A Strange Start to a Friendship - 1. Why the Heck Does He Do That?

"Roy! Go out and shut that dog up before the neighbors complain."

"OK, mom."

Geez. A guy can't even jerk off in peace. It's 2:00 in the afternoon. 95% of the neighbors are at work. Who's he bothering? But, why fight it? A 125 pound Rottweiler isn't a dog that a lot of the neighbors are going to like. I pull up my shorts and head outside.

"Lucky! Come!"

He takes a step toward me, then turns back toward the fence at the far end of the back yard.

"Now!"

He whines a little, takes a couple more steps, and then barks at me. OK, that's odd. But he keeps looking back at the fence. I put my sneakers on and head out the door. He immediately runs back to the fence, jumping up on it. He obviously sees something. Of course, I don't, not until I get right up to the fence. Is that a leg sticking up?

I head out the back gate, doing my damnedest to not let Lucky through, fortunately succeeding. As I get closer, I'm seeing more and more. It's a naked boy. He looks to be around my age. Smaller, but similar age. He appears to be out cold. I'm guessing he was up in the tree and fell. I look up and see a broken branch about ten feet up. There's a little blood on the side of his head, and the leg that isn't sticking up is bent in the wrong direction. I take off my shirt to cover him up and call 9-1-1.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

"I found a boy in the woods behind my house. He apparently fell out of a tree. He's got a head injury and very likely a broken leg."

"Does he appear to be in pain!"

"No, but he's unconscious."

"Can you tell if he's breathing?"

"Yes, he seems to be breathing fine."

"OK, I'm dispatching an ambulance to your location. Can I have your name please?"

I tell her my name and confirm my address. She says thank you, and I hang up. I make another call, this time to my brother.

"Yeah?"

"Roger, you need to come home right away. Bring the twins."

"What's up?"

"There's a hurt kid in the woods. I need you to go out and wait for the ambulance."

"Really?"

"Is it April fool's day? Yes. Fucking really. Get here, now."

Three twelve-year-olds come tearing into the back yard thirty seconds later. They must have been playing outside. They stop at the fence.

"Roger, you and David go out to the street and wait for the ambulance. Daniel, stay here with him so I can put the dog inside."

Daniel comes through the gate after I go back in and hold back the dog.

"Lucky, come. Treat."

That's the magic word to get him to follow. If I had to drag him in, I'd be fighting that battle until he started tearing apart an EMT. The twins got introduced to him right away, so he tolerates them. You're a stranger coming into the yard? Good luck keeping all your body parts.

"Is he naked?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Fucked if I know. Try asking him."

"It looks like he's sleeping."

"No shit. He's knocked out. Just stay by him in case he wakes up."

I'm walking away and I turn around. Daniel's starting to lean down.

"And leave my shirt on him. I'm sure you've seen a dick before. You don't need to perv on an injured guy."

Hmm, but didn't I do that? I didn't cover him up immediately. Oh well, water under the bridge. I get the dog inside, close up the dog door, tell mom what's going on, except the naked part, and head back out. I figure I need to be a t-shirt monitor. Roger and David are already out front.

"Come on, Roy. Can't I just get a quick peek? He won't care."

"No. If you don't shut up about it, you'll be on the street too, maybe as injured as he is. Look around, see if you can find his clothes anywhere. Do you know who he is?"

"No. But I'm sure he doesn't go to my school or live on our street."

He walks around a little, no clothes in sight. I hear the siren. Good, the paramedics are almost here. A minute later Roger and David guide them in through the side gate and out the back gate.

"Do you know his name, son?"

"No, we just moved in, and I don't know him. Daniel lived here already and doesn't know him. I'm guessing he lives somewhere on the other side of the woods."

"OK, give us some room. I take this is your shirt?"

"Yes, he was naked, except for his sneakers."

"We'll give it back after we get him on the backboard."

The EMT's did their work and left with the boy. I'm pretty sure Daniel caught a peek. Oh, well, that's his parents' problem. He's too young for me, even if he was gay. Roger and the twins go back to the Crandall's house. I put my shirt back on and decide to look around some more for the kid's clothes. I'm just about to give up and I hear what's got to be a cell phone ringing. I can't immediately place where it's coming from. Keep ringing. I finally zero in on it. It's on the other side of the tree, maybe ten feet away, it must have bounced. I pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Cory?"

"No, ma'am. My name is Roy Patterson. Is Cory your son?"

"Yes. What are you doing with his phone?"

"He must have dropped it. He was climbing a tree behind my house, and I guess he fell out. I called the ambulance; I think he had some kind of head injury and maybe a broken leg. Not sure why they told me, but the EMTs said they were taking him to Northside. I guess that's the closest hospital."

"Yes. Did you say your name was Roy?"

"Yes."

"He's never mentioned a Roy."

"I don't know him. I just moved in two weeks ago."

"Well, thank you for calling the ambulance. I have to head to the hospital. Could you hold onto his phone until later? I'll call you back and arrange to come get it."

"Sure. I hope he's going to be OK."

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

"One second. What's your last name?"

"Stone."

"OK. I'll have the phone on me. Goodbye, Mrs. Stone."

"Bye."

I now have a better chance to look at the phone. Not the newest phone, but new enough. What was he doing up in the tree? And why was he naked? Maybe he's a nudist. But there are no houses visible behind mine. Why here? The phone isn't locked, so I start poking around. Nothing until I open the photos app. The newest is a video. I'm looking at a picture of the back of my house. I hit play and it zooms in on my bedroom window. Shit. He was watching me. I'm watching myself jerk off. I get up, in the video that is, great; I turned toward the window before I pull my shorts up. The kid got a full frontal shot of me. I guess I know why he was in the tree. Just before the end of the recording, the image flops around. I guess he fell as he turned it off. I replay the video. Yeah, there's a slight rhythmic movement of the image. I bet he was jerking off in the tree, watching me. I can't delete the video; he'll figure out that I saw it. I definitely can't give the phone back to his mom, though. What if she sees it? I head into the house.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Roy?"

"Do you know where Northside Hospital is?"

"Yes, it's pretty much right around the corner."

"Dad works right around the corner? Close enough for me to run to?"

"Yes. And yes. Why?"

"I found the kid's cell phone, plus I'd like to go see how he's doing."

"OK. Just be careful crossing the streets. And be home by four-thirty for dinner."

"I will."

What am I, seven? Be careful crossing the streets. Geez, mothers... I pull up the hospital through Google maps on my phone. Wow, it really is pretty much around the corner. Seven minutes by bike. Probably less than fifteen jogging. I'm on my way. When I get there, I figure he's probably still in the ER, so I go in that way.

"Can you tell me what room Cory Stone is in?"

"Stone... Yes, room 12. Through the door, take a right at the nurse's station."

"Thank you."

I get to room 12 and knock before I go in.

"Yeah?"

Not a woman's voice. I walk in. Only the kid is in the room. He gasps.

"Cory?"

"Um. Yeah."

"I'm Roy. I found you in the woods behind my house after you fell."

"Um. Hi Roy. Thanks for calling the ambulance. This is embarrassing. You saw me naked I guess?"

"Yeah."

I pull his cell phone out of my pocket.

"I found this too."

I've heard the expression white as a ghost before. Now I've seen it.

"You... You didn't open it, did you?"

"Well, I flipped it open because your mom called it. That's how I found it. But yeah. I saw the video."

"I'm sorry. I'll delete it. Give it to me, please?"

"Ah, not so fast. First, you ought to put a passcode on the phone. Where is your mother, by the way?"

"Taking care of paperwork."

"How are you doing? You were out cold when I found you."

"I'm OK. Why do you care? You probably hate me."

"Your leg looked twisted. I guess it wasn't broken?"

"No. I just landed on it funny. Probably sprained. Why are you being nice to me? You know I was spying on you."

"I don't really care about that. I wanted to make sure you were OK. That, and ask why you were naked in a tree?"

"I like walking through the woods naked."

"That explains the naked part. The tree?"

"Why don't you just go ahead and yell at me for being a fag? Everybody else hates me because I'm gay. I'm sorry I taped you. I'll delete it. Just leave me alone."

Ah. Now I get it.

"Did you see me out with my dog before you climbed in the tree?"

"Yeah."

"I guess it was just my bad luck I decided to go jerk off just then. And your good luck I suppose. Hehe."

"You're not mad?"

"No. It's actually kind of flattering that you'd want to watch me. Did you think I was cute or something?"

"Great. You're going to pick on me about this for the rest of my life. Just leave the phone and get out."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"You look younger. Me too. Hey, you're the first kid my age I've met since I moved in two weeks ago. If I have a chance at making a friend, I'm not going to screw that up just because he's gay."

"You really don't care?"

"Really. How did you find out about me?"

"I was riding my bike to the quarry on the day you moved in I guess. The moving truck was there, anyway."

"Quarry?"

"Yeah, near the end of your street. You can go through the woods a little and there's a pond there too that I like to sit at. Just be alone with myself and no haters around."

"Who's this, Cory?"

"Oh, hi mom. This is Roy. He found me."

"Nice to meet you, Roy. Thanks again for helping my son. If you didn't, who knows how long he'd be lying there? I guess you saw what condition he was in?"

"Clothing-wise, yeah."

"You're not going to make a fuss about that, are you?"

"No. He told me he likes to walk in the woods naked. No big deal to me."

"Thank you. He still didn't tell me why he was in the tree, but now that I see you, I can guess why. You were spying on him, weren't you Cory?"

"No. I..."

"Don't lie to me. I'm so sorry, Roy. He's been like that for years. Always trying to get a look at the cute boys. Well, this time he got caught and hurt himself. I don't know what I'm going to do with him."

"I think he's learned his lesson about climbing trees naked. And if he was spying on me, I'm also not going to make a fuss about that either. I just moved into the area Mrs. Stone. I don't have any friends here yet. Granted this was a pretty strange way to meet someone, but I'm willing to give him a chance. Don't be too hard on him. I'm not so sure I'll be well-liked either."

"Are you gay, too?"

"MOM!!! You can't ask him that!"

"Sure, I can."

"She can ask, Cory, but no offense, Mrs. Stone. It doesn't mean I have to answer."

"You're right. I'm sorry, it's none of my business. It's just that, well, you're right. That's why he isn't well-liked, and I never know if someone is going to hate him because of the way he is. He's had a couple run-ins with the wrong crowd. I just thought if you were gay too, I wouldn't have to worry about you beating him up."

"Gay or not, I wouldn't beat anybody up just because they were."

"That makes you a lot different than most of the boys around here."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Well, that the rest of them aren't as nice. But if Cory will be my friend, I suspect his run-ins may stop."

"That's true. You are quite a large boy."

Six-foot three, 235 pounds, linebacker and running back at my old school, yeah, I'd say so. And still growing. My dad is six-foot seven, nearly 300 pounds of pure muscle.

"Yeah, it's in my genes."

I hand Cory his phone, mouthing 'lock it,' and we talk with his mother for a while longer. While we were talking earlier, I had put my number into it. I'm sure he'll find it, especially after my hint, which I give him while pointing at his phone.

"I should get going. I need to be home for dinner. We eat early because my dad often goes back to work for a couple hours. Call me when you get out of here, or if you stay longer and want a visitor."

"Thanks again, Roy."

"My pleasure, Mrs. Stone."

I guess I should have mentioned that nude or not, Cory was fucking cute!

I made it home well ahead of dinner time. I talked to my parents about meeting Cory, but I told Roger beforehand not to say anything about him being naked. Not sure how the parents would take that. Although, I'm almost positive the immediate assumption would have been that he was gay, and I should stay away from him. I've always thought my parents were of the mind that being gay is a communicable disease, or if not that, I could easily be convinced to turn gay. Guess what guys? Too late. Anyway, thinking that's their attitude is the main reason I've kept that fact hidden. From them and the rest of the world. To be honest, I don't really care much about the rest of the world knowing. It's dad I'm mostly worried about. I'm big, but he scares the shit out of me sometimes. Although, if I really thought about it, would he think that? He is a doctor. Oh, well. Thoughts for another time. Anyway, I told them I'm going to try to make friends with Cory, since I hadn't found anybody else yet. I got the typical parental 'that's nice' response.

Cory called later.

"You put your number in my phone."

"Your powers of observation astound me. I told you I didn't hate you. And I really meant it when I hinted about being friends to your mom."

"Yeah, we talked a little about you after you left. She suggested I, and I quote, 'do everything I can to make you my friend.' Like I don't try with everybody else. It's not my fault I'm attracted to boys. But you probably don't want to hear that. Anyway, they want to keep me overnight, because of the head injury. You think you can come visit me again tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'll be there after lunch if that's OK."

"That'd be great. Mom's working all day tomorrow, so she can't pick me up until after five. I'm sure it will be lonely, but I'm kind of used to that."

"Well, maybe I can change that. And if you need to talk about boys, It's OK. I'm a good listener."

"Why did you say you wouldn't be well-liked? You could probably intimidate people into liking you."

"That would make them fake friends. I had quite a few of them in Indiana. They were only my friends because I was a football player. They wanted to be part of the cool set. Never realizing I wasn't part of that set, nor did I want to be."

"So why don't people like you?"

"I mostly keep to myself. I'm pretty terrible in any sort of social situation."

"You seemed fine with me."

"Yeah. I don't know why. Maybe because you apparently liked me, or my body anyway, hehe, without knowing I was a football player, or somebody that would do things for you. A lot of people back home would ask me if I could threaten someone, so they wouldn't bother them anymore. Or do stupid physical stuff because I was so strong. Like I said before, fake friends. I got so much of that, I just started keeping to myself. I had a few good friends from way back, but otherwise, most of them were fake."

"That sucks. Well, yeah, I didn't know who you were or what you would ever do for me. I just thought you were hot and thought of things you could do TO me. Damn, did it again. Sorry."

"It's OK. Like I said, I'm a good listener. Keeps me from having to talk too much."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't say shit like that. Sooner or later, you wouldn't want to hear it anymore."

Don't be so sure. If I could ever leave this closet...

"Well, we're not there yet. So, you don't have to apologize every time you say something you think you shouldn't."

"OK. Well, I'll let you go, you probably have things to do."

"Nothing that can't wait. You're alone there, right?"

"Yeah, mom left when dinner came. She had to go cook. I'm pretty much OK, so she won't be back tonight."

"So, you don't have to be in a hurry to hang up. I'm not busy. I'll do a workout and take a shower later, but until then, I don't have any plans."

"K. You might want to watch what you say around me though."

"Why is that?"

"I just imagined you in the shower."

"Well, you've seen the real thing, so I guess that wasn't hard to do. Well, maybe it was hard, but not difficult."

"Um, yeah."

"Tell me something."

"Go ahead."

"Were you jerking off in the tree, watching me? The recording had a rhythmic motion before the video stopped."

"Oh, God. You figured that out?"

"Hehe. I guess you were. Don't sweat it. I think it's kind of funny. Jerking off in a tree, you see me stand up, get a full frontal and it knocks you out of the tree. I'm glad you weren't hurt bad. I couldn't laugh about it if you were."

"I guess it is kind of funny. I'm sorry I did that."

"It's cool. Maybe someday I'll give you a private, up-close show."

"You'd never do that."

"Do you know me well enough to say that with confidence?"

"No, but. Look at you. Why would you want to do something like that, knowing I was watching you?"

"I don't really know. I guess maybe because I saw you up close, it would only be fair."

"OK, now you're teasing me."

"Maybe, but I'm not being mean to you, am I?"

"No. You're actually really nice. I'm going to take mom's advice."

"Remind me?"

"I'm going to 'do everything I can to make you my friend.'"

"That could be dangerous."

"I doubt it. It could be fun."

"OK, now you're teasing me."

"Hehe. Yep. Well, they're here with my pain medication. I do need to say goodbye because I'll be loopy in about ten minutes."

"OK. Goodbye. See you tomorrow, Cory."

"Bye Roy."

Shit, was he flirting with me? I'm pretty sure he was. And holy hell, I was flirting right back. That's not like me at all. Am I... No, I don't have a crush on him. Do I?

Next up - "Am I Building a Friendship, or Singing a Whitesnake Song - Is This Love?"