Unexpected - 3. Chapter 3

When I get to the end of the driveway I hesitate for a second not knowing which way to turn. I’m pretty sure we came from the left so I turn in the direction. I put my head down and watch the pavement as I fiddle though my bag to call for a cab.

A diesel motor comes from behind and slows down and stops.

“Tracy” I hear Chewy call my name. I keep on walking. The door to the truck slams and I can hear him run up behind me grab my arm and swing me around.

“Do you want to tell me what the hell that was all about?”

“You didn’t get enough tormenting me at 12 years old about being a girl. You figured out I’m gay or Callen told you so it’s ok to keep going. And what is with all the winking at me, and staring. I thought you had changed but I guess I was wrong” Just about yell at him. “That is my art piece on your wall, I made that. Why do you have it?”

Chewy swipes his hand down the front of his face in frustration. “First of all Callen never told me you were gay, he would never betray you like that and you know it. It wasn’t hard to figure out after the locker room. Secondly I was not calling you a girl back there. I honestly thought it was made by a female, the salesperson at the gallery kept referring to the artist as a she and the only name next to it was a first name and I took no notice. I didn’t even give it a thought. I had no idea what you went to art school for you were 12 or 13 when I left home, how would I know. It’s not like Callen and I spent a lot of time discussing you, we went to different colleges and when we caught up or got together it was about what we were up to.” I just stood there with my arms crossed over my chest, staring at his truck. “Look Tracy, I’m sorry I’ve upset you. Please just get in the truck because we are both going to be late. We can deal with the rest of this later. I promise you I won’t sweep it all under the rug, we will deal with it.”

I reluctantly got into his Dodge Ram and put my belt on. The way he screamed up the road I am not taking any chances. He hopped back in started the truck and off we soar to my place. The trip was silent but I could see him looking at me every now and then in my peripheral vision. I just kept looking straight ahead. I don’t know how he knew where we lived but he did. Chewy pulled up across the street from my house to let me out of the truck. As I was getting out of the truck I whispered a thanks.

“Tracy, we will deal with this later. I promise.” I just nodded closed the door and walked to the back of the truck to cross the road. Thankfully it was quiet at this time of the morning and could go straight over to the house. Letting myself in the house, I grabbed my phone and chucked my bag next to the door. Looked up Jase number and sent a text.

‘Running late this morning, won’t make it. Please forgive me I’ll see you Wednesday same time and place’

Jase replied ‘No prob. See you then’

I then dragged my butt upstairs to the kitchen and started making scrambled eggs for Callen as I heard the shower going. Sasha came through the door and just stopped and stared at me.

“You want some scrambled eggs?” and smiled. Have to be nice to the guests. Plus she has a nice bruise on her face which satisfies me just a little.

“What, what are you doing here?”

“I live here.” Smiled “So eggs, Yes?”

She screws her face up “No”

I finish up with the eggs and just as I am plating them Callen comes in and sits down. “What you making?”

“I made you scrambled eggs and coffee” putting them in front of him at the breakfast bar.

“Thanks. Love you Bud”

“Love you too Cal”. I saw the bitch flinch. I snickered.

<>-<>-<>

I had just finished putting my delivery of metal away. The smell of the chicken and corn soup I put in the crockpot wafts through the workshop. I’ve had to start over now that we’ve moved. I design and make furniture as well as art pieces. To keep costs down we managed to find a house that has the house part upstairs and a two and a half tandem garage downstairs which I converted into my workshop for my metal work. And a double carport with gates which I have managed to set up for my woodwork.

My phone started ringing on through the blue tooth on my radio. It was Cal.

“Hey bud”

“What you up to Cal” I leaned up against the bench.

“Just letting you know I’m going to dinner tonight with Sasha so I won’t be home till later. You haven’t started dinner yet have you?”

“Yeah but it’s just soup so it will keep, I’ll put the left overs in the fridge you can take some to work for lunch tomorrow so no worries.”

“Chicken and corn”

“You know it”

“Sweet that is one of my favourites. Thanks”

“You’re welcome, I just needed some comfort food.”

“Is everything alright?”

I left out a sigh “Yeah! I guess. I had a bit of a run in with your furry…” Just then Chewy walked into the workshop. “Um…I gotta go Cal. I’ll talk to you in the morning”

“Ok bud. Take it easy, I love you”

“Love you too Callen. Bye” and I hung up and looked over at Chewy.

Chewy pointed around the workshop “Do you have time to talk?”

Glancing at the clock on the wall I said “I guess, it’s almost six, I’m sure the boss will let me finish up. Let me just lock up down here. Through that door and go on upstairs, the kitchen is at the top and to the left it’s pretty much open plan you can’t miss it. There’s beer in the fridge if you want or put the kettle on for coffee your choice. I’ll be up in a minute.” I pointed to the sliding door on his left.

“Alright, did you want a coffee I’ll put the kettle on.” He asked while heading toward the door.

“Yeah, that would be great. Thanks”

He headed upstairs while I locked up.

As I reached the top of the stairs he was coming out of the kitchen and handed me a coffee. I put it on the bench closest to me “Thanks. I’ll just go wash up, won’t be a sec.”

I returned with my hands a little cleaner than they were and Chewy was wandering around taking in the art on the wall I had made and the dining furniture. He swivelled around and I couldn’t quite make out the look on his face.

“Is all of this yours, did you like make everything” incredulously he asked.

“Not everything, but the stuff on the walls and the dining set, yes” taking a sip of my coffee and offering a seat at the dining set so we could talk.

Sitting down across from me he looks me in the eye “You’re really talented Trace”.

Looking into my coffee I whispered “Thanks”

We were silent for about 5 mins it was getting uncomfortable, when Chewy broke the silence.

He cleared his throat “Trace, I think I need to explain a few things to you.” He reached over and squeezed my hand. I pulled away. He looked a little hurt but continued. “I honestly had no idea that was your artwork when I bought it. I had gone to Duke to see my cousin, she was about to finish up for the year. I got there early and she still had one exam that afternoon, so I wandered around the campus and came across the gallery and went in. It’s as simple as that. The rest is just a misunderstanding please believe me.”

“Okay” seems plausible enough I suppose and nodded my head.

“Good” he let out a breath I’m not sure he knew he was hanging onto. “I promise you I have changed, or maybe I’m who I should be. I don’t know. I don’t know how much you remember of the summer before Cal and I went to college but it was a life changer for me.” He became quiet and was turning his coffee mug around between his fingers.

“Um… Alex I made some soup for dinner and Callen is going out to dinner would you like some. I forgot to make biscuits to go with it but I have bread and butter if that will do.”

“Sure that would be great, can I help with anything?”

“Yeah if you want, you can grab the crockpot with the oven mitts and bring it to the table and I’ll grab the rest.” I stood and reached for the heat protector behind me and put it in the middle of table.

We went to the kitchen, he grabbed the soup while I grabbed a ladle, two bowls, small plates, spoons and a knife and returned them to the table. Then went over to the pantry and grabbed the condiment caddy with the butter, salt and pepper as I returned to the table Chewy was setting all the plates and utensils up. Wow that was all very domestic and laughed in my head.

He must have been watching me and said “What?”

“Huh! Oh, I was just thinking that was all very domestic”

Chewy just kind of snort chuckled “Yeah, I suppose it was” he reached over grabbed my bowl and filled it full of soup and set it in front of me, then did his own.

I buttered a couple of pieces of bread for us both chucked his on his plate. He looked up into my eyes stared for second, shook his head slightly and gave me a half smile. “I could get used to this” he said barely at a whisper I almost never caught it. I cocked my eyebrow at him and he just started eating. “This is great Trace?”

“Thanks, after Mom and Dad passed, Callen was in Law School he didn’t have much time so I took on all the cooking. I hadn’t really cooked much before, but I had to learn quickly or we would have lived on take-out. I don’t think Callen realises how much I used him as a guinea pig for all my recipes I tried out on him.” I laughed “He’s lucky I didn’t poison him at some point because I was winging it from books that Mum had. He never once complained, not that he probably tasted any of it as he was always studying and would just wolf it down.” I love my brother. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, that’s why I’m here.”

“How the hell did you get the nickname Chewy” I saw him cringe when I said Chewy “I asked Callen once a long time ago and he got all defensive and mumbled something about Star Wars”

We had finished dinner so I offered him more and he declined. I started clearing the table, he stood to help. “No, I’ll do it. Just go ahead and watch TV I’ll be there in a minute. Did you want some dessert?”

“No thanks, but I wouldn’t mind another coffee. I can make them.” as he wandered over to the couch.

“No no, I can do it while I fix all this up.” I filled the kettle and turned it on. Put the dishes in the dishwasher. Found a container for the soup and left it on the side to cool before putting it in the refrigerator. Grabbed a cup and made his coffee. I could hear Chewy flipping through the stations until he found the news. I walked over to the couch and handed him his coffee “Chewy if you don’t mind I’m just going to quickly jump in the shower I still have today on me and I feel grimy. Plus if I sit on that couch in my work clothes Callen will probably bury me under your porch.” I laughed.

“Sure go ahead, we can’t have that too much paperwork involved.” He laughed with me.

Once in the shower, I quickly got cleaned up thought about releasing some tension but I didn’t want to take too long so I decided to not. Went into my room and changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a singlet. I walked back into the kitchen and quickly made a coffee. I went and sat right next to Chewy and turned to face him.

“So the nickname how did you get it?”

He sat there with his coffee cup in his lap, kind of staring at it. “Ugh! I was about 14 I think and as you know my home life wasn’t really all that great. Well that’s an understatement.” He had a look as if it were happening right now. “My folks would never buy me new clothes or shoes, so I relied on hand me downs from my brother who is ten years older than me or family members who would give us there throw-aways. Cause you know why get your kid clothes when you can buy booze.” He paused and sighed “I had forgotten to do the laundry one day and didn’t have anything to wear so I just grabbed whatever was in the basket. I didn’t realise it was my sisters shirt. It just looked kind of like a normal button down shirt. I was running late and didn’t check myself in the mirror. Anyway when I got to school of course one the ass hat jocks noticed so at lunch time they all pinned me down called me names you know the usual, fag, queer and hit and kicked me and one of the girls thought it would be funny to spit chewing gum in my hair. The rest just followed along. Anyway your brother came along and intervened. He took me home to your place to clean me up.” He chuckled “I think it took your Mum a whole jar of peanut butter to get all the chewing gum out of my matted hair.”

I had tears in my eyes. He looked over at me and gave me a smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry about it was a long time ago.” He continued “That afternoon they put me in the shower gave me some of Callen’s clothes to put on.” He paused again. “Your brother asked me that afternoon if I was gay, I nodded, cried and begged him not to tell anyone or to hate me.” He drank some of his coffee then looked over at me and said “Your brother is a fallen angel. He grabbed me in the tightest hug, and to that day the only hug I remember ever getting that wasn’t from your Mum. He just held me and whispered in my ear everything is going to be alright until I cried myself to sleep. He never told a soul my secret and would defend me if anyone gave me a hard time. Callen could have had a million friends, but he stuck by me no matter what. He was also the one that told me to own the nickname ‘Chewy’ so they couldn’t hurt me with it. God I love that guy.” He added the latter quietly then finished off his cup.

“That probably explains why he was so good with me when I got outed by my best friend to the whole school in my senior year of high school.”

“Seriously! Hope you punched his fucking lights out.” Hi eyes were as big as saucers.

“Nope, you know Callen always takes the high road and leads everyone down it.” I laughed.

“Can I ask a favor of you Trace?” he asked nervously.

“Sure”

“Could you please call me Alex and not Chewy. I know everyone still calls me that but I’d like it if you would call me by name.” he put his empty cup down on the coffee table.

“I’m sure I can do that, why?”

“From the first moment I saw you at the ice rink, and we shook hands. I haven’t been able to get you out of my head. All the winking and flirting was to see if I could get you unbalanced enough to tell me you were gay. You’re a tough nut to crack.” He chuckled then got serious “But I accidently found out how this morning, my gut has been churning all day knowing that I had hurt you and I’m really sorry. I also want to apologise for how I treated you when we were younger. I guess we don’t realise how powerful words can be sometimes.”

I reached over, put my cup down on the coffee table and on the way up I put my hand on his neck and faced him toward me and ran my thumb across his jawline. Pulling him toward me our lips touched gently. I pulled away and put our foreheads together smiled and whispered “I forgive you Alex”. He wrapped those wonderfully powerful guns around me and pulled me tight toward him and kissed me hard, he licked my bottom lip forcefully and I let him. It seemed like the only choice I had. My stomach was doing flip flops while his tongue did a search and rescue mission in my mouth. My shorts were starting to show my excitement with the little tell-tale wet spot. I covered it with my free hand. He broke the kiss and said “Now that’s an honest to goodness first kiss.” And released me from the hug.

And I blush.

He snickered.

Alex leant his head back against the couch, let out a sigh “I’m wiped Trace, too many feelings for one day do you think we can just sit here and watch a movie. I know we have a lot more to talk about but would you mind."

“Nope not at all” I say handing him the remote. He took it from me scrunched comfortably in the corner of the couch. I grabbed a small cushion sitting next to me and put it in his lap and lay down. I looked up at him, he just smiled and ran his fingers through my hair with one hand and put the other on my hip while he flipped through the channels until he found an action flick. ‘Yummy’. I was trying to recover from the last two and a half minutes my mind and gut and cock were in turmoil. I couldn’t decide which to deal with first. It’s best to deal with the most damaging first. So I lay there willing to get my cock to co-operate before I blew a load in my shorts. Concentrating on the movie also had its challenges. Mmm, Mark Wahlberg. Maybe if I close my eyes.

<>-<>-<>

“Trace, wake up” Alex whispered as he softly ran the palm of his hand down my cheek. Keeping my eyes closed I slowly turned my head and kissed the palm of his hand. I heard him moan as he leant down and kissed my forehead. “Come on babe you have to go to bed, you can’t sleep here on the couch.” I groan quietly, and my stomach flipped he called me babe. ‘Yummy’

I stood up, turned the television off and held out my hand for Alex to take. He walked me down the hallway to my room and pulled my covers back. Turned and grabbed my singlet at the bottom leant forward and gave me a gentle kiss. Then tugged my singlet off of me and returned to give me another gentle kiss dropping my shirt on the floor. His fingers went into the waist of my shorts and pulled them down enough for me to kick off to the side while he was kissing me. There I was in just my boxer briefs with a raging boner. He rubbed my cock through my boxers while I moaned softly. “Please stay with me tonight Alex” whispering into his mouth and part while I grab his shirt and lift it over his head. I then put my hands to his crotch and start undoing his jeans. He leans forward and kisses me forcing his tongue straight into my mouth. It’s hot, passionate and full of lust. I’ll take that as a Yes. I push his jeans down his thighs and while he is kicking them off I climb into the bed and scoot over so he can follow.

I lay on my side facing the wall with my eyes closed. One big strong arm went behind my neck and over my shoulder landing on my right peck. His other came over my waist and rubbed my chest, and moved to flick one of my nipples. I moan. That beautiful strong arm then rubbed down my chest and flat stomach and quickly under my boxers and grabbed hold of my painfully hard cock. His thumb gently rubs pre-come over the head my cock, gives it a couple of strokes. He pulls me closer to him, kisses the back of my neck and whispers “Go to sleep baby”. Sure that will be easy while he’s holding onto my joystick.