely event that any of them went overboard they could be found promptly. He also insisted that all crew members wear life vests when out on the open ocean. Sam went over boat safety, warning that any ‘roughhousing’ on the boat was strictly forbidden. Even Nick was stern when he said, “On this boat Sam’s word is law!”

As it turned out, the trip back to San Diego was uneventful and boring for the boys. The motion of the boat made them sleepy, and the three youngest of the crew spent almost half the voyage napping on the big bed. Things didn’t get interesting until they were almost to San Diego and they rounded Point Loma. Then it was fun for the boys to watch the activity in the harbor and the jets taking off from the Naval Air Station at Coronado.

Joseph and Tyler were a little miffed later that night when the adults separated them. Tyler was taken off to spend the night at the hotel with his parents, and Joseph stayed behind at Nick and Sam’s.

But in truth, Joseph didn’t mind so much. It meant that he had Sam, Nick and Jorge to himself. It was especially nice later, when he fell asleep against Sam during the movie they were all watching.

After they got back to Monterey the Colonel declared that the boys would learn to play golf this summer. Neither boy was particularly athletic, but the Colonel insisted, and his leadership style was like Sam’s. He praised their efforts and minimized their mistakes, and soon both boys were confidently hitting nice straight shots off the tees at the driving range. Then the Colonel took them to a little 9-hole, par 3 course over in Salinas. Both boys shot in the low 50’s which the Colonel pronounced outstanding.

After that, the boys were hooked. All they could talk about was golf. The ‘rents’ bought them summer green passes to the course and carpooled them over there several times a week. Gradually they acquired all the right equipment. Sam and Nick insisted on buying them each a set of clubs. The Mulrainey’s bought them golf shoes, and the Williams bought them carts. All the smaller stuff like, gloves, towels, t’s, balls and even an extendable ball retriever appeared over time.

It was the best summer of Joseph’s life.

One day when Joseph arrived home from playing golf, Wendy was at the house, and she and her parents were sitting at the kitchen table looking grim. What have I done now? thought Joseph.

“Joseph, come sit,” said Wendy. “I have some news about your dad.”

Joseph hadn’t thought much about his dad in the last few weeks, and he felt his heart lurch uncomfortably at the reminder. He sat gingerly on chair, clasped his hands together and placed them on the table. He sat up straight, and met Wendy’s gaze.

“He’s been sentenced,” she said. “He pled down to misdemeanor assault, and the judge gave him a year in jail for that. He wasn’t allowed to plead out on the hate crime charge, and the judge gave him another year for that. He’ll probably spend about six to eight months in jail before he’s let out on parole.”

Joseph sat rigidly, unable to form words, so he just nodded.

Wendy reached out and put her hand over his. “Part of the sentence is a restraining order to keep away from you as well. I think the justice system worked well here.”

“And just so you’re certain, Joseph,” added the Colonel, “Our guardianship papers are good until your eighteenth birthday. And after that it will be your choice if you want to stay on with us. We hope you will, Joseph. We really want you to. You’re part of our family now.”

“I don’t want to ever see him again,” said Joseph.

“And you won’t have to, Joseph,” said Wendy. “It’s entirely your choice. Yours alone.”

“Okay,” said Joseph.

There was no use keeping this from Tyler, who was the only one at Joseph’s high school who knew the whole story. “I don’t feel happy, Tyler. I guess I should because my dad’s being punished. But I don’t feel anything. I feel kinda numb, you know?”

“I wish I was there to hug you and kiss you,” said Tyler.

It was those words that lightened the weight bearing down on Joseph. He relegated thoughts of his father to some distant part of his brain. It was a lot more pleasurable to think about tomorrow’s golf game, and when he might get the next kiss from his handsome red-headed boyfriend.