Struggling Forward - 11. Looking to the Future

Looking to the Future:

February started off like it was spring, the weather was mild and sunny. Kyle crawled out of bed and stumbled into the shower, Khan followed behind and sprawled across the floor.

Once Kyle was done showering he dressed and went to the kitchen finding Kaleb cooking breakfast of Belgian waffles with homemade whipped topping with fresh cut strawberries. Kaleb continued cutting strawberries as he was talking to Davis who was sitting at the table drinking coffee, “Baby I’m so excited about all the new stuff that school is teaching me about cooking.”

Kyle smirked and replied before Davis had a chance, “Oh that so sweet snookums.”

Kaleb turned around, glaring at Kyle, but focused on Davis who was snickering, “What are you laughing at?” Kaleb threw a strawberry at Davis, “There's your breakfast, Khan come eat,” Khan ran around the corner practically bouncing in anticipation with drool running from his mouth.

“Oh, fuck no,” Kyle worriedly said, “He’s allergic to waffles, he doesn’t like them actually.”

Kaleb smirked as Davis laughed so hard he was falling out of his, “So which is it? Is he allergic to waffles or doesn’t Khan like them?”

Kyle had a dumbfounded look on his face and was lost for words as Kaleb sat a plate of waffles and strawberries on the floor in front of Khan, “Here you go Khan,” Kaleb scratched him behind this ear, “You like Uncle Kaleb’s cooking don’t you?” Khan licked Kaleb’s hand, then started to devour his breakfast as Blu came around the corner.

Blu kissed Kyle, before sitting down, “Aw! Waffles, you not eating Blondie?”

Kyle rolled his eyes and pointed at Khan, “He’s eating mine.” Khan woofed, “Seems I made fun of my baby brother and he didn’t like it, so he fed mine to Khan.”

Blu waited until Kaleb gave him his waffles, then shared them with Kyle, “We shopping today or tomorrow?”

Kyle shoved a bite of his waffle in his mouth before Kaleb noticed he had any, “Tovayroundlunktymehavnappoonment.”

“Whosey what now?” Blu laughed, Davis’ head tilted looking at Kyle.

Kyle grabbed Davis’s cup of coffee and drank it, “God who the fuck puts sugar in their coffee?” he screeched screwing up his face.

“Uh… lots of ‘Normal’ people,” Davis said indignantly.

Kyle laughed and elbowed Blu, “He thinks he’s normal when he dates Kaleb. Kaleb, Davis needs a refill on his coffee,” Kyle held out Davis’s mug.

Kaleb turned around and was about to carry a carafe over until he noticed Kyle holding the mug, “Ya I don’t think so,” Kaleb grabbed Davis’s hand and dragged him toward the stairs, “Come on Baby.” Khan hopped up and chased Kaleb toward the stairs.

“Uh… sorry, Khan, Uncle Kaleb, and Uncle Davis are gonna be busy,” Kaleb stated as Khan cocked his head and whimpered.

*****

Kyle and Blu drove to the jewelry shop, Kyle hopped out and ran to the passenger side of the car opening the door for Blu. Kyle took Blu’s hand as he got out, “I hope we find something, this was one of the nicest jewelers I spoke with.”

“If you don’t like what they have maybe he’ll be able to make something for us. We could probably pay a deposit, then pay it off up to the wedding. We’ll find something you like don’t worry Blondie,” Blu said squeezing Kyle’s hand.

The two boys walked into the jewelers, heading straight to the wedding bands. The rings were locked up in a glass cabinet. Blu saw a band he liked, “Do you want matching rings Blondie?”

“I’m not really sure,” Kyle scratched his head as he studied the rings in the display, “Look at that one with the cool blue colored inlay,” Kyle pointed at a set of rings.

“It’s nice, do you like any others?” Blu asked.

Blu put his arm around Kyle’s waist, leaning into him as they stared at the rings. He pointed out a wide simple band, white gold, two lines engraved around it, “I like that one too.”

The Jeweler walked over to the boys, “Can I show you a set of rings?” Kyle nodded his head and pointed to the set the boys liked, the Jeweler set them on a soft cloth.

Kyle picked up the band to examine it and smiled, “They are perfect, don’t you think Babe?”

“Yeah, if you like it Blondie, we’ll get those,” Blu asked the jeweler how much, and if it were possible to get another the same.

The Jeweler nodded and placed a second band directly in front of Blu on the counter, “Your fiancée has taken care of payment arrangements.”

Blu eyed Kyle, “What’s he talking about?”

Kyle shifted nervously on his feet, “Well,” Kyle took Blu’s hand rubbing it gently, “I uh… may have… saved a lot of my money from doing some extra lessons to pay for this and I asked the Jeweler to sorta find rings like these for us,” Kyle kissed Blu’s hand and smiled.

“Really, you didn’t get the money some other way?” Blu asked warily.

“Nope,” Kyle shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as he pulled out his checkbook, “Babe look I’m not lying.”

“I didn’t think you were lying Blondie, maybe just hiding where you got it in case I got mad,” Blu lifted Kyle’s hand kissing the palm.

Kyle looked at the Jeweler smiling, “Can you size these for us?” The Jeweler nodded and checked the sizes of the boys ring fingers.

“They will be ready to pick up on Wednesday,” the Jeweler smiled and placed the rings with a slip of paper, “I just need the check for payment,” Kyle handed a check over.

“Thanks for helping with everything,” Kyle shook the Jewelers hand. “Come on Babe,” Kyle kissed Blu’s cheek as he draped his arm over on Blu’s shoulder as they left the shop.

*****

Kaleb and Davis were preparing to do laundry, Khan’s nose took an instant liking to Kaleb’s new culinary uniforms. Kaleb laughed patting Khan’s head, “You love Uncle Kaleb now don’t you Khan?” Khan sniffed then laid down on Kaleb’s uniform shirt, barking. Kaleb threw the clothes from the washer to the dryer and reloaded the washing machine. Kaleb sensually kissed Davis, “Think we should test the spin cycle to make sure it’s properly working?” Kaleb smirked as he patted the top of the washer shuffling Khan out the door.

Davis grinned, helping Kaleb slide up on the washer, his hands resting on Kaleb’s thighs as they made out. Kaleb threw his shirt off, shimmied out of his jeans and boxers, they were kissing and caressing one another, while Khan sat howling like he was in agony, his ears were twitching with his head was cocking from one side to another.

Kaleb and Davis were lost in the moment never hearing the front door of the house open and close.

Kyle heard Khan’s howl, “Babe,” Kyle had a stressed look on his face, “Something is wrong with Khan, listen to his crying.”

“That’s weird Blondie,” The boys raced through to the kitchen, Khan was sitting outside the laundry door howling.

Blu banged on the laundry door, “You better disinfect that washer when you’re done, what are you two, twelve years old, USE YOUR FUCKING ROOM!” Blu screwed up his nose looking toward the kitchen bench, “Do you think they’ve ever done it on the bench?” he pointed.

Kyle shivered, “God I hope not, we haven’t even done that,” he shrugged his shoulders, “You don’t think they did, do you?”

“You wanna?” Blu wiggled his eyebrows at Kyle, then ran over, jumping up on the kitchen bench, “Come here Blondie.”

Kyle walked over and waggled his eyebrows and started moaning loudly occasionally throwing in a grunt and a “Harder Blu.” Khan sat in front of his masters with a puzzled look on his face watching the two like this wasn’t how things were meant to be done. After a few minutes of loud, obnoxious grunting and groaning, Kaleb came out of the laundry covering the family jewels with one of his aprons for school.

“Kyle can’t you keep it down out here we’re busy,” Kaleb stopped in his tracks when he looked at his brother who had the biggest grin on his face and was fully dressed. “What the fuck?” Kaleb mumbled.

“Ya,” Kyle laughed, “What the fuck? You can’t even keep the sex in you guys bedroom, we come in the house, and poor Khan is crying like a banshee. You are scarring Khan for life,” Kyle rubbed Khan's head.

Kaleb turned around leaving a bare ass in the boy's view, “Whatever, you’re jealous we have a healthier sex life than you old farts,” Kaleb opened the laundry room door grabbing Davis’s hand and practically dragged him towards the stairs.

“Ew!” Blu exclaimed, turning to Kyle, “You wanna give the washer a try?” he said jumping off the counter.

*****

Kyle parked the SUV in the parking lot out front of the Information Center, Blu had trouble finding a venue for the wedding and had complained to his Mom. She then insisted on doing her own research.

“Boys, please give this a chance, I know it’s not what you really wanted, but it looked beautiful from the pictures we’ve seen,” Mom said smiling. Kyle and Blu nodded following Mom and Nan into the Information Center. The walls were plastered with photos of the park’s historic looking attractions, local history boards, and pictures of other weddings which had taken place at the park. “Wait here, look around a little while I find the guide to show us around,” Mom told Nan and the boys.

“Babe, look here,” Kyle snickered as he pointed to pictures which looked like a Japanese garden, “If we get married there you have to wear one of the men’s dresses what are they called Kimona?”

“Mhmm…” Blu said rolling his eyes as they continued looking at the pictures.

Kyle continued laughing as they browsed through the photos which showed how absolutely stunning the grounds and attractions of the park were kept. The park’s wedding venues were divided into different themes such as the prairie-themed which included a Blacksmith Shop, an old-fashioned Church, and a little wood covered bridge that surrounded a nice sized duck pond. “Babe, this area looks pretty, check it out,” Kyle said seriously as he yanked Blu over to the photos.

Blu inspected the photos, his interest peaked the more he saw, “Do you think they’ll show us this area?”

“Where’s that boys, give me a look see,” Nan said pushing Blu out of the way and into Kyle.

Kyle snickered as Blu glared at Nan for shoving him out of the way, “I guess she was a little excited.”

“The old bag has more strength than I gave her credit,” Blu bitched.

“She’s got better hearing than you’d think too,” Nan scolded the boys cuffing Blu on the back of the head.

Kyle rubbed the back of Blu’s head, while he rested it on Kyle’s shoulder, “It’ll be better before we get married,” Kyle kissed the top of Blu’s head.

“Asshole,” Blu said, his Mom returning a moment later with a beautiful dark-complected young woman. She was full-bodied, with feminine curves, the woman dressed impeccably, wearing a warm smile accentuated beautifully by her complexion.

“Boys, this is, Rhondra, and has graciously agreed to show us around today.”

“Congratulations gentlemen, I’m guessing you are Kyle, and this cheeky one is Blu,” Rhondra said.

Kyle smirked at Blu, “Yes that dork is Kyle, I’m Blu,” Kyle doubled over laughing so hard he couldn’t catch his breath.

The woman smirked back at Kyle, “Ah, so you’re Kyle, then. Well, let’s get the tour started. Have you seen anything on the boards you’d like to see first? We can start there,” Rhondra grinned.

“I think we would like to see the duck pond area,” Kyle grinned as he caught his breath, “I think Blu is leaning towards the Japanese Garden he’s wanting to wear a Kimona.” Blu elbowed his fiancee in the gut then moved forward linking arms with his Mom her to the golf cart the lady was going to take them on through the grounds. Kyle helped Nan and Mom into the back seat and hopped next to Rhondra. Blu sat on the bench at the back of the cart, which meant he would be traveling backward. The family held on for dear life as Rhondra’s driving emulated something close to how Kyle drove before he had professional lessons.

Kyle hopped out laughing once the cart stopped in the area of the duck pond and Blu sat with his fingers dug into the seat cushion, “Babe, are you ok?” Kyle whispered into Blu’s ear and gently nipped on his earlobe.

Blu swallowed, Kyle, helping him off of the cart, “I think so, holy crap, do you think she’ll let me drive from here on out, I think I’m going to be sick.” Blu said holding his stomach.

Kyle kissed Blu’s cheek and whispered, “I doubt it, she’d probably say no due to insurance purposes,” Kyle smiled and stole yet another quick kiss.

“Love you Blondie,” Blu said snaking his arm around Kyle’s waist leaning into him as they continued quickly to catch up to ladies who were already at the edge of the pond taking in the scenery. Blu stopped still attached to Kyle observing the surroundings. It was pretty as Kyle had said earlier, “I love it, it’s actually perfect,” Blu told Kyle.

Kyle squeezed Blu a little tighter in his grasp, “I agree, this is where we should be married.” Kyle leaned in whispering in Blu’s ear, “I think we should give Nan a little bit of a hard time let’s aggravate her a bit.”

Blu raised an eyebrow at Kyle, “Have you lost your fucking mind, don’t mess with that woman. If you do you’re totally on your own,” he said in just above a whisper hoping his Nan couldn’t hear him.

“What was that Blu?” his Mom called over to him.

“See what you did, the women in this family can hear dog whistle’s for fuck sake,” Blu whispered to Kyle. He then called out to his Mom, “I was just telling Blondie, that shade of yellow suits you Mom,” Lily was wearing a pretty canary yellow sundress, with strappy sandals.

Kyle snickered and walked over to Lily kissing her on the cheek, “Yes Mom, you look beautiful, and so does Nan. I’m the luckiest man alive to have such gorgeous looking women in my life.”

“Brown nose,” Blu chuckled under his breath, “Rhondra,” he said moving closer to where the woman was standing, “Are we able to get inside the little church, how many people will it hold? Although I like the idea of getting married outside here by the pond. What about you Blondie?”

“Whatever you want Babe, I want you to have everything that makes you happy,” Kyle smiled at Blu as Nan goosed Kyle’s ass, “Uh, umm… moving on,” Kyle muttered as he turned a rose shade of red in the face.

“Mom,” Blu hissed pointing at Nan, “She’s groping Kyle again, Jesus, does she ever quit.”

“Mom,” Lily admonished Nan, “come stand by me will you, leave the boys alone.”

“Fine, so sensitive,” Nan trudged over to Lily. Leaning closer to her daughter-in-law, “If he didn’t want people to pinch his fine ass, he shouldn’t be wearing those Levi’s and putting it on display,” Nan leaned to the side trying to cop another eyeful of Kyle’s cute butt.

“Mom,” Lily hissed at Nan, her face turning bright red, “I’m sorry Rhonda,” it was easy to tell their tour guide was doing everything in her power not to laugh.

“The church will hold about fifty people, but you are quite welcome to get married out here if you wish. If you bring any external decorations, they have to be removed before you leave the park. We prefer that any flowers and plant life not enter the park as we are trying to preserve the natural habitat. Of course, bouquets and centerpieces are allowed, but must be disposed of correctly,” Rhondra swept her arm around her, “you’ll have this entire space privately, it will be just you and your guests. You can set up anywhere you like between the pond, church, bridge, blacksmith workshop. The park is available in six-hour blocks. Have you thought about where you’re having the reception?”

“We were wanting to do like a picnic type reception here at the park?” Kyle stated as more of a question while looking at Blu.

“That sounds good to me, would you want to do it out here. If we’ve got the place for six hours we could do cold meat and salads in picnic baskets for the guests,” Blu grinned, “We could get those checkered picnic blankets for everyone, then have packed individual baskets holding the food for each family or couple. That way everyone has the same thing, and it will be easy for us to cater.”

Kyle smiled, “We could get Kaleb to do the food, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind doing it.”

“We’ll pay him something and help him, and I was thinking, do you want to see if the band wants to do the music for us like an outdoor concert type thing,” Blu suggested, Rhondra raised an eyebrow at the boys, until Kyle put her mind at rest.

“I’m in school for Music Education, so it would be a few of the students and probably be rather a low key with mostly stringed instruments and maybe a little percussion,” Kyle smiled after he explained the ‘band.’

“Let’s do it, what do you think Blondie?” Blu couldn’t be happier with the arrangement.

“Sounds good, Mom and Nan can you handle making the arrangements while we look at the buildings one last time?” Kyle kissed each woman on the cheek and then turned smirking at Blu.

*****

Blu smoothed Kyles hair back out of his eyes, leaning over to the gorgeous man lying next to him stealing a kiss, “Were you truly happy with the grounds and getting married outside Baby, I don’t mind if you wanted something fancier?”

“I loved the park Babe,” Kyle rolled onto his side facing Blu and kissed him tenderly, “I don’t want anything super flashy, that’s not me, and you know that.” Kyle laid his hand on Blu’s cheek, “I talked to Kaleb after dinner, he’s really excited to make the food for the reception. I’m not sure we will get a lot of input on the menu, he was rambling about how he was gonna make this and that, his eyes lit up like it was Christmas.”

Blu chuckled, “Let him have his fun Blondie, he’s really been getting into this cooking thing he’s got going. Fuck me if he isn’t awesome at it, that chicken, mushroom and asparagus pie he made tonight was the shit. Don’t tell him I said that. I don’t want him getting a big head, he can barely fit it through the door now.”

Kyle laughed, “I was thinking Babe, we should get a nice shiny collar for Khan and he can be the ring bearer without the real rings. My baby can’t be left out, you know his feelings would be hurt.”

“You… can… have… what… ever… you… want…” Blu said each word followed by a kiss, “Come over here and love me,” Blu whispered pulling Kyle on top of him.

Kyle snickered and nibbled on Blu’s neck marking his body ceremoniously, “Mmm… much better now nobody has any doubt you belong to me.” Once Kyle was done multiple bruises were starting to form which caused Kyle to have a fit of laughter.

The next afternoon, Blu, walked into the kitchen, not a surface spare, the place was covered in all sorts of dishes, “Kaleb, what are you doing, feeding the homeless population, whose going to eat all of this?”

Kaleb was working away in the kitchen, Davis was studying at the breakfast table, all around him were bowls of different types of salads. He was mindlessly picking at each of the containers while he read from a textbook, Khan sitting by his side waiting for food to fortuitously drop at his feet. Mooch!

Kyle walked around the kitchen and dining room making a sampler plate for himself tasting as he went, “Mmm,” Kyle moaned as he chewed on a bite of Taco Dip, “Fuck Kaleb that is awesome shit bro.”

“Ah, that was nothin’,” Kaleb waved Kyle off dismissively.

The doorbell rang, Kyle rushed off to get the door. He returned with his student Matty and his Mom Jackie, Kyle introduced them to his family while Kaleb was making two additional sampler plates. Once he had the plates filled, he handed one to Matty and Jackie. Matty being the typical thirteen-year-old boy, devoured the food without ever saying a word or most likely even tasting it. Jackie slowly tasted each thing, occasionally you would hear an ‘Oh’ or ‘yum.’ Once she finished her plate, she dabbed her mouth and sat the napkin down. Jackie smiled at Kaleb, “That was absolutely delicious, would you be willing to cater an event for the local Children in Need charity that is held in the fall, it is one of our biggest fundraisers that helps provide kids with free school meals that they wouldn’t be able to afford them otherwise.”

Kaleb was stunned, “I… uh… I don’t have a large enough kitchen to do such things.”

Jackie waved her hand, “Pish… posh… where do you think we hold the events? A tent? The building has a state of the art commercial kitchen, I’m sure it has everything you will ever need. We will pay you quite handsomely and give you a great reference for when you’re ready to start your own business. So do we have a deal?” Jackie paused for only a moment, not leaving Kaleb the chance to say a word, “Good I’ll be in touch, Matty make sure you’re learning from Kyle,” Jackie kissed Matty on the cheek as she headed toward the door leaving Matty wiping his face turning crimson red.

Davis stood after the woman left, grinning from ear-to-ear, “Congratulations Leb,” he picked Kaleb up off the floor spinning him around, kissing him, “You are soooo going to be famous.”

Khan stood staring over the counter licking his chops expectantly Kaleb smiled at his four-legged nephew, “Who’s your favorite Uncle?” Khan woofed a deep bark, “Good answer,” Kaleb prepared Khan a little plate of goodness and sat it on the floor for Khan. Kyle came around the corner with Matty and stared at Khan as he licked the last of the remnants off the plate his gaze stopped at his brother. Kaleb shrugged his shoulders, “My nephew was hungry, and he told me I was his favorite Uncle. Who’s to argue with such a loving boy?” Kaleb filled a large Tupperware container with samples of each of the dishes. He gave it to Matty as his Mom pulled into the driveway to pick him up following his lesson, “Matty tell your Mom I’m honored to have this opportunity,” Kaleb ruffled Matty’s hair which got him the death glare as Matty walked out the door.