The Barnstable Chronicles: Book 5 - Beautiful Boy - 13. Bridges

I’m glad I started my new job right after graduation. Graduation was on Saturday. On Sunday, I moved to the ocean house with David. Daddy had to go to Paris for a fashion show, and it was going to take a month for him to be back. So Nana decided to stay with Daddy so she could help him get ready. Barkley came with David and me.

Everything happened so fast, and I didn’t have time to be sad about Sky moving to California. We played Animal Crossing on the Switch when I got there. We talked on the phone for a little while he was on the way to the airport. Sky’s mom and dad were taking him to Italy for three weeks while people moved their things to California.

We got to the house, and Elliot was still there. He had filled the refrigerator and pantry with lots and lots of food. David asked me if I would call Daddy and Nana and tell them we had made it to the ocean house. He told me I could go out on the deck if I wanted to. So I went out to the deck, but I thought that was silly. David must miss Daddy already. Why else would he ask me to do weird stuff?

After I talked to Daddy and Nana, I put Barkley’s leash on him and took him around to the back of the house where there was grass. He had to smell the whole backyard before he figured out where to pee! But his tail was wagging the whole time, so he was a happy Barkley!

I took Barkley back inside the house. David was saying goodbye to Elliot, and Elliot said he would see us tomorrow morning. David explained that Elliot was going to cook meals for us like Mrs. Henderson used to—but he wasn’t going to live with us like Mr. Vincente does.

David said he would help me take my suitcases and Barkley’s bed up to my room. I carried Barkley. The door was closed. Why does that keep happening? Did my room get changed again?

I opened the door, and I couldn’t believe what I saw! My bedroom was changed to look just like my room in the city! The only difference was that instead of the brick wall, it was painted black like we had first planned. I had all the same pictures, including the one with Sky and me.

I was surprised I wasn’t sad when I looked at the picture. Instead, it made me smile and remember all the good things we did when we were boyfriends.

There was something new on the table by my bed. David said it was a lava lamp. It was so neat! It was green water and had a blob of something that moved around. David said he saw it on a spectrum website. They said it was soothing and calming. That must have been why I wasn’t sad about the picture—the lava lamp was on, and it soothed and calmed me.

Barkly liked my new room, too. He was exploring all over and wagging his tail. David put his bed on the floor in the corner by the window. As soon as David put it on the floor, Barkley crawled in, walked in a circle, and lay down. Maybe he was tired.

I hugged David and thanked him for my new room. I must be the luckiest boy in the whole world! Who else gets two brand-new bedrooms? That’s it—I’m just lucky!

David grilled hamburgers for dinner. We also had tater tots and salad. I helped and cooked the salad. Everything was real good. Barkley wanted some of our food, but David said we shouldn’t feed the puppy. People food isn’t good for puppies, and it could make him sick. Barkley wasn’t sad, though. He was wagging his tail the whole time he ate his food from his bowl.

After dinner, David told me to take Barkley out in the backyard. He usually poops after he eats dinner. So I got a poop bag and put the leash on Barkley. He wanted to explore the backyard again, but he finally did his pooping. I cleaned up the poop and tied the bag. David said I should put it in the garbage can by the garage.

David was standing at the back door when Barkley and I went back inside the house. He said he was going to have a fence put in and a doggy door put in the back door so Barkley could go in the backyard whenever he wanted to. I thought that was a good idea.

We watched Onward after David and I took a walk on the beach. I sat on the floor with Barkley in my lap. He’s so cute when he sleeps.

After the movie, I asked David if he was going to miss Daddy while we were here.

“I miss your Daddy whenever we’re not together—even if it’s for just a day.”

“Don’t be sad, David.”

“Oh, I’m not sad. Just the opposite, actually—I’m looking forward to Friday night when your Nana is going to come up for the weekend, and my mom will be here, too. It will be just like the first weekend you were up here to visit—only we won’t have all the people here for the photo shoot.”

“I miss Sky. I’m sad—but not as sad as I was before. I’m excited to start my new job.”

“That’s perfectly normal, Noah. Someday, you’ll remember your time with Sky, and your heart won’t hurt anymore. You’ll remember all the beautiful things you did together that were first-time things for both of you.”

“Yeah. Can I ask you a sex question?”

“Noah, you can ask me anything you want. We’re buddies, right?”

“We’re buddies, yes—and you’re my other daddy, too.”

“I love you, Noah. You bring so much joy to my life.”

“I love you, too.”

David slid down to the floor with Barkley and me and put his arm around me. I sighed—it felt so good. We just sat there for a while. Then I remembered the question I’ve wanted to ask for a long time.’

“When Daddy has his ten inches, does it hurt bad when he puts it in you?”

“Well, that’s not what I was expecting you to ask, but I did say you could ask me anything. So yes, it did hurt. But I think it hurts for everybody when they first start having sex.”

“Sky made me hurt, too, but he’s not that big.”

“But it stopped hurting after a while, didn’t it?”

“Yes. It started to feel better than anything I ever felt before.”

“Are you big like Daddy?”

“Ummm—yes, we’re pretty much the same.”

“Did you hurt Daddy?”

“I’m pretty sure he was uncomfortable at first, but I was very careful. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt your Daddy.”

“That’s good. I’m not that big.”

“The size of your penis isn’t that important, Noah. You should know that. But the one thing that matters the most is the size of your heart. It’s the love you have for the person you are with that makes sex one of the most beautiful things in your life.”

“Yes. That makes sense, David. The more Sky and I loved each other, the better our making love felt.”

David looked at me funny and said, “You know something, Noah? I am so proud of you. You have grown into an amazing, loving young man. When I first met you, everyone thought of you as a boy—a beautiful, innocent boy. But you have grown so much in the last year. It makes me so proud to be your buddy—your other daddy.”

“My daddy buddy.”

David kissed me on top of my head, and Barkley woke up.

“Why don’t we take Barkley outside one more time before we go to bed?”

“Yes, please. That’s a good idea.”

Barkley peed right away this time, and we went back into the house. I picked him up and carried him to his bed. He got in, walked in a circle, and lay down. Why does he always walk in a circle before he lays down? I’ll Google that tomorrow.

I must have been real tired. I fell asleep watching my new lava lamp. When I woke up, my cock was hard. I didn’t even have a sexy dream—well, not one that I could remember. But I still rubbed my cock and made cum. I like that feeling first thing in the morning! It was weird when I was wiping my tummy and saw Barkley watching me.

“You’ll get used to it, Barkley. I do that almost every morning.”

He just made a funny noise, so I got out of bed and put on my underwear. I helped Barkley downstairs and took him outside. He had to pee real bad! It took him a long time. When he finished, he ran around the backyard a few times.

When I went into the house, David was up and starting to make scrambled eggs. He asked me if I would like bacon or sausage. I felt like having sausage. Then, he asked me if I would like to make some toast to go with breakfast, so I cooked the toast.

Breakfast was yummy. After we cleaned the dishes, David asked me if I wanted to go swimming at the YMCA. That sounded like a lot of fun. So I went upstairs, put on my swimsuit, and then put on some shorts and a t-shirt—just like I would dress when I went swimming in Barnstable.

We got to the YMCA and went into the locker room. We put our outside clothes in the locker and walked out to the pool. I was getting excited because it had been a long time since I was able to swim fast.

While we were walking out, I looked at David. He has really strong muscles—not like Jaxon’s boyfriend, but they were still big.

“I wish I had muscles like you, David.”

“You have what we call a swimmer’s body. You have long and lean muscles, and your shoulders are nice a broad.”

“Yes, but yours look better.”

“How about we use my weight machine in the garage. When we get home, I’ll show you how to use it, and we can make your muscles stronger.”

“Yes, please.”

David and I swam for about an hour. We raced a couple of times. I won twice! David won the second time, but it was close. Maybe I was a little bit strong with my long and lean muscles.

When we got home, David took me into the garage. First, he taught me how to do the bench press. Then, we used the dumbells to make my arms stronger. After that, we did a whole bunch of other things, and by the time we were finished, I was getting sore! The last things we did were sit-ups and planks. I couldn’t do very many, but David said by the end of the summer, I would be able to do a whole lot more. He also said when I go to the university, they probably had a gym that I could use so I could get even stronger. That made me even more excited about college!

That night David called a restaurant and ordered dinner. He said we were celebrating my starting the new job tomorrow. A man delivered the food to the house, and it was yummy. I had lobster ravioli, and David had these big noodles with short ribs. David also got us a Caesar salad. It was good, too.

It was real nice going back to the aquarium. Jaxon was happy to see me again and said he was even happier that I would be there every day. I told him that I had to go to college for three weeks after the Fourth of July, and he said Mike already had someone who was going to be there for me while I was gone.

My friends were real happy to see me every day—well, almost every day. Jaxon and I worked on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. We were off Sundays and Mondays.

Nana came to the beach house every weekend. It always made me happy when she would come to the ocean house. Daddy got home from Paris in time to come to the ocean house for the Fourth of July. David’s mother came, too.

The big surprise was that Daddy invited Papa and Kelsey to come, too. He said that since I was eighteen now, the visitation arrangement was over. I could still see Papa when I wanted to, but once I start college, I would probably be too busy. It was a lot of fun having my whole family there. We went to another beach that night and watched the fireworks. They were real pretty.

Two days later, we went back to the city so Daddy and I could get on the train to take me to college. I was getting more and more excited the closer we got to Garden City. When we got off the train, Daddy got a car and drove to the university.

We went to Mrs. White, and she sent us to the theatre in the performing arts center. There were a whole lot of people in the lobby, so I put on my headphones. Most of the people like me had theirs on, too. Daddy checked me in, and Carlos came up to me!

He said he would be my mentor for the three weeks, but not in the Fall. We went back to the car, and Carlos helped us drive to the dorm. I’m glad my room was on the first floor, so we didn’t have to carry everything up the stairs.

Carlos already had his things in the room since it was his room during the school year. Daddy helped me unpack, and then he said it was time for him to go home. He hugged me real hard for a long time. Was he crying?

“Daddy, don’t be sad, please. I’ll be home in three weeks.”

“I know that, Noah. It’s just hard to see my beautiful boy all grown up.”

“Yes, I’m grown up, but I’m not a grownup. You’re the grownup.”

Daddy hugged me one more time and left. I watched him drive away from the window, and I started to cry real hard. I just realized that I was scared, and I never felt this alone before—not since the time Daddy was in New York, and Papa stopped taking care of me.

I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Carlos.

“It’s okay, Noah. We all cry when our parents drive away the first time. We were all scared. We felt lonely, too. But the good thing is you have me with you the whole time you’re here this summer. Can I get you anything?”

“Are you okay with hugs?”

“Yes. I can give you a hug.”

Carolos hugged me while I cried. He rubbed his hand on my back. It felt nice, and I was starting to feel better. I like Carlos’ hug, but it didn’t do anything to my cock. I just liked that Carlos made me feel better. I stopped crying after a few minutes.

“Thank you, Carlos. I didn’t know if hugs were hard for you or not.”

“I’m okay with hugs as long as I know and like the person I’m hugging.”

“Me too. I like you, Carlos.”

“I like you, Noah.”

“I’m sorry I was a baby.”

“You weren’t a baby. If you are like the rest of us, this was probably the first time you were away from your parents or other grownups who took care of you.”

“Yes. That must be it.”

“Well, if you become a mentor someday, you can hug the person who is crying their first time here.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

“That makes me happy, Noah. Are you ready to go to our meeting and get you set up?”

“Yes, please. Will you hold my hand?”

“I can—but how about we try me walking right beside you? We usually don’t hold hands when we walk on campus. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yes, I think I can. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“Good. Get your room key and your backpack. Do you have your laptop with you?”

“Yes.”

“You’re doing great, Noah!”

I liked Carlos. He made me feel good, but he also made me feel normal. At first, it was hard not to hold his hand when we walked back to the Performing Arts Center. But it got easier to do the more we did it. He had me find the way to the center but would help me if I made a mistake. We also talked about our families while we walked. Pretty soon, I forgot that I wanted someone to hold my hand.

When we got to the center, Carlos smiled at me, and we bumped knuckles. He said I did a great job. That made me happy.

We went into the theatre, and almost everyone was there. Carlos showed me how to pull a little table up from the side of our seats, and he helped me log on to the school’s internet. He told me I was connected all over campus now.

I asked him why I needed my laptop, and Carlos said I should take notes and write things that I thought I needed to remember. I’m real glad Papa gave me his laptop. I think I’m going to use it a lot now that I’m a college student.

There were a lot of people who talked to us. Then, I saw Mrs. White stand up, and she told us that we would get our university IDs tomorrow after our first class. There was a schedule that showed on a big screen behind her. It looked like I was in the first group since my last name began with a “D,” but I asked Carlos just to make sure. He said I was right.

One of the teachers—Carlos said we call them professors in college—stood and told us about the class we were going to take. He said our student email would have the class location and time. I didn’t know we had a student email account.

Before I had time to worry about how I would get my student email, someone stood at the podium and showed us how to get into our email account. They already set them up for us, so all we had to do was get access. My new email address was noahdan@adelphiugc.edu. I hope I can remember that! Well, I probably can. It’s just my first name, part of my last name, and the university name—AdelphiU. Carlos said the GC was for the Garden City campus since there are other campuses in the state. It made sense now.

I opened my email, and there were three emails. The first was from Mrs. White welcoming me to school. Then, one from Carlos said that he was excited to be my mentor for the summer program. I smiled at him when I read it, and he smiled back. The third email was from Papa! He told me he was real proud of me and that he would try to send me an email every day, but I didn’t have to write him back every day because I was going to be so busy. But, I decided that I was going to try to write Papa back every day!

While I was reading my email from Papa, another one came in. It was from the school and had my class information. My class started at 9:00 in the morning and ended at 11:30. Wow! That’s a long class—and it happened Monday through Friday. I guess they don’t have an AB schedule here like they did at Aaron School.

Next, they showed us a movie about the Bridges program. The movie had a lot of students talking about how cool the program was. I noticed how smart all the students seemed, and I hope I get that smart while I’m here. That would make me happy.

When the movie was done, Mrs. White said there would be a reception in the theatre lobby to meet each other and have some snacks. I like snacks!

I closed my laptop and put it in my backpack. Carlos and I went into the lobby, and they had tables full of cookies, cheese, snacks, and drinks. I was feeling a little shy, but Carlos said not to worry about that because all of the new students were.

We went to get some snacks, and Carlos started to introduce me to other mentors. So when I met his friends, I would meet the person they were mentoring. That worked pretty good because pretty soon, a lot of us were talking and getting to know each other. I’m glad we all had our names stuck to our shirts. That helped me talk to other people when I met them.

When we got back to the dorm, I asked Carlos if there was a gym where I could work out. He smiled at me and said he was happy I wanted to do that. He wanted to go and work out, too. We changed our clothes right there in the room. Carlos was a little shy and changed his clothes in the bathroom. I’m not shy. I’m naked a lot.

Carlos said to bring a towel and a change of clothes—and not to forget my headphones. He said the gym could get a little noisy if there are other people in there.

The gym was pretty close to the dorms. It was so big! There were so many different machines! I told Carlos that I wasn’t used to that many machines, but he said he would show me how they worked.

They had some treadmills, but Carlos liked using a funny-looking machine called an elliptical. He showed me how to use it, so I tried the one next to him. I got used to it after a while and was having fun. When we finished, Carlos showed me his circuit. We went to a bunch of different machines, and I ended up working on the same things David had taught me, just each thing was on its own machine.

When we were done working out, I was tired. We went back into the locker room, and Carlos said he liked to sit in the dry sauna and sweat. It always made him feel less sore after a workout. So he took me into a big wooden room that was hot. We sat on the benches and sweated. That’s all we did. After a while, it felt nice and relaxing. When we finished in there, we took a shower, got dressed, and went to the University Center.

There was a coffee shop, and Carlos asked me if I liked coffee. I told him it was okay if it was sweet enough. He smiled and said by the time I finished college, I would probably be drinking coffee a lot.

I tried a new drink that was made with coffee. They called it a peppermint mocha frappuccino. It was so good! I think I have a new favorite drink! I got to use the new credit card that Daddy gave me, too. That made me feel happy and grown up! After we finished our drinks, we went to the bookstore to get the book I would need for my class.

It was noisy in there, so I put my headphones on. It was nice that nobody looked at me funny for wearing them! Carlos said that a lot of typicals wear headphones and listen to music. He said he even listened to music too. I wish I could listen to music with mine! Carlos said he bet I could and would show me how to hook my headphones up to my phone and listen to music when I wanted to. That got me excited again!

We had to stand in line for a little while to get my book. When we got to the lady behind the counter, Carlos said to show her the email on my phone. She asked me if I wanted an ebook or a hard copy. That confused me. She said I could use the ebook on my iPad or have a regular book like I did in high school. I thought it would be cool to have the book on my iPad so I wouldn’t have to carry a regular one around. She even helped me load it into my iPad. People were real nice here—not like a lot of the people back in the city!

We went back to the dorm room to drop my things off and then went to the cafeteria. Carlos said I had to wear my name badge so they would know I was a student. He said I would get my ID card tomorrow, and that was also my meal card.

The cafeteria food isn’t very good. They need someone like Mrs. Henderson or Mr. Vincente to show them how to make good food! When we finished eating, we went to the center again to meet up with some of the other students in the Bridge program.

Some of them were playing cards and board games. Some were sitting in small groups and talking. Another group was watching something on the TV. We walked over to that group because Carlos said it was one of his favorite shows.

The show is called Atypical and is about a teenage boy on the spectrum. Wow! I didn’t know they made TV shows about us!

It was a little hard to understand what was going on, and Carlos said we could start at the beginning when we get back to the room.

“But you’ve already seen it. You don't have to do that.”

“I want to watch it again. I really like the stories—and the characters are good.”

“Okay.”

We watched some more of the show and moved around and talked to some people. The mentors did most of the talking, though. The rest of us were still a little bit shy.

When we got back to the room, Carlos asked me if I had Netflix. I didn’t know if I did or not, so he opened my laptop and looked at the screen.

“Yes, you have it. See that big red N? That’s for Netflix. Click on it and see if what happens.”

I clicked the big red N, and it opened right away. “Whoever put this on your computer set it up for you. That’s cool.”

He showed me how to find Atypical, and we started to watch the first episode. It was so good! The main character’s name is Sam. He’s smart and likes penguins, too! I knew I liked him when I saw him earlier!

We ended up watching three episodes of the show. After that, Carlos said we could watch a little bit every night before we went to bed. I was getting sleepy and told Carlos I was going to go to bed.

I got up, took off my clothes, and crawled into the bed. I looked across the room, and Carlos was looking at me with his eyes real big. “You sleep naked? You don’t wear anything in bed?”

“Yes. I started to sleep naked with my first boyfriend. My second boyfriend and I slept naked, too. I like it so much. I just always sleep naked now. It feels good on my skin.”

“You had a boyfriend? I mean, two boyfriends? And you always sleep naked?”

“Yes.”

“Did you have sex with your boyfriends?”

“Yes. We had sex every time we were together. But Sky called it making love.”

“Wow. I’ve never had sex. I want to, though.”

“I like it. It’s fun and feels real good. You’ve never slept naked?”

“No.”

“You should try it. I bet you’ll like it.”

I saw Carlos move under his blanket and drop his shorts, t-shirt, and underwear on the floor.

“It feels different. It’s nice, but it feels naughty, too.”

That made me giggle.

I reached up to the table beside my bed and turned on my lava lamp. Carlos said he had one, too—he turned his on. It was blue. I got comfortable under my weighted blanket and looked over to say goodnight to Carlos. He was looking at me, too.

“I’m happy I get to be your mentor for this, Noah. I liked you when I showed you around campus. I wish I could be here in the Fall so I could be your mentor for the whole year.”

“Yes. I’m glad you’re here, too. You’ve helped me so much, and it’s only been one day.”

“You’ve helped me, too.”

“I have? I didn’t do anything.”

“I know I’m smart and get good grades. I know I can do whatever I want. But when I see you, I see a boy who is so confident and—I don’t know—alive? You know how to live a life that even typicals would want.”

“I don’t feel very confident.”

“You’re confident with yourself. Like when you just took off all your clothes in front of me like it didn’t matter that I was here. I’m so shy—not confident—that I have to go into the bathroom to change my clothes. Of course, if I was as pretty as you, I might be more confident.”

“I think you’re pretty—especially your smile. Did you know that when you smile, it goes all the way into your eyes? That’s real nice—it makes me feel happy.”

“If I were gay, I’d keep smiling at you until you kissed me. I think you would be the kind of boy I would want to be my boyfriend—if I were gay.”

“Do you have a girlfriend, Carlos?”

“No. I’ve never had a girlfriend. Girls wouldn't love me.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not like the other boys that they do love.”

“Can I tell you something David told me once?”

“Who’s David?”

“He’s my Daddy’s boyfriend—and my other daddy.”

“Wow! Your dad has a boyfriend, too?”

“Yes. My Papa has one, too. His name is Kelsey.”

“Wow, that’s very cool.”

“Yes. It’s like I have four dads.”

“So—what did they teach you?”

“One day, when I was in high school in Barnstable, Daddy and I were talking. He told me that no one will ever love me more than I love myself. I thought that was silly until I met Sky. He showed me all the things that he loved about me, and when I started to like those things about myself, he just kept finding more and more things. So I found the more I loved myself, the more he loved me.”

“But there’s not much here to love. All I do is study. I don’t think there’s too much about me that’s left after that.”

“But you’re a strong and confident boy, Carlos. When I was sad and crying, you made me feel so much better. Whenever I would feel confused, you had all the answers. You have a smile that makes people happy. All those good things about you—and there’s probably a lot more—are the things that make me happy and safe. So there’s a lot about you to love, Carlos.”

Oh, no. I made Carlos cry! Oh no! I got out of bed and went over to Carlos’ side of the room. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, Carlos. I didn’t want to make you sad. Can you forgive me?”

Carlos turned around and looked at me with tears in his eyes. “Nobody has ever said those things to me before, Noah. Can you hug me? Would that be okay?”

“Yes, please.”

I held out my arms, and Carlos leaned in. I wrapped my arms around him and held him while he cried—just like he did this morning with me. But we had clothes on when Carols held me. Now we were naked, and holding naked Carlos made my cock fill up.

“Thank you, Noah. I have a lot to think about. You’re a smart boy.”

Carlos told me I could go back to sleep because he was feeling better. When I walked across the room, I could tell he was looking at my hard cock, but I didn’t say anything. He doesn’t like boys that way.

I went to sleep pretty fast but had a big surprise when I woke up the next morning. Carlos was in my bed! I was the big spoon, and my hard cock was pressing into his back.

I had mixed-up feelings. What do I do now?