Jimmy & Richie - 11. Chapter 11

When I woke the next morning, Rich was laying up against me and Nick was up against my back. I felt like a sardine. I couldn't move without waking one of them. I decided I would wake Rich, so I gently pushed him away as I got out of bed. I looked at him, he looked like he was having a great dream. I took a shower, dressed and headed for the kitchen. I just got a cup of coffee when Rich came into the kitchen.

"I couldn't sleep once you got out of bed.”

"I'm sorry I woke you. I was like a sardine, you in front and Nick in back.”

"I like sleeping with you. I always slept alone, it feels nice to have my back against you.”

"When does the cast come off?”

"In about two weeks, Dad has talked to a doctor here and made an appointment. I'll be glad when it's off.”

"I bet. There's coffee, help yourself and I'll see you tonight."

This time I left before Gramps. When I pulled into the gate, my friend, the guard stopped me, "You're early today or did your grandfather chew you out for being late yesterday.”

“No, actually, I was early." He waved as I drove to my parking spot. Being early I wasn't sure where to go, so I went to Gramps office.

"You're early, James, your grandfather isn't here yet.”

"Is it ok If I just wait here for him? He should be here soon.”

"Sure, do you want a coffee while you wait?”

"No thanks, I had two cups this morning."

"Good morning Grandfather," I always called Gramps grandfather when we were at work.

"You're early, James. I left word at security to ask you to come here before you start, they told me you were here already.”

"I woke a little earlier, so I came on in." I followed him into his office.

"Mrs. Webster was quite pleased with your work yesterday, They rigged the invoices to see if you would spot the mistakes, she said you even spotted a few that they hadn't rigged. She want's you to work in her department. That is two out of two, today I want you to work in shipping and receiving. Go to the dock area and see Jim Bolt, he's the freight supervisor."

Saying good bye to Gramps I headed to the dock area. Mr. Bolt was a big man, not only tall, but he had muscles where he shouldn't have. Later I found out why. He was a Navy Seal. He gave me several shipping orders. I had to locate the crates to ship, stencil them and then line them up on loading dock. I found several orders duplicated. I check the master list and found that the duplicate orders were an error. I showed them to Mr. Bolt. He took the duplicates and went into his office. The truck pulled up to the loading dock, Mr. Bolt wasn't there so I began to load the truck. I wish I had known I’d be working here today, I wouldn't have worn my suit. As I loaded the last crate, Mr. Bolt came and checked the manifest. He walked onto the truck, checked everything, and then told me to go to lunch.

I took my time at lunch, I was tired, moving all of that freight around, it took some muscles that I hadn't used for a long time. That brought home the fact that I was really getting out of shape and needed to start exercising again.

When I returned to the dock area, Mr. Bolt handed me several invoices.

"We are expecting a truck in a little while. I need you to check these invoices against the freight coming off the truck.”

No sooner did he say those words when a semi pulled up to the dock. The driver backed up to the dock, came and rolled up the door to begin unloading the crates. As he pulled each crate off the truck, I checked it against the manifest Mr. Bolt gave me. I noticed that on the manifest it called for 100 kgs of the product but the weight on the crate showed 100 lbs, I noticed a few other crates with the wrong weight.

Before the truck was completely unloaded, I saw Mr. Colt in the office, when he looked at me, I called him over to the truck. When he came over asking what was the problem, I showed him the discrepancy with the weights. He took the manifest, showed the driver and they talked for a long time. I stood and waited.

"James, you can go. I'll handle this."

I still had an hour before my time was up. I went up to Gramps office. "Are you done?”

"There was problem with the freight manifest on the incoming truck. Several weights were off. Mr. Bolt was going to handle it.”

"Do you remember what was written on the manifest and the items that had the wrong weight?”

“Yes”

"Take a sheet of paper and write down what you remember."

I sat in the conference room and wrote out the items that had the wrong weights. I showed the weight on the manifest and the weight on the shipment container. I also noted the invoice number on each item. I gave the paper to Gramps.

"Thanks James, you can leave if you want and I'll see you at home."

I said goodbye to Gramps secretary and left to go home. Since I had a little time, I stopped and picked up a few grocery items. When I pulled into the garage, I saw Nick heading my way. I gave him a bag to carry up to the apartment.

“Where's Rich?”

"His dad drove up, they are at Grams.”

“As soon as I put these groceries away, I'll take shower and head over that way."

"Why don't you go ahead and take a shower, I can put these away."

I thanked Nick and went and took a shower. After work a shower really feels good. Particularly today when I had to work the dock. As I came out of the bedroom, Rich was in the living room with I assumed was his father.

"Jimmy, this is my father, Paul Morris.”

Shaking his hand, "How do you do sir. I understand that you drove up today."

"Yes, it wasn't a bad trip. Since Richie is planning on going to school here I wanted to check it out. I'm glad to meet the guy who has offered a place for Richie to stay while he's here.”

"It isn't a large apartment, but it’s much better than a dorm. It’ll be quiet here and good for studying. Dorms offer a lot of distractions, according to my brother."

"How long are you staying Dad?”

"One of the reason's I came Richie was to tell you I'll be relocating again. There’s a project in Buffalo that’s falling behind. They asked me to go and see what can be done to get it back on schedule. I spoke to your grandparents Jimmy, they agreed that I could store Richie's things here. I plan on seeing you at least once a month Richie."

Rich seemed to be ok with that. He certainly understood about his dad moving with different jobs, he grew up with that. He also liked the idea of staying at Gramps and seeing his dad at least once a month. I think he’d like to see him more often.

That night at dinner, Gram went out of her way to make Rich's dad feel comfortable. I smiled as I listened to the conversation around the table. I was sitting on the right side of Rich. Every once in a while, he would reach over grab my leg. At first, I’d look at him and smile but after a while it was having an effect that would make it embarrassing to stand up. I think Rich knew what effect he was having on me. I looked at him and he had this knowing smile on his face.

I was a little shocked at the effect he was having on me. I have never given any thought to having a girlfriend or a boyfriend. But now I'm slowly becoming aware of Rich and his close proximity to me, at the dinner table, in bed, and in the morning. He always gets up before I leave. I can't say I don't like him, I do like him. I like him being my friend. I like the way we sleep together, thinking, I just like him. Do I like him more than Mike? Maybe, but I like Rich in a different way. There’s something about Rich that relaxes me when I'm with him. I can't get enough of his smile.

Rich's dad had made arrangements to stay in town and then leave for Buffalo. I let Rich and his dad have some quiet time. Nick and I washed my car. When Rich's dad came back down from the apartment, he stopped at the garage, gave me and Nick a hug.

"Thanks Jimmy for looking out for Rich. He's the only one I have left.”

I noticed some tears in his eyes as he hugged me, "You don't need to worry about Rich. He's very special to me as well." After I said that I realized that he is very special to me.

That night as I was sleeping, I woke for some unknown reason and I heard Rich and Nick talking. "Do you think he knows how you feel about him.”

"No, I don't think he knows. But the more time I spend around him the more I love him. Somehow, him not knowing appeals to me, it’s like his innocence has a special place, particularly in my heart.”

"Are you going to tell him?”

"I don't know. What if I tell him and he hates me?”

"You know he's gay.”

"How do you know he's gay?”

"Brandon told me that he acts exactly like he did when he was that age. He said he has buried his feelings because he's afraid of his dad.”

"I think I'll just play it by ear and see what happens. Even though I'd like to have him as my boyfriend, I don't want to lose him as a friend.”

"So you would suffer and bury your feelings rather than face him with them.” “

Yes, I don't want to ever lose his friendship. He's coming, please don't say what we were talking about."

"Hey guys, what's up?”

"Nothing, Charles talked to my dad today, it looks like I might get a chance to go to Ohio State. He said I'd have to keep my grades up before he'd agree.”

"Well, that's a good idea. So I guess we'll see how serious you are. They had me doing some heavy work today on the docks. I'm going to take my shower and hit the bed. See you in the morning if you’re awake."

The shower felt so good. I had it as hot as I could stand followed by a cold shower. I snuggled into my pillow and fell asleep. Sometime during the night, I felt Rich and Nick getting in bed. Rich snuggled up to me, I placed my arm around him and pulled him closer to me. I think I shocked him. Nick eventually found a place where we touched. I fell asleep.