Don't Blame The Band - 4. Screwing the Shysters and Another Opportunity

Monday July 25

We met Michelle at Midtown's office/studio after determining it was in a strip mall. We immediately weren't impressed, but none of us were really surprised. Michelle started the first recorder before we entered. We walked in the main door and there was a small area, maybe 8 feet deep and the 15 or so feet wide the storefront was. A woman was sitting at a desk, blowing on her nails. Besides the desk, her chair, three more chairs and a small filing cabinet, the room was empty. We told her who we were and said we had an appointment with a Mr. Adam East. We all figured it was the fake name of a Batman fan. She picked up her phone, dialed a bunch of digits, obviously not just an extension, then told us Mr. East would be with us shortly.

"Hello young men, and young woman. I'm Adam East. I run things here at Midtown Independent. Come on in the back. We're still kind of starting out so the facilities aren't fancy, but the recording studio is top-notch."

We followed him into the back area and from what we could tell, this section looked very professional. As usual, from what we'd all seen in movies, there was a soundproof area where the artists would play, and another space where the sound engineer, producer, whatever would sit with the sound board and apparently anything else they needed. I'll call it the listening booth.

"Can I go look at the drum kit?"

"And the keyboard setup?"

"Of course, feel free."

We were told David didn't need to cart his drums all the way to New York, nor Eddie his keyboards, nor amps for the guitars. After a minute, they came back into the listening booth and indicated they could make do with what was there. Introductions all around. With jeans, sneakers, a plain blouse and blonde hair, if Adam recognized Michelle, he gave no indication. We figured if he did, we'd be shown the door quite quickly.

"My associate who saw the band play last weekend said it was all guys. May I ask what your role is Ms. Nash?"

"It's Miss. I was recruited a while back to act as their manager. This is the first time I needed to do anything in that role. I'm kind of unsure how all this works, I hope you don't mind if I record the meeting, in case I need to remember anything later?"

Michelle had started recording prior to asking the question, so the question and their answer would be part of the record.

"Uh, yeah, that should be OK. This is my associate Robin Treadwell. He's the one who saw you at the show, and for today, will be handling the sound. He worked his way up from sound engineer to our VP, so he knows his way around. Anyone need a coffee, tea, soda? I can send Peggy next door if there's something we don't have."

We talked about this amongst ourselves and decide we'd just ask for water.

"We're all good with water. Anything else has a tendency to interfere with our singing. I mean, who wants to belch in the middle of a song?"

Adam and Robin laugh at my little joke.

"Why don't you go ahead in the booth and start warming up and Robin can check the sound. Miss Nash, you can sit out here with us. Not that we'd expect you to make any noise, but things get dropped, sneezes happen, you understand?"

"That's fine. I'd rather watch Robin work anyway."

We hadn't discussed Michelle doing a little flirting, but we trust her. Anyway, we all head into the recording booth, Rich, Gabe, and Ant plug their guitars into the amps Midtown supplied. We figured our fake song was a little upbeat, so we warmed up with Paranoid. Also because it's short and we were all looking forward to the fun part.

"That's good guys. Robin's giving the thumbs up, so whenever you're ready, let us know and Robin will start recording."

We all look at each other, giving thumbs up. While they're watching us for a go signal, Michelle slid herself and the recorder a little closer to Robin, who was sitting between her and Adam. We gave the sign, they started recording and we started in on 'Sleepy Eyes, Dead Eyes.' They immediately looked at each other, but didn't stop us from continuing. Even though they spoke together quietly, Michelle had top of the line recording equipment and we later found out it picked up everything they said. Michelle didn't hear first hand.

Adam: "Isn't that the song we nabbed from 'the noise makers?'"

Robin: "It sure is. I wonder what they're trying to do. We can't steal a song from these guys if we already stole it from someone else."

Adam: "OK, we'll let them finish and tell them it's not really the kind of song we handle."

Robin: "Works for me."

We finish the song, Michelle gives us a shrug since she didn't hear what they said and we wait for the impact.

"Um, yes. You guys sound pretty good, but that's not really the sound we're looking for. Robin tried to explain your songs to me, but that's never really easy to do. I'm sorry we had to bring you all the way out here for nothing."

Eddie speaks for the band as usual.

"Wow, really? Yeah, it kind of sucks to come into the city to get recorded and then get told no thank you after two songs. Can you tell us a little more why?"

"Well, we think the song, while upbeat sound-wise, is a little too dark lyrically for us. We can give you a few bucks for gas money if you want."

"No, the money's not that important. We figured on hitting some of the sights New York has to offer when we were done anyway. We'll just have a little more time doing that. OK guys, let's pack it in."

After we rejoined them in the listening booth, we thanked them for the opportunity and suggested if maybe we can give them a call if our future songs weren't so dark. They agreed, but we knew it was an empty promise. We left the studio, Michelle picked up and turned off her recorder, and we were on our way. We'd passed a restaurant on our way in so we decided to meet there to talk about what's next, and listen to the tape.

"I listened to the end on the way over. It wasn't much, but we got the magic words three times."

Michelle queued the tape up to that point and we all heard Adam say 'isn't that the song we nabbed' and Robin say 'we can't steal a song from these guys if we already stole it from someone else.'

"So, what's next?"

"Well Eddie, you guys hand over $50 each, sign my retainer form and then I go back to the office and log you into the system and start working on a class action suit. I'll obviously be contacting the noise makers to be the lead plaintiff since it was their song they admitted stealing. I'll get in contact with the rest, see if they want to join, get them to sign waivers if not. Then do a little research into their finances. After the suit is all set up, I'll have one of our runners, and someone from security, for the runner's safety, drop off a copy with them with instructions to inform them we'll need a response from them prior to, let's say 7 days from their receiving it."

"Wow, how long do you think all that will take?"

"It'll be a fairly straightforward suit. I'll use the theft of intellectual property template we have. I'd say by Monday or Tuesday of the week after next I'll have the suit ready to be delivered. Another week and we'll know what the next steps are. They will probably say it's our word against theirs about the quote, but I'll be putting a copy of the tape in the package, so they really won't have that option. Then I'll probably meet with their lawyer, listen to him bitch and moan for a few days before he realizes they don't have a leg to stand on and they'll offer a settlement. I'll do some research in the meantime, see if I can find out how much they made from the sale of ill-gotten goods and ask for double since it'll take a while to get the rightful owners on the copyright and them getting royalties. With any luck, that will be a number that they can pull out of the company accounts. I already checked, they're not an LLC, Limited Liability Corporation, so Batman and Robin would be personally responsible for any difference. I'd say, sunny day scenario, by around this time next month we're either getting a court date or cashing settlement checks."

"What are the chances of going to court, and would that generate a bigger number?"

"I'd say about 3 to 1 in favor of a settlement. If it gets to court, the jury will look at you guys, hear a bunch of character references, with the other bands too, and likely hit them as hard as they possibly could after hearing the tape."

We head in our separate directions and begin the waiting game. We're not figuring on getting much with potentially 8 bands involved. Hopefully we can get a couple thousand each. We all go back to our normal routines. Rehearsals on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoon. Shows on Friday and Saturday nights. Ant and I find something to do on Tuesdays, sometimes we go out to the horse track, beach, amusement parks, etc. But lots of times we stay in. We work on more songs pretty often, even on the off-days. Of course our favorite pastime occurs a couple times a week. We still haven't progressed beyond blowjobs and rimming, but we've talked about doing more, just have no set time for anything.

Monday August 8

Dad comes home from work carrying a large folder. Usually when he brings work home, it's in his briefcase. Ant and I spent the day at the beach, but I'm back home a few minutes before dad walks in at 6:15.

"Peter, you upstairs?"

"Yeah dad."

"Can you come down for a minute?"

"On my way. I was just about to head to Eddie's."

When I get downstairs, dad is sitting at the dining room table with the folder.

"What's that?"

"Inside here, my son, are 6 copies of the lawsuit that will be delivered to Midtown tomorrow morning."

"Ohhh, we've been waiting for that. Have you looked at it?"

"Yes, and you should sit down so I can explain some of it to you. You'll probably be a little late getting to rehearsal, but when the guys see why, I doubt it will be a problem."

I sit and dad talks.

"So, as a class action suit, there a a lot of people involved. Michelle was able to contact all the bands that were deprived income by Midtown. So any return from the suit will be split 8 ways. Unfortunately not equally, but it's not so bad for you guys. The, um, Noise Makers will get 18% since it was their song Midtown admitted stealing. Each of the 6 other bands will get 12% of the proceeds. It was agreed by the rest of them, since you guys uncovered the conspiracy and they wouldn't be getting anything without your actions, you guys get the last 10%. This is all after Michelle's contingency fee of 25%. Got it?"

"Yes, so assuming we settle for $100,000, the firm gets $25,000 and we get 10% of the remaining 75%."

"Exactly. Now, Michelle did some research into how much money Midtown made from the sale of the artist's songs and how much the company has in assets now. There were a total of 14 songs, 2 by each group. On average they made $70,661 for Midtown..."

"Holy smokes, that's like almost a million dollars."

"$1,978,508 to be exact. Remember, Michelle was going to ask for twice the revenue. But, some of that money was spent on equipment, rent, salaries, etc. The actual value of their assets is roughly $1,140,000 in cash or cash equivalents, like bonds, and $340,000 in physical assets, current value after depreciation. The remaining roughly $500,000, the principals of the company would be responsible for, but neither of them have attachable assets anywhere near that amount. It's likely none of that will be recovered, so the penalty would be $1,478,984 without rounding off the asset values. If that number is agreed upon, the other 7 bands will get a little over $998 thousand. Your band's share would be $110,923.80, or $18,487.30 for each of you."

"You couldn't have just started at the 18,000? Just kidding I know every point needs to be understood. But what if they don't settle?"

"Then they're looking at personal bankruptcy because the firm will go after the entire $1.9 million and change. The $1.4 million plus, pretty much closes the company and leaves the owners with whatever they kept and still have in salary. They'd be stupid not to go with a settlement. They'd lose pretty much everything else they had. Not to mention potential jail time. Questions?"

"No, I don't think so. Michelle laid out a sunny day scenario for things. She's dead on so far."

"OK, enjoy your rehearsal. Tell the guys not to lose these, if they want them replaced, it will come out of your proceeds."

"Thanks dad. See you later."

"Hey guys."

"You're late. Pizza's on you."

"No problem. I can afford it. Shit, we all can. Take a look at these."

I hand out the copies of the lawsuit.

"What's this?"

"You forget how to read Rich? It's called a lawsuit. Copies of what Midtown will get in the morning."

They skim the document, but since it's filled with legalese...

"Um, how about a summary? You're the lawyer's kid. Do you understand any of it?"

"Well, only because my father explained it to me. We're suing for almost $2 million. The other 7 bands get most of it, obviously, and they'll probably settle and what Michelle is shooting for there is pretty much everything the company currently has, almost $1.5 million. If they settle for the full amount, each of us gets over $18,000. And if they don't settle and lose, they're probably looking at jail time too. Settling means they can avoid that."

"You're shitting us?"

"Yeah David. I have a high quality printer at home and made this all up. Look here."

I point out the numbers to them. They're pretty much stunned.

"I was hoping for a grand or two. These guys really did a number on those other groups. Shit, fucking them over would have been good enough for me. This. Damn, we can get more equipment, make a lot more t-shirts to sell. Who knows what else? When do we know more?"

"Based on what Michelle said, they need to respond within 7 days Eddie. If they settle, maybe a couple more weeks after that. If they decide to go to court, with appeals, it could be years."

They all agree screw the extra money and potential jail time, pay us now. Unfortunately, all we can do for now is wait. And rehearse our songs.

Thursday August 11

Ant and I have been getting together a lot more often. Not just for sex, although most of the time that is the primary activity. We've been looking at more of my poems and have three more ready to share with the group. The poems, well songs now, are called 'Running Out of Time,' 'Trust Your Fears,' and 'Eye Meets Eye.' Ant's melodies are kind of slow for the latter two, but pretty rocking for 'Running Out of Time.' We're actually both happy with the way they all sound. Obviously we're hoping the guys will agree. We mostly spend the day running through them a number of times each and making a few recordings of each. As usual, we pick the version of each that we think sounds the best and make a new recording of them.

We arrive at Eddie's on time at 6:30. As has been the case with each new day, the first question is have I heard anything from Michelle. And so far the answer has been the same. No. I'm guessing Midtown will take as long as they have to respond. But we'll see. We play the new songs for the guys, get thumbs up on each of them and hand out the rough version tapes. Obviously there won't be enough time to do much with them before Saturday, but 'Try Harder' is ready to be rolled into the set. We decided to put it into the second half of the show. We're all hoping for another successful debut.

Ant and I spent a lot of time on songs this week. We both agreed there wasn't enough us time (like there ever is?) So after rehearsal we head straight to his room and slowly start undressing each other. There seems to be an unspoken agreement that we're not going to rush things tonight, but take it slow. I'd stopped the previous day at an adult novelty store, hoping I wouldn't get challenged for being under 18. I got lucky when the clerk knew me from going to our shows and just assumed I was old enough. I walked out with a tube of lubricant and a box of condoms. I was hoping I could convince Ant to make love to me. I was OK if he didn't want to, but it had been almost a month since RB took my cherry and I desperately wanted to feel Ant inside me. I was hoping tonight would be the night. I didn't care if he wasn't ready to take me into him. I could wait until he was ready, but I really wanted to have the feeling of having a dick inside me again. We were naked on his bed, kissing each other and I broke away from the kiss.

"So, Ant. Do you think we could make love tonight? Or at least you make love to me if you're not ready to be bottom?"

"You sure you want to? Are you OK, after, you know?"

"Yes. I've actually really been looking forward to when you do it for me. I've waited a long time before even mentioning it. Trying to gauge if you may be ready or not."

"You know I've never done that. I mean, yeah I love you, but I don't want to ruin our first time."

"Well, it's not like you're going to practice on anyone else. I'm obviously no expert, but I can guide you as best I can. If it's not perfect, so what. We'll have a lot of time to make it better. But I have a feeling it's going to be great anyway."

"OK. But what about, um, condoms, lube, whatever?"

"I went to the Lover's Lane store and got some. The guy there has been coming to our shows, never even asked me for ID."

Talking was over. After more kissing and Ant rimming me a little, I handed the condoms to Ant, rubbed some lube on and in my ass; it felt a lot nicer than the Vaseline. I handed Ant the lube and laid on my back, pulling my knees up toward my shoulders.

"Just go slow. You're bigger than RB was. It only hurt a tiny bit with him, I'm expecting a little more pain now."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"Just go slow, let me tell you when I'm ready for more."

After fingering me for a while to stretch my anus, Ant puts the condom on. He places his dick at the opening of my asshole. He pushed in, I pushed out then relaxed, and he was inside me. At least a little. I guess I grunted and flinched a little.

"You OK?"

"Yeah, just give me a second."

After about 10 or 15 seconds I had him push into me a little more. With another half-dozen stops and starts, I finally felt him leaning completely up against me, his pubic hair tickling me a little.

"Oh my God. I'm all the way inside you. I can't believe how incredible this feels."

It wasn't so incredible for me yet, so I had him wait bit longer. After a short while the pain reduced itself to minor discomfort.

"OK, start moving in and out, slowly."

He pulled back just a little bit and pushed back in. Oh, the feeling was incredible. Pain has totally been replaced by pleasure. I wanted more and told him. He started pumping in and out of me slowly, then a little faster with my prodding. It was feeling better every time he pushed all the way in. I begged him to go harder and faster. He slowly built up speed, still not sure if he was hurting me or not.

"Oh God. It feels incredible. Please. Go faster."

Ant complied and soon he was pistoning in and out of me like a cylinder on a V8 engine. Less than a minute after he hit top speed, I started cumming. My ass squeezing Ant's dick caused him to cum shortly after I started. I felt shot after shot of his cum filling the condom as I seemingly drenched my stomach with my own cum. We were both breathing hard, Ant finally collapsed on top of me, his dick still buried deep within me. Neither one of us could talk for a couple minutes. By the time I could, he had slipped out of me.

"God I love you Ant."

"I love you too Pete. That was, just, wow. Amazing."

"Yes, it was. It took a bit to get over the pain, but once I did. I wanted you deeper and deeper inside me. I told you I came when RB did it, but tonight was, so much different. So much better."

"Um, yeah. Can I ask you to do something for me though?"

"Sure. Anything."

"Stop comparing everything we do to RB? At least out loud?"

"Oh, shit. Of course. I didn't even think how that would make you feel. It's just you and me from now on."

"Thanks."

We spent a little while longer cuddling and kissing. I wasn't going to push Ant at all. When he was ready for me to make love to him, I'll be ready, but it will be hard to be patient until that time.

Friday August 12

Mom's out shopping so I have to run to the phone when it wakes me from my nap at almost 6:30. Ant wore me out last night I guess. I was hoping for an hour or two this afternoon. I'd been asleep 3 1/2 hours.

"Hello."

"Hi Pete. It's Michelle."

"Hi Michelle. What's the word?"

"Well, the word isn't stupidity."

"Meaning Midtown isn't being stupid about the suit?"

"Smart boy, um, young man. Yes. They agreed to settle. We're going back and forth on the number right now, but I'm thinking we should be able to come to an agreement by the 7 day deadline, i.e. Tuesday morning. Of course, they could change their minds up to that point, but their lawyer said he convinced them settling was in their best interests, to avoid personal bankruptcy and jail. So it's not written in stone yet, but we have made some progress."

"Awesome. I'll let the guys know tonight. Have a good weekend and hopefully you'll complete the good news soon."

"Fingers crossed. You have a good weekend too. Send my best to the rest. I'll let you know as soon as I do. Bye."

"Bye."

Not much point in making calls, it's almost time to head out to Garson's. I'll just get there a little early so I can share the news as soon as everybody is there...

It's just after 7:30 and they've all arrived and are starting to bring their equipment into the storeroom. I wait until they're all done.

"Hey guys, before you start taking the stuff out to the stage, I have something to tell you."

They obviously know it's good news, I've been smiling since I hung up with Michelle.

"Well, we know it's nothing bad with that ear-to-ear grin. Spill it."

"OK Eddie. I heard from Michelle a little while ago. There's still some negotiation going on, so it's not guaranteed yet, but Midtown has decided to settle. Michelle hopes she'll have the number settled before Tuesday's deadline."

"No shit. Awesome."

Rich's feelings were echoed by everybody. The energy level for the show that night was amazing. The crowd was into it, we performed almost perfectly. During the break, Ant whispered to me 'your turn tonight' with a big smile on his face. I couldn't see how I could be any happier than I was before he said that. Somehow, I am though. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The place continues to be packed for every show. Paul is still handing us our 7 deep stacks of 20's. We're obviously still happy with the pay. It looks like he's taken a lot of the income over the past 7 weeks to spruce the place up. Not that it looked bad before, but it looks great now.

After the show Ant and I head back to his house for another lovemaking session. This time I get to lose my being on top cherry. I'm extremely ecstatic that I was able to be Ant's first and that he'll be my first, or at least the first I'll be making love to. It still boggles my mind that I went from assuming I was straight, having a little male-female action, to going all the way with Ant. I still hate to admit it, but I have RB to thank for that. I may have ended up being happy staying with Cathy, but I don't think it would ever have come close to how I feel about Ant. We start out slow again, kissing and fondling on his bed. Ant asks me to start rimming him. I'm a lot more into it this time than I usually am, knowing what is to follow. Ant tells me he's ready, so I start fingering him and lubing up his ass. After I think he's stretched enough, I check to make sure he's really ready to do this.

"You sure you're ready for this?"

"Oh, yessss."

I put the condom over my dick and line it up with his ass. Like last night, as I'm pushing in, he's pushing out. I'm a little more narrow than "average" so it doesn't take me as long to get my dick in deep as Ant did last night. I'm hoping that doesn't mean it won't feel as good for him. But we continue and after a couple minutes, I'm balls deep into another person for the first time in my life. Like Ant said last night, it feels incredible and I echo his comment out loud as well. He's ready for me to start going harder so I turn it up a notch.

"Jerk me too. Go faster."

I start jerking him off, trying to keep in time with my thrusts. After another 8 or 10 thrusts, he starts cumming on my hand and his stomach. Feeling his orgasm puts me over the edge and I'm filling the condom with spurt after spurt of my own cum. I know (hope) it won't but I wonder if I'm filling the condom to bursting. Obviously I'm not, but it sure feels like it. Like Ant, I collapse on top of him, breathless. After a couple minutes I slip out.

"Mmmmm, up until that happened, it was awesome."

"I know how you feel Ant. Kind of like something left a hole in you."

"Exactly. But knowing that emptiness can get filled over and over again makes it OK."

"So I guess you want to do this again?"

"Oh, God yes. I like the idea of switching off like we did so neither of us is too exhausted afterward."

"Speak for yourself. I had to take a nap this afternoon. 3 1/2 hours later I get woken up by the phone. But it was worth it."

"It sure was."

Tuesday August 15

I've been pacing the house all day, waiting for Michelle's call. Since she didn't call yesterday, Ant came over here to work on the songs. We have a pretty good sounding recording with the whole band playing for the new songs, but we all know they still need a little work. 'Try Harder' went over extremely well on Saturday night. Our fans at Garson's are behind us completely. It'll be awesome when we debut the next three. We decided to split them 3 and 3 in the two sets, especially for the first playing. And not do any of the newest consecutively. We're doing that with the first bunch too. Finally, as mom is getting dinner ready at 5:30 the phone rings.

"Hello!!!"

"Hi Pete."

"Hi Michelle, what's the good word?"

"Um. Does money sound like a good word to you?"

"Probably my favorite word right now."

"Hmmm, a 17 year-old guy whose favorite word isn't sex."

She can't see me, but I still blush.

"OK, sorry about that. Probably improper lawyer/client commentary. Anyway, we had to back off a little on the final amount. It seems it's not going to be easy to dispose of the physical assets, so the actual settlement will be $1.1 million, after the firm's contingency fee, $825,000 will be split per the breakdown in the suit. That means $82,500 for The Swarm, or $13,750 each. Not a bad couple week's work."

"Oh man, that's awesome."

"Yes, it is. I suggest you contact an accountant to get an estimate on how much income tax you'll have to pay next year. I wouldn't want you guys to spend it all and have a 3 or 4 thousand dollar tax bill next April."

"Wow, you think it will be that much?"

"Probably not that high, but I'm not a tax attorney. It'll depend on your tax bracket and how much income you make elsewhere. I don't want to know about how or what Paul pays you. But an accountant will."

"OK. I'll pass that on. Even if it's a big tax hit, it's found money. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. If it's OK, I'll stop by Eddie's tomorrow after work and get some signatures. It will still be at least a week before we see the proceeds."

"Is there any way to have taxes taken out up front?"

"There might. Let me check with our accounting department. I suspect they've had to deal with that question before. I'll be honest with you, this is the first lawsuit I've won, so I'm treading a little water on this side."

"Well, congratulations. I suspect you and Anton will be celebrating big time."

"Yeah. He's a little jealous. It appears my salary this year will make his look like peanuts. I'm sure you and Ant will celebrate too."

"Huh?"

"Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have said that either. But it's pretty obvious how you and Ant feel about each other. At least to someone who's spent a little time with you recently. I have no problem with your relationship and have no intent on making my suspicions known to anyone else."

"Um, yeah. Thanks. You kind of caught me off-guard there. We thought we hide it pretty well."

"You do. My younger brother is gay, so I'm a little more in tune with the signs. Sorry if I embarrassed you. We'll consider that attorney/client privilege. Anyway, have a good night and I should see you tomorrow. If I can get the answers from accounting, you all may want to either bring your social security cards tomorrow, or at least make sure you know the numbers. We'll need them if it is possible to take taxes out up front. I won't ask you guys for them until I know for sure though."

"Which one, Eddie or David?"

"No, it... OK, I get it. Pretty funny. Goodnight Pete."

"Thanks. And you have a good night too."

"Mom, I'm rich. Ha ha. Midtown's going to settle. It's not as much as Michelle initially shot for..."

"It almost never is."

"Yeah, I guess. Dad probably already knows, but it's over $13,000 for each of us, before taxes. Michelle's going to show up at Eddie's tomorrow after work for us to sign the paperwork."

"That's excellent. I bet you know what I'm going to say."

"Yep. Put some away for the future."

"Exactly. That's a nice little chunk of change to start out with. Most people don't have that opportunity. Don't waste it."

"I won't. I've saved a lot of the money from performing. There's really nothing I need right now, although I have been considering getting a saxophone. There's a song I like that I want to see what the band thinks about it. But it has a sax solo and nobody plays one. I know. I don't know how to play it either. I'll get a couple books too. I taught myself the harmonica parts of 'Piano Man.' I bet I can learn the sax piece of this song. It'll just take longer."

"If that's what you want. It can't cost too much, maybe a couple hundred dollars. I know you've usually been able to accomplish what you set your mind to, so I won't say no. Besides, with all the new songs, you may really have a future in music. I would have never thought that even just a few months ago."

"Me neither. But I'm hoping that'll be the case. I'll still apply to a couple local colleges, so if by next fall, nothing breaks, I won't have to work in Wal-Mart or a similar place the rest of my life."

"Very smart Pete. I'm proud of you."

Dinner was ready so mom and I eat. Dad will be working late again, the life of a lawyer I guess. When we finish cleaning up from dinner. I start calling the guys. It's no surprise I call Ant first.

"Hey Ant."

"Hi Pete, what's up?"

"You know the answer to that, he he. But I'm calling before I head over there because I want to call the rest of the guys too. I didn't want you to be last to find out. Midtown's going to settle."

"Sweet. Would it be rude if my first question is how much?"

"No. I'd expect nothing else. $1.1 million total, after the contingency fee, $825k. So we get $82.5k, or $13,750 each."

"Whoa. That's nice. I figured the 18k number was a dream, but 13's nothing to sneeze at."

"Not at all. OK, I'll see you in a little while, gotta make a few more calls. Love ya."

"Later. Love you too."

I finish with the rest of the calls and mention the possibility of getting taxes taken out first so everybody knows they need their social tomorrow in case Michelle brings the W-4's. I only know that's the form because I had to fill one out when I started at Wal-Mart last year. Then it's off to Ant's for celebrating. I also need to remember to tell him Michelle knows. I do that pretty much first thing when I get there.

"She knows? How the hell?"

"She said her younger brother is gay and she recognized the signs. I didn't think we ever did anything obvious, so it might be hard to correct anything. Anyway, she said she'd consider it attorney/client privilege."

"Yeah, I guess we can trust her. Damn, I can't think of anything we did that might have tipped her off either. Well, it could be worse, someone in the public at large could have figured it out. We've never had any slurs thrown at us, so I guess we're still OK in that regard."

"Yeah. But like you said when you told the guys, something always happens. We just have to hope it doesn't happen any time soon."

"I know what I want to happen soon though."

"I think I can read your mind."

We start kissing. As usual it grows from there, no pun intended. It's still pretty early in the evening so for our second time, we both make love to the other on the same day. Like the first time, it's amazing. After we finish, I just lay next to him, looking into his dark blue eyes, studying his slightly olive toned skin and almost jet black hair. I remember his sister once telling me he thought I was hot. Well, damn, that street runs in both directions. I can't believe how lucky I am to have someone like him in my life. I don't know if I'd go as far as saying he's my soul mate, but it's awfully damn close if not.

Friday August 25

When Michelle came around last Wednesday, she had the settlement forms for us to sign and the W-4's as I guessed. We're setting up everything on stage and she walks in, still dressed to the nines, looking like a model. OK, so I'm not completely gay. I appreciate her looks, but I'm not dreaming about being with her, like four other horndogs in the band.

"I can't stay, I just wanted to give you guys something. Anton and I are going away for two weeks on Sunday and I wasn't going to keep these from you."

She's fanning herself with a handful of business-sized envelopes. We all know exactly what they are. Or think we do.

"Where are you heading?"

"Thanks for asking Pete, and not being greedy. We're going to visit his family in Lithuania. It's been a while since he's been home. I got a nice little bonus this week, so we'll be spending ten days on a beach on the Baltic Sea."

"That sounds nice. Have a good time. So, what's in the envelopes?"

"Summonses. I lied about the settlement, they're for the court date in 6 weeks."

"Oh, fuck no."

Rich was always anxious to get the money faster, but I have a feeling Michelle's having some fun at our expense, so I act upset as well. She hands out the envelopes in alphabetic order so I get mine first, then Rich, David and Eddie, Gabe and finally Anthony. Rich doesn't wait to tear his open.

"Oh, damn you. You must be taking delivery lessons from Dead Meat Daggett over here. Summonses. Shit."

"Sorry Rich. I just wanted to have a little fun to kick off my weekend. I'm surprised you were all fooled. I mean I had you sign the papers last Wednesday. Although I can tell you weren't fooled Pete."

"No. Dad talked about it when I got home yesterday, so I only acted surprised."

"Asshole."

"Thanks Rich. I appreciate the compliment."

"Then how's this compliment. Fucking asshole. You're out of the band."

Eddie said that so seriously.

"What?"

"You heard me. I'm tired of your practical jokes."

The rest of the guys are as shocked as I am until Eddie bursts out laughing.

"You really are a dumb fucking asshole. Do you really think I'd ever boot you? Maybe if you made a pass at... Oh. Shit. Sorry Pete."

"No worries, she already figured it out. But that was way worse than my fooling you guys about the review. I mean, God Eddie, you can be mean when you want to."

"I told you the two of you were quite a pair, Pete."

"Yeah you did. Shit. I wish I drank. I need a shot of something. I mean really. You scared the shit out of me."

"Ant, check his shorts."

"Fuck you Gabe."

"OK, on that note, I'll leave you guys to your fun and your fans. It's been great working with you all. When you get big and get offered your first record contract, give me a ring and I'll look it over for you."

"Thanks Michelle, that'd be awesome. Bye."

Everybody echoes my sentiments.

Friday September 2

School starts next week so Ant and I rent a room on the beach for the weekend. Hotels are picky about renting to teenagers. Of course they don't know we're not the kind of guys to trash a hotel room. But they have their policies. We had to find one that wasn't as particular. Needless to say it's not a five star hotel, probably barely a two star motel. But we only need two things in the room. The bed and shower. We checked in late this afternoon so we can go straight over there after tonight's show.

As usual the show goes great. I now even recognize a lot of the folks in the audience. Some regulars come either Friday or Saturday nights. Another handful of those appear at both shows. I hope they're rich, between a food and bar bill twice a week, it has to be expensive.

After the show, Ant and I head over to the motel. Since it's labor day weekend, we all decided we'd skip the Saturday afternoon session. That was cool for me and Ant. We plan on going to Gunnison Beach tomorrow. Not that we aren't enough for each other, but we figured a little eye candy wouldn't hurt. Gunnison is clothing optional. We plan on taking advantage of that. Little did we know we'd end up being the eye candy for a lot of others.

Saturday September 3

Being 17 year olds with nowhere we need to be at a specific time, Ant and I stay in bed a little late this morning. We figured on getting to the beach around lunchtime. You might say we had breakfast in bed although the ingestion point of our protein shakes wasn't our mouths.

We stopped for an early lunch and got to the beach a little before 12. It was already pretty busy, but we were able to find a place to put our towels down. On our way down to the ocean, we got an awful lot of looks. At least 3/4 of them from fat old guys. I wonder if the beach hires them to help keep male sun-bathers from getting boners. I'm glad we made love this morning, it will take me a while to get over this one guy's looks. If you're gross, keep your fucking clothes on.

Gross guys weren't all that were there. Once we hit the water Ant tried to convince me to go further out and he'd help me learn to swim. Sorry Charlie, no sale. Anyway, after a little wading in the water, we head back to our towels and just lie there together talking. The sun is very bright, so I have my eyes closed, even with sunglasses on. After another short while, I notice a shadow blocking my sun. There are two guys standing behind us. One is tall and thin, the other a little shorter but muscular.

"Hi. My boyfriend and I have been watching you two. Hard not to, you're the hottest two guys on the beach."

I answer, "Um, thanks?"

"We were wondering if you might want to go back to our hotel for a little fun."

Ant and I don't even need to look at each other, his response is pretty close to what mine would have been. Mine maybe not as detailed or nice, but...

"I don't think you want us to do that, we're only 16 and I believe you might get in trouble if we did. Besides, what would we tell our girlfriends?"

My answer would have been 'hell no, GTFA' (Get The Fuck Away).

"Oh, sorry we just figured two hot guys together on a nude beach..."

"Speaking of hot Tom, I need to take another dip. I am pretty hot.

I took the clue from Ant and used a different name.

"Good idea Mike. Well, we'll see you guys never."

We get up and walk toward the ocean. I glance back and they're staring at our asses as we walk away. They see me look and look away, then at each other and walk away from our spot.

"Fuck, that was creepy Mike, he he. They weren't gross like most of the guys here. But geez. Walk up to two strangers and ask them to go back to your room? And they talked to us staring at our dicks."

"Yeah. Definitely needed to stop that conversation quickly. Nice that you picked up on my lie."

"Probably be best to keep our eyes open so we can see who's stalking us."

After no more confrontations, lots of looks though, we head back to the motel around 5 so we can shower and eat before the show. Tonight's going to be a big one. Saturday on labor day weekend, it'll be packed. We're debuting our new songs tonight. We're not cutting any more songs this time, just adding them to last week's set with a couple other swaps. We all like the way they sound, probably never be major hits, if we were real rock stars, but I must say we did a good job on them. As we discussed, we scattered them throughout the night.

Sunday September 4

Ant and I left the motel, got a late breakfast, and decided to hit the beach again. This time we went conventional though. Getting perved on all day like yesterday was not something we wanted to do again. Although, I do have to admit being admired by so many men was a bit of an ego boost, despite the fact most of them were gross looking. We went to Kite Beach, which is on the bay side. With minimal waves, Ant talked me into going out a little deeper. He held me on top of the water and was trying to teach me how to swim. I think he had ulterior motives though, because one hand was under my chest and the other under my dick. It was a little distracting, let me tell you. He said I made good progress for a first lesson. The only progress I noticed was the growth in my shorts.

We had skipped lunch so we were two hungry kids. We found a buffet and made them regret the all you can eat idea. We waddled out of the restaurant and headed back to the motel. One more night. We were definitely going to make the best of it. Or so we thought. We put the TV on and commenced to both fall asleep.

Monday September 5

It was still dark out when I was awoken by something warm and wet surrounding my dick. The AC didn't work too well so we'd been sleeping naked anyway. This fact made it easier for Ant to wake me in this way. After he got me good and hard, he lubed me up, lubed his ass and sat down on my dick. This was a new position for us. Was I complaining? Fuck no. Ant was doing all the work and I was getting all the pleasure. Well, Ant got his share too. It didn't take long before I was pumping sperm into his ass, both of us moaning probably a little too loud for approximately 4:30 AM. (I looked at my watch when we were done.) Ant had a big smile on his face so I figured this was something I needed to try as well. Ant laid on his back, dick already telling the astronauts where the moon was. I knew where my moon was and it was about to block the signal from Ant's antennae. I slid down his dick slowly, I am starting to get used to his size. It's not so much the length, he's probably a bit less than 7", but he's a lot wider than me in that regard. Hell, probably 90% of the adult males are, but since neither Ant nor I have any complaints, it doesn't bother me much. Anyway, I slide all the way down until I'm fully impaled. I'm already trembling but I lift myself and then lower myself back down, getting used to the motion and distance needed. Once I know little Pete's limits in this position, I start bouncing like crazy on Ant's dick. Like me, he doesn't last an awful long time, but he lasts long enough to give me a hands-free orgasm. God, what a rush. Just that alone almost makes it worth being gay. I look down before I roll off of him, there's a line of cum from the base of his ribs up to his neck. I figured I made the mess, I should clean it up, so I kiss and lick him from little head to neck. I set my alarm for 9:00 so we can dress, pack up, and check out on time. We hold on to each other and fall back asleep.

When we checked out, we got a leering look from the desk clerk. Apparently our early morning moans were heard. Fortunately the room on the other side was empty last night. Oh well, we'll never see him again. We hope.

Next Up - "Impact of the New Songs and Gay is Good - Not"