A Different Love - 2. Chapter 2

7pm came around much too quickly. Even though it was a school night, mum and dad were delighted that I was going on my first date and after setting a 10pm curfew, had insisted that I wear my best clothes. I had far more than clothes on my mind though and was feeling absolutely petrified at the prospect of being in the dark cinema with Lucy. Apart from being totally inexperienced in such matters, there was the small problem of Lucy being the wrong sex. I had no idea what I was supposed to do or say and in a moment of panic I even considered sneaking back into the house and hiding in my bedroom. I knew that I daren’t stand her up though and reluctantly made my way to the cinema.

She was standing on the steps outside the cinema waiting for me and last minute nerves almost made me turn back. Her face lit up when she saw me and I smiled back at her weakly, trying desperately to stop an attack of the shakes. She kissed me lightly on the lips and slipping her hand in mine, led me up the steps into the cinema. I mumbled a compliment about how nice her dress looked and she smiled and squeezed my hand.

It was decidedly warm inside and as I bought the tickets, sudden droplets of sweat began to run down my back that had nothing to do with the heat. We bought two drinks and a carton of popcorn at the kiosk before walking down the sloping corridor into the dimly lit auditorium. I instinctively knew she would make her way to the back row and without saying a word, she led me straight towards it. We sat down roughly in the middle and I winced as she placed her hand on my knee. If I’d been straight this would have been absolute heaven! Sitting in the back row of the cinema with one of the best looking girls in my class was something that most of my classmates could only dream of, yet here I was, terrified of what might happen when the lights went out. She delved into the carton of popcorn that was sitting in her lap, but instead of offering me some, she reached across and gently placed a piece in my mouth. I felt obliged to do the same thing and after we’d fed each other several pieces, she leant across and kissed me again before resting her head against my neck.

The cinema had begun to fill up by now, but we sat there undisturbed until the lights finally began to fade. Lucy seemed completely absorbed in the film and I began to relax slightly, finally beginning to think that maybe there was nothing to worry about after all. By the time the intermission came, I had relaxed considerably and as the lights came up, I smiled at her and she reached across to kiss me.

To avoid further contact I volunteered to go for ice creams and the seat back flew upwards behind me as I quickly stood up. I was grateful for the short period of breathing space it afforded me but before I knew it, I was once again sitting beside her. Hopefully Lucy wouldn’t want us to feed each other again! It would have been just too embarrassing in the busy cinema with the lights on and I heaved a sigh of relief as she began eating her ice cream alone. It was a slight worry that there was no one sitting near us, but providing she became as engrossed in the second half of the film as she had in the first, there shouldn’t be a problem.

The lights gradually began to fade again and all conversation died away as the film restarted. I sank down in my seat to try and enjoy it when suddenly Lucy snuggled up close to me and gently rested her hand on my knee. My whole body stiffened as she gently squeezed it and I gasped in surprise as her moist lips found my cheek in the dark. Her hand left my knee for a fleeting moment to turn my head towards her and before I knew what was happening she’d pushed her tongue inside my mouth. For a second or two, I was stunned by her action but instinctively began to return the favour. At fourteen years old I’d never kissed anyone properly before, but it was obvious that Lucy was much more experienced.

Meanwhile her hand had returned to my knee and my heart raced as I prayed it would stay where it was. Unfortunately, it didn’t and as she slowly moved her hand upwards it slid across towards my inner thigh. Her hand was now stroking the inside of my leg and before long would surely touch an area of my body that had never been caressed by anyone else before. Even though I wasn’t normally turned on by girls I was still a fourteen-year-old boy and the fact that she was touching me in such an intimate place began to have the inevitable effect on me. Almost immediately a huge erection began thrusting its way urgently forwards and I could feel the perspiration running down my neck as I began to panic. My heart was thumping wildly with the anticipation of where her hand would touch me next but at the last second it veered away to safety, leaving me breathless and shaking. There was no doubt in my mind that for a split second she had deliberately brushed her hand against the throbbing protrusion in the front of my trousers and I couldn’t help thinking how awesome it would have felt to be touched like that by a guy. My whole body was on edge as I wondered what on earth I was supposed to do next. I didn’t want to touch her but couldn’t shake the underlying feeling that if I didn’t do enough to convince her I was straight, it would all end in disaster. Taking a deep breath, I tentatively reached across her body and slowly pushed a hand underneath her blouse. Her skin was soft and warm to the touch as I moved my hand slowly upwards. I was just about to touch her breast when she grabbed my wrist and firmly pulled my hand from underneath her top, whispering the words ‘maybe next time’ in a barely audible voice in my ear. Hoping my involuntary sigh of relief went unnoticed, I was grateful when the lights came on for the final time, leaving me gasping with amazement at how quickly the time had passed.

We held hands as I walked her home through the streets of Hamborough, kissing each other one last time at her garden gate. She thanked me for having a nice time and I heaved a barely discernible sigh of relief when no firm plans were made for another date. Luckily her house was on my bus route home and I wandered to the nearest stop in a complete daze. The time I’d spent being Lucy’s ‘date’ wasn’t totally unpleasant, but I had no desire to repeat the experience. I’d managed to get through the whole evening by imagining she was a guy and now I was desperately hoping that I’d done enough to convince her I was straight.

By the time I got home it was almost ten o’clock and my parents were just going to bed. They were full of questions about how my date had gone, but in order to escape their attention, I promised to tell them all about it in the morning. The state of nervous tension I’d been in for the whole evening had left me feeling exhausted and drained and I quickly undressed and collapsed onto my bed.

It was 4am when I finally woke from a restless sleep, cold and shivering. I quickly jumped into bed and snuggled down under the covers, immediately falling back to sleep. Within seconds I was back in the dark cinema, but this time the hand that gripped my knee was firm and strong and the face that nestled against my neck was ticklish with the first growth of soft hair. As before the hand travelled slowly up my leg along the same route that Lucy’s had taken but instead of veering off at the last moment it rested between my legs, gently massaging and caressing my throbbing erection.






I was running slightly late for school the following morning and as soon as I entered the noisy classroom the buzz of conversation immediately died away. It was obvious that the main topic being discussed was my date with Lucy the previous evening and the guys were soon asking me how far things had gone. It wasn’t in my nature to kiss and tell and besides, none of them were close friends anyway. If only Jake were still here though! It was unbelievable how much you could miss someone when they were no longer around, and I wished more than anything he was sitting beside me. I’m sure we would’ve discussed our sexuality by now and he certainly wouldn’t have let me go through with such a stupid and embarrassing fiasco in the first place. Jake had always been there for me and would've known exactly what to do and say.

Some of the girls were standing in a huddle at the back of the class, whispering and laughing with each other. Lucy appeared to be the centre of attention and from the way she looked across in my direction and smiled, it was obvious they were talking about me. The classroom fell silent as the teacher suddenly walked in and everyone immediately returned to their desks.

The first half of the morning passed by in a blur and the bell was ringing for the end of class before I realized that the lesson had even finished. I would normally have gone to my next lesson straight away, but this morning I was bursting to use the toilet and virtually ran from the room, inadvertently leaving my books on the desk. Coming out of the toilet a few minutes later, I cursed loudly, realizing that I had no choice but to return to the classroom and retrieve them. As I approached, the door was slightly ajar, and the quiet hum of conversation could be heard just inside. I immediately recognized Lucy’s voice as she answered a question that had obviously been posed by one of the others.

“It’s not exactly the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life” she answered indifferently.

The response came in a voice full of incredulous surprise “I never thought you’d actually go through with it though”

“Why not?” Lucy countered reasonably “We had to find out one way or another”

“Yeah but even so….”

“After all” Lucy continued, unabated “It wasn't a chore. He is pretty fit, just not my type, that’s all”

The blood rushed to my head as I stood there, astounded and shell shocked by Lucy’s revelation. I felt physically sick as a wave of dizziness swept over me and I clung to the wall, afraid that my shaking legs would fail to support me. There was absolutely no doubt in my mind they were talking about me and as they continued with their conversation it was proved beyond all doubt.

Another girl suddenly joined the discussion for the first time and she was clearly the voice of reason.“I don’t think it was a very nice thing to do Lucy” she said, disapprovingly “Jason’s a bit of a loner, but he’s a nice guy. If he is gay, it’s entirely his own business”

A fourth girl chipped in with a supporting comment “Yes, I agree” she said fervently “Just imagine what he’d feel like if he ever found out that you were…well, testing him”

“Don’t worry!” Lucy replied nonchalantly “How would he ever find out?”

The question made them all fall silent for a second or two and I could see Lucy standing there in my mind’s eye, challenging them not to reveal what she’d done “Unless you tell him that is” she continued

“Of course I wouldn’t tell him” the girl who’d asked the question answered indignantly.

The other girls immediately agreed with her and quietly muttered their compliance. There was a further moment’s silence until the second girl’s voice suddenly chipped in. The anticipation of knowing what Lucy had found out was obviously overriding any moral concerns that she might have previously had

“So…..is he?”

As I stood there unable to move, a band of sweat broke out on my forehead and I could feel the colour rising in my cheeks. This was the moment of truth! Lucy continued in a hushed voice, obviously enjoying holding centre stage.

“Definitely not!” she confirmed.

The second girl clearly couldn’t help herself interrupting once again. “How do you know? she gasped “You didn’t….”

The words, sleep with him, were obviously meant to follow but Lucy quickly interrupted, exploding with indignation. “No, of course not!! What do you think I am?”

The silence that followed spoke volumes but in their thirst for information, the second girl eagerly continued “So how do you know then?”

Lucy hesitated before answering and I was surprised to detect a hint of embarrassment enter her voice. “Well you know what it’s like in the cinema” she began to explain “Hands everywhere! I just happened to brush against his….and he had…well you know….”

She fell silent, allowing one of the other girls to finish the sentence for her “You mean he had an erection!” she whispered in awe.

“Yeah, definitely!” Lucy giggled.

I laughed to myself ironically. On the one hand she was causing me acute embarrassment, yet on the other hand she was helping me to achieve my ultimate goal.

“It was pretty big as well” she continued, amid gasps of surprise.

She was definitely exaggerating now. From the split second that her hand had brushed against me there was no way she could tell how big it was. It was all to my advantage though. I must have done an incredibly good job convincing her I was straight, but I still couldn’t believe that I’d gone through all that just to become a guinea pig in some kind of sick experiment.

The girl that had earlier been the voice of reason clearly couldn’t help herself from becoming more inquisitive and was finding it hard to mask the excited anticipation in her voice “Did he try anything?”

Lucy replied in a quiet voice and I could only just hear what she said “He certainly had wandering hands!” she answered breathlessly “He put one of them in my blouse and tried to…….!”

There were loud gasps all round from the others before she could continue “He can’t be gay then” one of them commented. “It definitely sounds as if he was interested”

The others murmured their agreement and Lucy went on triumphantly “There you are see, I told you there was no harm in it. We know for certain now”

I was just about to slip away before they left the room when all of a sudden my nose began to itch and I couldn’t hold back a sneeze. There was complete silence as the conversation immediately died away and taking a deep breath I slowly pushed open the door. Lucy’s jaw dropped to the floor as soon as she saw me and her face turned the colour of beetroot. The other girls just stood there looking extremely uncomfortable and I stormed over to my desk to retrieve the books I’d forgotten to take with me. Lucy’s voice was wavering and hesitant as she desperately tried to apologise for what she’d done.

“I’m really sorry Jason. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. It was just….we just wondered if you were….her voice trailed away and the last few words came out as a whisper …if you were gay”

She put her hand on my arm and I shook it off angrily, trying to sound as hurt and upset as I could “Sorry doesn’t cut it Lucy, I thought we were….”

I left the sentence unfinished for effect and tried desperately to remain angry, whilst in reality, feelings of utter relief flooded over me. Giving her a wounded look for good measure, I headed towards the door before turning around to press home my advantage.

“And for your information” I announced, addressing all of them “You’re right, I’m definitely not gay!”

As I slammed the door shut behind me I just caught a final comment from one of the other girls.

“Sorry Jason, we know that now”

The feeling of relief was unbelievable and as I ran down the corridor I couldn’t help jumping clear of the floor and punching the air in triumph. It hadn’t been an easy time but at least the girls were convinced I was straight now, so it had definitely been worth it. Nevertheless, I was still amazed how sometimes the truth can be obscured by simply pretending to do what people expect of you.