A Strange Start to a Friendship - 9. More Normal, and the Holidays

Sunday

Cory and I didn't get much time to talk today, he had a lot of family things going on and they didn't head home until late. We had a short conversation while he was in the car coming home. I told Cory that coach was having an end-of-season meeting after school Monday.

Monday

School went well. I couldn't wait to see Cory's face at the wrap-up. Coach gave out a couple player awards first. I got defensive player of the year, Andy Anderson got offensive player of the year. There were other awards for best players at other key positions. Then he came to the fun one.

"I have one more award to present. This is the first year I've ever done this, but I never had someone on the team quite like this young man before. The twelfth man award goes to Cory Stone."

Cory couldn't have been more surprised if he tried. Coach had to wait a couple minutes for the applause and cheers to stop before continuing.

"That was very a much-deserved celebration. As you know, Cory took care of the equipment, helped out in the locker room, and did a whole host of other little things. What you probably didn't know, and most importantly, he fixed twenty-one plays this season that didn't work the first times through. Yes. I kept track. Can't wait to have you back again next year, Cory."

Another round of applause ensued.

"I also want to congratulate you remaining players for accepting Cory as he is and not getting hung up with hatred and stereotypes. We lost a few bodies early on because they couldn't do that. And as a whole, I'm sure we are better without them. Give yourselves a round of applause as well."

We did. Not quite as long as the ones for Cory.

"Not an award, but there is one more presentation to make. You guys all gave me your sizes early on, so you already got your varsity jackets, but I also ordered a small. Cory, this one's for you."

Cheers again. Calls of 'speech, speech' drowned out the cheers. I lifted Cory on to a bench. If looks could kill, I'd be dead three times.

"Thanks, guys. You can't know how much all this means to me. Before this football season, I was invisible on a good day. I was derided, picked on, even abused, more often than not. Like coach Enders said, you guys accepted me. I really have Roy to thank for that. If he didn't become my friend, none of this could have happened. Thank you, Roy. Thank you all."

I was so proud of him just then. I had an internal battle with myself. Pride and love won out over fear. I grabbed Cory, held him and planted a kiss on his mouth. It took him a second to respond, but he kissed back. The team still had one more cheer left in them.

On the way home, Cory shared something shocking with me.

"Even though most of them already knew we were together, your kiss surprised me. But it made me want to share something I've never told anyone. When I saw you moving in that day, I was on my way to the quarry. But not to sit and think. I was going to jump in. I couldn't take being picked on all the time anymore. You literally saved my life Roy. I can never do anything good enough to pay you back for that. Even without that fact, I'd still love you."

"Wow. Cory, I never would have imagined that. You seemed well adjusted enough when we actually met. I guess it's fate that brought us together. I love you too."

"I don't know when, but I know at some point in the future, maybe near future, we'll make love. I only hope I'm not too small for you, front or back."

"When we get there, none of that will matter. If something doesn't work, we don't do it. Whatever it is, it will be with you. And that's all that matters."

"How did I get so lucky to find you when I did? I'm glad I fell out of that tree."

I laughed. "We're both lucky. And I'm glad you fell too and weren't hurt bad."

The week went on as usual. Most everybody in school accepted us as a couple, as odd a couple as we were. Those that didn't like it, kept their mouths shut and therefore kept all their body parts in one piece.

Cory's mom stopped over one evening and had a favor to ask of my parents.

"Sarah, Roy. I really hate to impose on you again. Thank you so much for watching Cory the weekends while I had to be with my mother."

Dad spoke up first, "it was our pleasure. We hardly knew he was here. What do you need?"

"I'm taking the week off next week so my brothers and I can get mom's house ready to sell. Beth's friends, well, most of them, honestly, I don't trust their parents well enough to let her spend more than a night or two, and..."

She choked up a little, mom and dad looked at each other. Apparently, a whole conversation happened in that five seconds.

"We'd be happy to watch both of them for you, Paula."

"Thanks Sarah. It will be Friday night to the following Sunday. Perhaps two or three days fewer, depending on our progress. I really hate to ask, but I can't pull her out of school. I know I can trust Roy Jr. and Cory for the few hours between the end of school and when one of you get home from work. I'll leave a key when I bring them over on Friday. Feel free to use anything in the refrigerator, it'll just go to waste otherwise."

"They'll be in good hands. You worry about what you need to down there and not them."

"Thanks so much. If you're not going somewhere else, I'd love to make Christmas dinner for you all."

"I think we can do that. I'll let you know for sure."

"Good. Okay, I'll see you Friday."

Later, I couldn't resist teasing Roger about his nemesis possibly spending nine nights at our house.

"Hey Roger. Ever hear of Hell week?"

"Yeah, that's like college initiation or something, right?"

"No, Navy SEAL training. But you get your own version of Hell week starting this weekend."

Fear crossed his face. "Why? What are you going to do?"

"Not me. Mom and dad."

No less scared, "what?"

"They're watching Beth while Mrs. Stone takes care of her late mother's house."

"Yeah, right. Nice try, no sale. Why would I believe that?"

"Because it's the truth. And I love watching you squirm when she's around."

"No. No, you can't be serious. Please tell me you're goofing on me."

"This is awesome, she's not even here yet and you're panicking. I'm going to have a fun week."

Roger put his head in his hands. "Oh, God. My life is over. Please, please, Roy. Tell her I'm gay."

"Not a chance."

"I hate you. True or not. I hate you."

I started laughing and couldn't stop for almost ten minutes. My chest hurt when I was finally able to stop.

Friday

Roger looked positively pitiful when Cory and Beth got out of the car with duffle bags.

"Roy, if you ever loved me, you'll kill me now."

"It'll be okay. I'll talk to her, tell her to take it easy on you. Besides, if she pisses you off too quickly, her week is ruined too."

"Yeah, you'll probably convince her to be even worse than usual."

"Hi Roger, Roy."

"Hi Beth. Can I have a minute alone?"

Roger's eyes begged me. We walked a little way away from Roger and Cory.

"You need to lighten up on Roger. If you try too hard, you're just going to push him away. Try to just be his friend at first. It will work a lot better. You weren't going to change him overnight, anyway. Take some time. Okay?"

"Yeah, I get it. I push too hard, and I push him away."

"Exactly. Take it slow, I guarantee you'll see a difference by the end of the week."

"Thanks Roy."

"Anytime."

I headed to my room with Cory, winking at Roger as we walked past. He still looked panicked. We stopped at the top of the stairs to listen.

Whispering, "hang here for a sec, Cory. This might be good."

"What did you tell her to do?"

"Just to take it easy on Roger."

"She doesn't know how to."

I chuckled. "I know."

"Hi Roger."

Hesitantly, he responded. "Hi Beth."

"I think this week is going to be so much fun. I'll let you pick all the video games we play."

"Well, I don't have anything, um, girlie."

"That's OK. I'll be playing with you; it will be fun anyway."

Cory and I almost lost it after that unintentional double entendre.

"Um, yeah."

"Can I see your room?"

I wish I could have seen the look on Roger's face. From his stumbling on the words that followed, it must have been like those commercials. Priceless.

"Um. I. I don't know if mom and dad will want me to."

Mom to the rescue as she comes into the living room.

"Want you to what, Roger?"

"Beth wants to see my room."

"Why would I stop you?"

"Well, she's a girl."

"And you're a boy. Keep the door open and everybody's happy."

That was our signal to hit my room. We kept my door open too. To listen. Get your minds out of the gutter. Roger's door being almost directly across from mine made that easy.

"I like your room. You like music a lot?"

Roger had a few posters on his wall, Drake and Pitbull the most prominent.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"Who's that?"

"That's Drake."

"He's cute."

I could just imagine Roger squirming.

"If you say so."

"And that one?"

"Pitbull."

"Really? He's named after a dog?"

"It's like a stage name."

"Oh. Will you play some of their music?"

"You really want to hear it? I figured you'd be more the Ariana Grande type."

"I love her. But I want to know what you like."

That pretty much killed the conversation. The strains of Pitbull's voice started.

"She was tamer than I thought she'd be."

"I bet she's sitting next to him on his bed, Roy. Trying to sit as close as possible."

"Yeah. I can see that."

Cory and I kissed for a little while. Two Pitbull songs later, mom called us down for dinner. Dinner conversation was tame. Beth told mom and dad about what she was doing in school. She couldn't resist mentioning that she was in three of Roger's classes. All in all, it went pretty well for the first night. Cory, Beth, and I went into the living room to watch some TV while mom cornered Roger.

"Roger. I need to ask you a huge favor."

"Um. Okay."

"Would you be a dear and let Beth have your room while she's here?"

"Where do I sleep?"

"In dad's office. The loveseat pulls out to a bed."

"Why can't she take the office?"

"You have a connected bathroom. You can use Roy's. I don't think it would be a good idea for her to be walking through Roy's room."

"In case he and Cory are making out or something?"

"That's not what I was thinking, but I guess that's a good reason too."

"She can use the hall bath."

"And what, sit in the sink to have a bath? There's no tub or shower."

"Okay. Fine. But I want something in return."

His mother looked at him, 'like, really?'

"Okay. I'm sorry. I'll let her sleep in there."

"You can take your clothes for the next day into the office before bedtime."

Roger came into the living room, the frown on his face told us whatever mom asked him, he didn't like it one bit.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Mom's letting Beth take my room while she's here."

"Oh."

"Thank you, Roger. I won't mess anything up, I promise."

"Yeah. Okay. I guess I'll go change for bed and bring some clothes into the office."

"I'll bring my things up now too. I have to use the little girl's room, anyway."

I had a feeling she had an ulterior motive. After they went up the stairs, I motioned Cory to come stand at the bottom with me.

We heard Roger first. "Why are you following me?"

"I have to use the bathroom."

"Use the one in the hall."

"Oh. Okay."

The hall bath door opened and closed. But we were able to see Beth's feet. She was standing outside Roger's door. Apparently, Roger didn't notice and started undressing. After about thirty seconds, he finally noticed her.

"What are you doing?"

"I just wanted to watch you."

"Fine. Here's a whole show."

She pulled in a deep breath, "You're naked."

"You wanted to watch. You watched. Now disappear. Or I'll tell my mother you were peeking at me."

We had to hurry back to our seats, Beth turned around to come back down. She had a huge smile on her face when she came into the room.

"Must have been a good trip to the bathroom."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess."

Cory and I were just barely able to hold back the laughter. After we all went up for bed, Cory and I visited Roger in the office.

"Beth seemed really happy when she got out of the bathroom."

"Yeah. She never went to the bathroom. She spied on me."

"Why would she be happy if you caught her?"

"She wanted to watch me, so I flashed her."

"No way!"

"Hey, I didn't ask her to look into my room while I was changing. It could have been accidental."

"Well, she was happy about it when she came back down. You may have made things worse for yourself. If she thinks she'll get to see you like that whenever she wants, she'll never leave your side."

"Oh. Shit."

"Have a good night, Roger. I suggest you lock the door."

"Oh, God. You don't think..."

"Better safe than sorry."

"I'm in Hell."

Cory and I were laughing as we left the room.

Saturday

After breakfast, Roger knocked on my bedroom door.

"Come in."

"I don't know what to do."

"What's the matter?"

"I know she did it on purpose."

"Did what?"

"I was coming back up to change. She was just standing in my room."

"So?"

"Naked."

"Did Roger get his first look at a naked girl?"

"Yes. But, come on, guys. I don't really need this shit."

"Maybe she just did it because you flashed her last night."

"But what if she keeps doing it?"

"What's that saying Cory? Don't look a gift pussy in the mouth?"

That cracked Cory and me up. Roger didn't appreciate it.

"Come on. I'll be crazy by the end of the week."

"Crazy? Or horny?"

"Fine. If you're not going to help, I'll just have to tell mom. She'll talk to her."

"Whoa. Wait on that. You flashed her first. Do you think mom's going to like that more or less?"

"Shit. Come on. Cory, she's your sister. Please talk to her, tell her to cut it out?"

"Yeah. Okay. She did go a little too far. I do want to thank you though, for not trying to take advantage of her."

"Yeah. You're welcome. I'm not ready for this stuff yet. It's not like I hate girls or anything..."

"I get it. I'll talk to her."

Cory went to knock on Roger's bedroom door. We'll listen in.

"Who is it?"

"Cory."

"Oh. One minute. I'm changing."

A minute later she opened the door.

"What's up?"

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

Cory went in and closed the door.

"About you and Roger."

"What about us?"

"He told us what you did."

"I didn't do anything."

"So, you weren't standing in here naked so he could see you?"

"He told you that?"

"Yes. You need to cool it. If he wasn't a nice guy, you could have really gotten yourself in trouble."

"How?"

"What if he came in and tried to touch you, or worse?"

"He wouldn't."

"Are you sure? Maybe not the first time, but if you keep doing it, he's going to take it as an invitation, and something might happen that you don't want."

"You mean, he'd try to, um, do it?"

"It's possible. We still have another week here. You need to stop this right now. Just be his friend. Don't try to make it more. You're both too young, but it's harder for boys to control themselves. He may not even realize what he ends up doing is wrong."

"You're scaring me."

"Good. You should be scared. How would you like it if he went to school Monday and told all his friends he saw you naked. Maybe one of his friends might get the idea it's okay to try to get you naked."

"Cory, stop. You're scaring me."

"Fine, I'll stop. You get what I'm saying though?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Close the door when you're changing. Don't spy on him when he is."

"Okay. I'm sorry."

"Well, keep it up and you will be sorry."

"I get it."

The rest of the week went a lot more smoothly. We could actually consider Roger and Beth friends once the funny stuff stopped. Cory's mom came home on Friday. She joined us for dinner and renewed the invitation for Christmas dinner the following weekend. She made us all a nice dinner; everybody had a good time. We traded presents. Roger even got Beth something. It was an inexpensive pair of earrings, but Beth loved them. She bought him a hip-hop's greatest hits CD and they listened to it together in her room. Door open, completely innocent. Roger spent Christmas night at the twins' house. Cory spent it at ours. It was a wonderful night.

Next up - "Cory's Christmas Present, and Happy New Year"