After We Danced - 1. Chapter 1

Hi there!

No, you are right. We haven't met before.

My name is Luke. Luke Solomon. And I would like to tell you a little tale. Well, actually, it's not so much a little tale. More like a true romance really, but I think you will like it.

Now, as you would probably be aware, in most societies there is a ritual that takes place towards the end of a student’s high school years which, depending on the country you live in, is called a social or a prom or a formal, amongst other names.

Traditionally, it is the one night of the year when all the students from the senior class get to let their hair down and party. After having spent the last twelve years or so growing up together and being at school together, forging friendships that would last a lifetime, or in some cases the complete opposite, they are entitled, I think, to be able to put all that aside for just one glorious night.

Now, for most people the night of their senior dance is usually a memorable one, and this might be for any number of reasons. For me this was definitely the case. Actually, for two reasons, it was a night that I will never forget.

The first of these was because someone I know, and his mates, managed to spike the punch, which in itself may not be all that earth shattering or extraordinary – as I'm sure that it happens every time one of these events is held anywhere – but as the evening wore on it did cause all sorts of mayhem.

The second reason, and most definitely the major one, was that it was the night that led to the beginnings of a relationship that would change my life forever. And, oh yeah, it also led to my finally losing my virginity.

Yes, that’s right. Laugh if you will, but it’s the truth, no matter how melodramatic it all may sound. I know that most seventeen–year–olds have already made it through that particular ritual by the time they leave high school, but in my case, however, I’d just never had the opportunity. This was, I was sure, due mainly to the fact that I wasn't attracted to any of the girls who were in my class or were my own age.

Okay, so right now you are probably thinking one of two things. The first of these is that there must be something a little different about this guy. Or, the second of these might be that you’re thinking that there is something wrong with this guy.

Am I right?

Well, if the truth must be known, like, just between you and me, the reason for my not being interested in any of the girls was simple . . . I was more interested in the guys.

Do you get the picture now?

Yeah, I thought so. So, now you know. And seeing as you know, then there's a fair chance that you will also know that when you are this age and have those type of feelings it can be much more difficult to find the right guy for that first time, than it is to find the right girl!

So anyway, that brings me back to the night of my Year Twelve formal.

It started out a rather tame affair, with not much of anything exciting happening at all. For the sake of appearances, I had asked a girl from my class, Kerrie Watterson, if she would come to the dance with me, so at least I had a partner for the night. We had been friends for quite a few years, although we were never really that close. Neither of us was from what you would call the ‘A’ crowd, so it ended up being more of a date of convenience, for both of us, than anything else.

She was, however, a nice enough girl and we seemed to be having a good time. After the meal was over, we danced for a while, then sat around with some of our friends for a while, then danced again. The guys told the usual teenager type stories and jokes and the girls feigned disgust, yet still, somehow, knew exactly what was meant. You know how it can be.

For part of the night Kerrie even spent time trying to flirt with me, but soon sensed my reluctance and didn't pursue it any further, much to my relief. I could see her sizing me up though, trying to work out what my problem was, but I don't think she even came close to guessing.

The formal was held in the school hall, which seemed to me an odd choice, and at various stages throughout the night the girls in our group ducked off to their toilets to powder their noses, while we ducked off to ours for a piss or a smoke – not that I indulged in the habit. Some couples ducked outside for a kiss and a cuddle, carefully dodging the teachers and few parents who were acting as chaperones for the evening.

If you went to your senior dance, then you probably don't need to imagine what it was that most of us were up to . . . or trying to get up to. Chances are you did exactly the same thing.

Anyway, as there wasn't a real lot of excitement happening, it wasn’t long before we all started to get somewhat restless, so my best friend, Matt – a.k.a. Matthew Parsons Jnr., babe magnet, first degree stud and without doubt my best mate all through high school – decided that we needed a little excitement. He had a cousin, Phil, who was old enough to buy some liquor, so after making a quick call on his mobile phone Matt gave us a wink and whispered, ‘The action is on its way.’

We didn't quite know what he meant at the time, but we knew we would soon find out, as a little while later Matt received a message on his phone, then tugged at my jacket sleeve and said, ‘Hey Luke, you want to come with me for a minute.’

I followed him out of the hall and then, when the teachers were otherwise distracted, we both went outside, taking the longest route possible to the car park. That was where we found his cousin propped up against the front mudguard of his hotted-up, red Holden Commodore sedan.

‘How did you go?’ Matt asked him. Phil simply jerked his head towards the car interior and said, ‘Front seat.’

I remember thinking to myself that Phil was pretty hot, but I knew that I wouldn't ever have a chance there as he was about four or five years older than we were and he was apparently already engaged to some blonde bimbo from a wealthy family. Besides, I could never let on to Matt and my other friends that I was like I was, if you know what I mean. That just couldn’t happen.

‘Thanks man,’ Matt said to him as he retrieved the prize. ‘I’ll drop some cash around to you tomorrow, is that okay?’

‘Sure kiddo. You go and have yourself a blast.’

So, that was how we got the booze that was going to liven up our night. Hiding the bottles under our suit jackets we snuck back inside and edged our way around to where the rest of our little gang – being Davo, Hoss and DJ – was sitting.

As I said earlier, I’m sure that this sort of thing pretty much goes on at every formal or prom or high school dance that ever gets held, so I'm just as sure you will be able to imagine what happened next.

After we distracted a few teachers and chaperones we slipped a bottle of vodka into one punch, and then a bottle of scotch into the other.

After that we just had to sit back and wait.

 

*     *     *

 

The next hour or so just proceeded pretty much as normal. We danced a little more. We told a few more jokes. We generally made fools of ourselves.

Kerrie and Julie, Matt’s girlfriend, along with some of their friends ended up sitting in a corner in their own little group, talking amongst themselves, and while we did have a couple of other dances together throughout the night, that basically suited me just fine.

We guys just watched and waited and after a while, sure enough, one of the girls started feeling a little ill, one of the boys started getting a little obnoxious, or should that be a little more obnoxious than usual, and the party started to get a little louder.

There was even one girl who managed to throw up before she could get to the toilets, I think it was Louise Brennan, who I always thought to be a snooty-nosed bitch who imagined that everyone was beneath her. You should have seen the teachers and chaperones scurrying about trying to find out what was happening.

Two boys, both of whom were usually mild mannered and meek, even got into a bit of a punch up over one girl that they both fancied.

‘Hey Luke, it's finally come alive,’ Matt said to me as we passed each other on the dance floor with our respective partners. I just gave him a wink and kept on jiving.

We were starting to feel pretty good ourselves, thanks in part to the addition to the punch, and in part to the stuff we kept hidden for ourselves, and by late that night we were all really jumping.

By about half past eleven I needed to take a piss pretty bad, so I headed to the toilets. I hadn't seen Matt for a while, but figured he and his girlfriend would be outside somewhere fooling around. I knew they’d been having sex for a while now, so why the hell wouldn’t they take full advantage of a night like this?

When I entered the toilets there was a fairly thick haze hanging in the air, which I quickly recognised as being a combination of ordinary cigarette smoke and something a little more exotic. As there were a couple of guys standing at the urinals, I decided to go into one of the cubicles. Now, instead of just taking a piss standing up, for some reason I dropped my strides and sat down. This was probably because I knew most of the walls had some small holes in them and you could often see the goings on next door, not that I had ever seemed to have gotten that lucky. The best I had ever managed was a quick wank from some unknown hand under the wall of the toilet one lunchtime about six weeks earlier. I mean, after all, anyone who gave any indication at all that they might be gay could expect their life at school to be turned upside down and inside out, so no one I ever knew seemed to want to risk it.

Anyway, I remembered that the cubicle next door was occupied, so I dared to have a look through one of the holes. It was fairly dark in there, but I could just make out some movement, a familiar rhythmical kind of movement that sent a tingling sensation through my own balls, while at the same time turning my mouth as dry as the Simpson Desert.

I watched for a few minutes then I noticed it stop. Next thing I know is there is an eyeball staring back at me. I quickly pulled back, all nervous and not quite knowing what to do, but eventually I dared to look back through the hole. The eyeball was still there, blinking at me every now and then, so I moved my body forward to give the stranger a view of my own cock, then started stroking it.

Just after that a pen with piece of paper wrapped around it was thrust through the hole. I carefully unwrapped the paper and read the note. ‘Want to go someplace?’ it read.

After just a moment’s hesitation I wrote on the bottom of it, ‘Meet me under the pine trees,’ then I thrust it back through the hole.

The pine trees I was referring to were a thick stand of trees at the back of the Science block, and just around the corner from the School Hall, an often used place to get away from prying eyes, for all manner of activities, most of which were not condoned by the school authorities, if you know what I mean?

Straight after that I heard the toilet flush and the guy, whoever he was, left. Then, for a long time all I could hear was the sound of my own heart going thump, thump, thump in my chest.

Eventually I managed to compose myself and pull up my trousers. My dick was still quivering at the thought of the clandestine arrangement I had just made, and my hands were trembling slightly as I fastened the clip and pulled up my zipper.

I flushed the toilet and headed outside. There was no one in the corridor, so the coast was clear, and I managed to get out of the building without being spotted.

I was as nervous as all hell and all sorts of thoughts were flashing through my mind.

‘Who was he?’

‘What if he's someone I know?’

‘What if someone sees me?’

‘What if we get caught?’

If you think back to your first time you will probably be able to imagine what sort of a state I was in.

Anyway, I somehow made it to the end of the Science block without being busted, then I stopped in the shadows of a doorway to catch my breath. While I was waiting there, I saw our Science teacher, Mr Sheppard, doing a patrol of the grounds.

‘Shit,’ I whispered aloud.

Luckily Old Shep was heading in the other direction, so I figured I'd be safe, although I was hoping to hell that he hadn't scared off my mystery man.

It was a warm summer night, and there was a slight breeze. The moon was out, although there was some cloud around, so the light tended to come and go. For now, however, even in the darkest of corners you seemed to be able to see all right.

I waited for a few minutes more, but nothing stirred.

All I could hear was the music from the dance hall and the sound of traffic heading up and down the nearby highway. And still the thump, thump, thump of my heart. But not quite as loud now.

Finally, I decided it was time to leave my hidey–hole and see if the mysterious stranger was there waiting where I had asked him to. It was now or never.

I crept along the wall of the science building, trying to stay in the shadows as best I could, until I reached the first row of trees. By now my eyes had become accustomed to the darkness and I looked around for any sign of my mystery man.

Nothing.

I went a little deeper into the forest, then started walking along the centre row of trees, all the while looking around me, and listening for any telltale sounds.

Then I heard it, a twig snapped, and I stopped, motionless. The only thing that moved was my own seven inches, slowly standing to attention, as if it too was on the lookout.

‘Over here,’ someone whispered off to my right, and I turned in that direction. Something moved then I spotted the outline of someone standing in the shadows. It was too dark to make out anything more than an outline, so I stepped towards him.

‘Who is it?’ I whispered back.

There was no answer.

I was getting closer to him. His outline becoming easier to make out, then I was there, standing in front of him.

I still couldn't see who it was, it was still too dark, but he was there, I could have reached out and touched him.

For a long time, nothing was said. Both of us must have been as nervous as the other, then I jumped, as I felt him touch my cheek. I felt the back of his soft hand gently caress first one cheek, then the other. Then slowly I could feel his breath, smelling sweetly of alcohol, getting stronger as he leant his head forward towards me. I leant towards him and for the first time in my life I kissed another guy on the lips, ever so gently at first but before long we were growing hungry for each other, and the heat was building.

He thrust his tongue into my mouth and eagerly explored the cavity. Then I returned the favour. Our bodies had come together, and I could feel his hands on my ass, pulling me towards him. I could feel the shape of his firm erection through his trousers. I felt it brush up against mine.

We broke away, as both of us needed air, and then all of a sudden, as I listened to him breathe, I knew who it was. Nothing had been said, but I could sense it. I just knew it.

He pulled me back to him and once again we kissed, each of us hungry for the other, and growing hungrier. His hands slid down my body and I felt him fumbling for the zipper of my trousers. I reached for him also, and in the darkness we fumbled together.

Finally, he managed to undo my trousers.

‘Oh, Matt,’ I whispered, as they slipped down around my knees. He let go and suddenly stepped back, away from me.

‘Uh, uh . . . I, uh,’ he mumbled, and then he was gone, running through the trees, leaving me standing there with my manhood pointing to the sky and my shirt tails flapping in the summer breeze.

I don't know what it was that made me say it, I should have just let things happen, but anyway it was done now and the moment I had so long waited for, was gone.

As for our friendship, well, God only knows what might happen there?

 

*     *     *

 

When I eventually went back inside, after taking a few minutes to compose myself, there was no sign of Matt anywhere. His girlfriend, Julie, was still sitting with Kerrie and some of their friends, so I went and asked if she had seen him.

‘Not bloody lately,’ she said, clearly irritated that her date was nowhere to be found. I had never liked her much, I'd always thought that she was a snooty bitch, and this just confirmed it for me, although I don't think that I could have ever told Matt what I really thought of her.

I looked at Kerrie and she said, ‘They had a fight.’

‘Oh,’ I said. ‘I'll go and try to find him.’

I tried the toilets, but they were totally empty. I tried the car park, and his unmistakable black Commodore car, his pride and joy that he had spent the last two years working on rebuilding, was still there. I had no idea where he had gone.

By this time, it was well after midnight and the party was starting to wind down. Boyfriends and girlfriends were starting to wander off, hand in hand, for other activities, be they pre–planned or perhaps spontaneous. The band had stopped playing and they were starting to pack up their instruments, and there wouldn't have been any more than around a dozen people left.

I waved goodbye to some friends as they headed off to continue their celebrations elsewhere, Julie and Kerrie among them.

And Matt was still nowhere to be found.

Finally, at about one a.m., I'd had enough and decided to call it quits myself. Earlier we had all planned to head for Matt's place to party on for a while longer, but as people had started drifting off in their own little groups it appeared that this idea was now history.

When I went outside there were only a handful of cars left, but Matt's wasn't one of them. He had apparently thought his night was clearly over and had skipped.

My head ached. It had been a long night. I wasn't drunk, or at least I didn't think so. I just wanted so badly to talk to Matt. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that there was nothing wrong with his wanting to get together with another guy – whether it was someone he knew or not. I wanted to touch him, to hold him, to just be with him.

Eventually I made it to my car and settled into the driver’s seat. Having only had my license for a few weeks I was lucky that my parents had even given it to me for the night.

I started the car and left the school, not really knowing where to go to or where to look. At least at this hour there was hardly any traffic on the roads, so I didn't have to concentrate too hard.

Hoping that he probably would have headed home I tried there first, however as I cruised past there was no sign of his car.

I tried his cousin’s place. No go.

I tried Julie’s place. Ditto.

It seemed I was driving around in circles, and my buddy just didn't want to be found.

Eventually I thought of trying his place again and headed in that general direction, along the main road through town, past the shopping centre and past Central Park.

By some chance I glanced along the street that ran through the park, which had a row of parking spots on either side, and there, at the end of the street I spotted it. A shiny black Commodore. It may not have been his of course, but I knew I had to take a look.

I swung the car around and drove straight into the parking lot, pulling up beside the Commodore.

It was his, all right; I'd been in it often enough to recognise it anywhere, but when I checked inside there was no one home.

 

*     *     *

 

I started walking away from the cars, towards the centre of the park. It was eerie, but I couldn't see anyone around. There were two walkways which crossed over in the middle of the park, running from diagonal corners, and in the middle, there was a fountain.

I walked along the closest path, always looking about me to try and spot him, but I couldn't see him anywhere. The lighting wasn't good at the best of times, but I think that it was good enough to be able to see someone else – if there was actually anyone else there to see.

When I reached the fountain in the middle, I walked around it. Nothing. I couldn't see a soul. Then from out of the shadows I heard a familiar voice.

‘I just can't get away from you, can I?’ he said.

Startled, I turned around, and there, propped up against the trunk of a tree, with the last of our illicit booze in his hand was my best friend.

I walked over and sat down beside him, and he handed me the bottle, which still had a little left in it. I took it from him and took a mouthful, without saying a word.

‘You scared the shit out of me you know,’ he said.

‘Should see the seat of my Jockeys,’ I said, almost without thinking. Then I realised what I had said – he almost had!

He didn't say anything, just took the bottle from my hand and took another mouthful.

‘It's okay,’ I offered, trying to start somewhere.

‘What is?’

‘What happened tonight.’

He gulped down another mouthful from the bottle, then there was a long silence. Finally, he said, ‘How do you figure that one out?’

I wasn't sure what to say. This was something that I had wished for, for a long time, but now that the moment was here, I just didn't know if I could say what needed to be said.

The silence stretched on, but finally I just said, ‘Because I've been wanting it to happen.’

More silence.

‘For how long?’ he finally asked.

‘Since we were both about twelve.’

‘Fuckin' hell,’ he responded. ‘I never knew.’

‘Well, it wasn't something that I could just come out and say now, was it?’

‘I guess not.’

‘What about you?’ I asked.

‘What?’

‘When did you . . .’

‘A while. Just call me a late bloomer,’ he replied.

The silence stretched into minutes, as he swallowed the last drops from the bottle. All I could think of was, ‘What now?’

I looked around me and all I could see were shadows. Occasionally I could see one move, as the park regulars crept about, but I wasn't worrying about them tonight. I had been here a few times at night, trying to work things out in my own head, thinking that I was wanting to meet up with someone, but the only time anything had ever looked like coming of it I had turned and run, with the guy's laughter ringing in my ears. I still cringe when I think about that night.

After what seemed an eternity, Matt finally said, ‘So, now that I'm over the shock of it all, where do we go from here then?’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘I mean if you want me . . .’ he started, before adding, ‘. . . and I want you, what are we going to do about it?’

I couldn't believe my ears. I mean, here was the one guy that I had been lusting after since I was twelve years old saying, ‘What are we going to do about it?’

It was like a dream come true. I just didn't know what to say.

‘Well?’ he prompted after turning and seeing me staring at him with my mouth open.

‘Ummm . . .’ I was speechless. Finally, I managed to say, ‘Are you saying what I think you're saying?’

He just smiled at me, then stood up and stretched his hand out towards me. ‘How about we start by you following me home.’

 

*     *     *

 

After that point everything just seemed to be a blur. I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet, then I followed him to where our cars were parked. He got in and started his, I climbed in and started mine, then I followed him back to his place.

We made the trip across town in no time at all. I think I was on automatic pilot; all I can remember seeing for the whole time were the taillights of his Commodore.

Matt lived in a small granny flat at the back of his parents’ house, basically the converted back half of their garage. It stood at the bottom of their yard, far enough off the fence line for there to be room for a carport beside it, which is where Matt parked his car. To get to the garage and carport, you had to drive down a long, gravel driveway which ran along the side of their house. The front door of Matt’s granny flat was just beyond where he parked his car.

Behind these buildings were some trees, a paling fence and some vacant land, which had a small creek running through it. Then beyond the creek, where there had once been bushland, which we had spent many happy days playing in as kids, there was now a new housing estate.

If you were stuck, you could even drive out through a back gate into the vacant block and from there make your way along a track onto another street. It was perfect. He virtually had complete privacy and could come and go as he pleased.

Anyway, it was nearly two a.m. and neither of us had realised just how late it was. We got out of our cars and while Matt fumbled for his keys, I propped myself up against his carport and thought that I must be dreaming.

As he opened the door he looked up and caught me grinning.

‘What's your problem?’ he asked.

‘No problems here,’ I answered. ‘As a matter of fact, things couldn't be better.’

He just grinned at me. I grinned back.

Was this for real?

There was nothing fancy about the inside of Matt’s flat. As a matter of fact it didn't look all that different from my own bedroom, although it was quite a bit larger, and quite a bit tidier.

When you entered you went straight into the main living room and kitchen area, then there were two other rooms going off it, one of which was his bedroom, while the other room had a shower and toilet.

It was a pretty cool pad really.

I had been here plenty of times before, of course. I had even stayed here quite a few times, sleeping on a mattress on the floor. But tonight, well it was quite a bit different. It is kind of hard to explain really.

 

*     *     *

 

Matt put on some music, and poured us some drinks, then we sat down at the small kitchen table in the room.

For ages we just sat and talked, staring at each other across the table. I stretched my feet out under the table and they touched his. But neither of us moved, we just stayed as we were.

I studied him and listened to him like I never had before. His every movement, every word, every action was brand spanking new to me. It was like I had only just met him, and it was exhilarating.

By about three a.m., though, after debating the merits of different makes of cars, or whether Silverchair was a better band than Savage Garden, or if our favourite football teams would actually win any games next season, the small talk was starting to dry up. I guess both of us knew where we wanted to go, but neither of us knew quite how to get there.

We had been rubbing our feet together, or playing tootsies as my grandmother used to call it, for over an hour now, but that was as far as we had got.

Finally, he looked up at the clock on the wall, then yawned.

‘Great,’ I thought, ‘now he's going to go to sleep on me. It's time to make a move.’

I stood up and walked over to the small sink with our empty glasses.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

I didn't answer him. Instead, I just walked straight across to the door, locked it and switched off the light.

‘Hey . . .’ he started to say, then shut up.

I walked back to the table and stood directly in front of him, reaching my hand out for him. It was dark, but there was enough moonlight coming in through the windows to be able to see.

I watched him as he stood up, then he took my hand, turned and started walking towards the door to his room. I followed, without any hesitation.

Once we were through the doorway, I could see his bed. It was a new double bed, and all I could think about was what it would be like to wake up in it beside him in the morning.

‘What now?’ I whispered.

‘Shhh . . .’ he said, putting his finger to my lips.

Just as he had done earlier in the night, Matt gently ran the back of his hand down my cheeks. First one, then the other. His touch was so soft, so gentle, that I almost melted into his arms right then and there.

The tips of his fingers reached my ear and then ran down along my jaw to the end of my chin. From there they started down my neck, brushing across my Adam’s apple, before finally reaching the top button on my shirt.

Both of us were taking shallow breaths.

Slowly, he undid the buttons on my shirt, one by one, then slid it off my shoulders. I reached up and did the same for him, though with nervous hands I fumbled with a few of the buttons.

‘Have you ever done this before?’ I whispered.

‘Yeah,’ he answered.

‘Who with?’ I asked, but once again he put his fingers to my lips and said, ‘Shhh.’

Everything was happening in slow motion. He reached for my belt and undid the buckle, then the button of my trousers.

I did the same for him.

He unzipped me and my trousers soon fell around my knees.

I did the same for him.

He stepped out of his shoes, then pulled off his trousers and jocks in one swift motion, soon standing there before me in nothing but a pair of socks.

Quickly I pulled off my shoes, but as I stood back up and went to pull down my Jockeys, he stopped me.

Without saying anything he placed a hand on each side of my hips and pulled downwards, hooking his thumbs in either side of my jocks and sliding his hands down my legs, then crouching down in front of me himself while my trousers and jocks were around my ankles and my cock was in his face. I just stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do. In the end I just closed my eyes.

In spite of my constant fantasising about this moment, nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

I could feel his breath on my meat, which had long ago risen to the occasion. Then I felt something warm and slightly rough brush past the tip, which sent a shudder through me.

That was soon followed by another, and another, and when I opened my eyes and looked down, I could see him gently licking me. It felt great, but something better was yet to come.

He licked around the tip of my cock, then opened his mouth and slid his lips entirely over its head.

It was beautiful. That feeling of having something warm wrapped around my cock ran right through me.

Then, while he was down there Matt placed his hands on my hips and guided me gently so that I moved my body around and stood with my back to the bed.

With that feat accomplished he then gently pushed me backwards, so that I sat down on the bed. While doing this he still had his lips around the head of my cock, moving his own head up and down along its shaft.

Finally, he came up for air and grinned up at me from where he sat on his knees.

‘How was that?’ he whispered.

‘Un–be–fucking–lievable,’ I whispered back.

‘Ever had that done to you before.’

I just shook my head, then said, ‘Only in my dreams.’

While we spoke he busily removed my trousers, jocks and socks, then sat up on the bed beside me, with one hand resting on my leg, gently stroking the inside of my thigh and the other draped over my shoulder, his fingers gently playing with my nipple.

Tentatively I reached out and ran my hand over his smooth chest and stomach, then let my hand slide down to his groin. He was hard and felt huge. I didn't quite know what to expect, not having ever touched another guy’s cock in this state before, and never having had another cock to really compare mine to. Still, I didn't think that I was too badly off.

‘What next?’ I asked him, and with that he reached over and kissed me, with both of us falling backwards onto the bed, our lips locked together and our hands exploring each other feverishly.

 

*     *     *

 

When morning came, I awoke to find the room bathed in sunshine. I reckoned it must have been quite late, but who cared.

I had feared that I may have been dreaming about what had happened the night before, but when I moved slightly and the arm that was around me loosened its grip, I was reassured that this was no dream.

I lay awake for some time, listening to the rhythmic sound of someone breathing right beside my ear. Matt's arms were locked around me in a firm embrace and I could feel something hard sticking into my back. I knew instantly what it was, and I smiled to myself at the thought.

Now before your imagination gets too carried away, the answer to the question you are dying to ask is no – we didn't do it that first night. We kissed, we explored each other’s bodies like we never had before, we both came, but that was as far as it went this time.

A few moments later he whispered in my ear, ‘Good morning, beautiful,’ and squeezed me tighter in a hug, before releasing me altogether.

‘Good morning, yourself,’ I said back to him and twisted around so that we were face to face. Matt's arm was draped over me, and I reached up with one of my hands and gently ran it through his hair.

He leant forward and kissed me, then smiled and said, ‘I wish I could wake up to this every morning.’

‘No reason why you can't,’ I answered.

At this his expression changed slightly and he looked at me with that strange, thoughtful look he sometimes gets.

‘What did I say?’ I asked, but he just shook his head and pulled me close, running his hands up and down my back and kissing me again, and again, and again.

‘We'd better get up,’ he said after a few minutes. ‘It's got to be fairly late.’

‘I already am up,’ I answered with a giggle, then looked at my watch and said, ‘It's ten o'clock, anyway, no one will be expecting us to be surfacing just yet, not after the big night out.’

‘I suppose you're right, but still, I'm bloody hungry.’

With that he threw back the bed covers and sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed onto the floor. He sat there with his bare back to me for a moment, rubbed his hands through his dark hair and then stood up.

‘I'm gonna hit the shower,’ he said, then started to walk away from the bed, through the doorway into the living area and across to the doorway into the bathroom.

As I watched him walk away from me, naked and tanned and muscular, all I could think about was a statue of some Greek god. He was gorgeous, and always had been. Shit I was lucky.

When he reached the doorway to his bathroom he turned around and faced me, then teasingly grabbed his cock and gave it a few tugs for me.

I opened my mouth and ran my tongue around my lips a couple of times. He just laughed, then disappeared into the bathroom, without shutting the door.

Lying back again in bed, I listened as he took a piss then flushed. Then I heard the shower get turned on and the shower curtain get pulled back in place.

I lay there for a moment, thinking about what it might be like to be a piece of soap about now. I felt a tingling sensation in my loins. It was then that I had an idea.

Getting out of bed, I headed for the bathroom. I could hear the water running and the squishy sound that is sometimes made when you lather up soap on your body. The room was starting to fill with steam and it was starting to drift out into the living area.

‘What the hell,’ I thought to myself and walked straight into the bathroom and ripped back the shower curtain.

It scared the crap out of Matt . . . well, not literally . . . but he was standing there with this huge hard-on and was covered with a lather of soap.

‘Fancy some company?’ I asked, and before he could even answer I stepped straight into the shower with him and pulled the curtain back into place.

This was becoming a day of new experiences for both of us, and would no doubt be a day that we would both remember for a long, long time.

 

*     *     *

 

When we finally emerged from Matt's flat it was well after lunchtime. I borrowed some clean clothes from him after we had showered, and we went up to the main house. Thankfully there was no one else home.

‘What do you want to do next?’ he asked, as we sat down at the table on the back verandah having a cup of coffee.

I was just about to say that I should phone home and let my folks know where I am, but before I could get a word out we heard the sound of someone walking up the gravel driveway beside the house. We both turned in our seats and looked towards the end of the house and just then Julie walked past, heading straight for Matt's flat.

‘Hi there,’ Matt said to her after realising that she hadn't even looked in our direction and wouldn't have known we were there.

She stopped and turned to face us, with hands on hips and that pouty little expression that she always got when things didn't go her way.

‘Hi, yourself,’ she answered, rather too matter-of-factly.

I gave her a small wave, but she just glared at me. This wasn't going to be good, I thought.

‘And where the hell did you two get to last night?’ she demanded of both of us.

Matt looked at me and I'm sure I must have turned bright red.

‘Well?’ she prompted.

Matt shifted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable about the situation.

Not wanting to get stuck in the middle of this argument, I stood up and said, ‘I think I'll leave you two to sort this out,’ then made a move to go inside.

Matt put his hand on my arm and started to stop me, but I just shook my head and went into the house.

From where I stood cowering in the kitchen, I couldn't hear very much of what was being said. I could hear the raised voices, and especially the anger in Julie’s.

A few minutes later it was all over, and Matt came inside, looking dazed and confused.

‘What was that all about?’ I asked him.

‘She's pissed with me because I left without her. And she's pissed with you because you left Kerrie there too.’

‘Oh,’ I said rather too meekly. ‘What did you tell her?’

He didn't answer, instead he just raised an arm and opened his hand towards me, with his palm facing upwards. I looked down and noticed what he was holding. It was a locket that he had given Julie for her eighteenth birthday, a couple of months earlier.

‘It's over,’ he said.

I didn't know if I should laugh at him, or cry for him. This was going to be difficult. On one hand, because of our long friendship, I was feeling his pain, while on the other hand I had pain of my own, now that I was being faced with the possibility that he might want her more than he might want me.

‘Aren't you going to say anything?’ he asked.

‘What do you want me to say?’ I answered, my own voice shaking with emotion.

He simply shook his head and said, ‘I don't know.’

I could see the pain in his expression, like someone had kicked him in the guts when he was down, and I knew instantly what must be going on inside his mind. I walked over to him, took both of his hands in mine and looked into his eyes.

Just great, I thought. He's still in love with her. Now what do I do?

‘Listen,’ I said to him. ‘I can understand that you are pretty upset about what Julie might have said, and the fact that your relationship with her might be over, but I want you to remember something. Something else also happened last night. Something that was wonderful and amazing and earth moving.’

He looked directly at me; with that same thoughtful expression I had seen earlier that morning.

‘I can't tell you what you should be doing. You are going to have to decide that for yourself. All I can tell you is that you ignited some feelings last night that have been simmering inside me for a long, long while. I don't want us to be just friends any more. Do you know what I'm saying?’

He looked scared, with those big brown eyes blinking at me like some lost puppy. Without really knowing why, I leant forward and kissed him, long and tenderly. As I did this, I knew that this would either drive him away from me altogether or bring him closer. I wasn't sure which, but I was hoping to hell that it would be the latter.

After our lips parted I said, ‘I’ll see you later,’ then walked straight out the door and down the yard to my car. I was too afraid to look back. I was shit scared that what we had started would end right there and then.

After I started the car, I drove back up the driveway to the house, where I found him standing on the end of the verandah closest to me. I stopped beside him.

‘Are you alright?’ I asked him.

‘Yeah, I think so,’ he answered.

‘Good.’

‘I'll call you later,’ he said.

‘Okay,’ I answered, then waved and drove home, my head mixed with wondrous memories of the night before, and with great trepidation at the thought of just what the future may, or may not, hold for us.

 

*     *     *

 

After the night of the dance and the events of the next day, things eventually settled back down in all of our lives, although I have to admit that they actually got worse before they started to get better. It wasn't all plain sailing.

The dance had been on the Friday night. I had woken up naked in Matt's bed on Saturday morning. Matt and Julie had broken up Saturday afternoon, and we later found out that news of their breakup was all over town by Monday morning, when we all showed up back at school for what was officially our very last week of high school.

My folks had been pretty cool about their almost eighteen-year-old son not showing up until late on Saturday. I suppose they had expected some sort of partying or whatever to go on after the dance. After all, they were teenagers themselves once, or so they kept telling me.

This vision of them as teenagers bounced into my head and straight back out again. Urrgghh!

Hopefully the images in their minds of what they think we all got up to after the formal weren't anything like what actually happened.

Matt didn't call on Saturday night, nor any time Sunday. I waited inside the house all weekend, just in case he would, and by Sunday night I was getting pretty anxious.

‘Are you all right, dear?’ Mum had asked me a couple of times.

‘Yeah, fine,’ I answered both times, without even looking up from whatever I had been pretending to read at the time.

She just shrugged her shoulders and kept on doing her housework. At least dad wasn't home to nag me about being inside all the time, giving me the old, ‘When I was a boy we made our own fun, instead of sitting around all day.’ He was out playing golf or doing something equally boring.

I purposefully didn't want to pressure Matt one way or the other, just in case he rejected me altogether, but I did try to call him a couple of times on their home number.

One time the phone was engaged, while the other time his mother answered, but I hung up without saying anything.

As you might well imagine, by Monday morning I was really climbing the walls, but there wasn't much I could have done anyway.

Mum dropped me off at school, as she needed the car that day, in spite of my desperate pleas to borrow it, and when I reached the steps to our building, I found Matt sitting on them, looking nervous and pale.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked him.

‘Sort of,’ he answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

I sat down beside him.

‘You never called,’ I said to him.

‘No, sorry about that,’ he replied. ‘I was doing a lot of thinking.’

‘I can imagine.’

‘We need to talk,’ he added.

Here it comes, I thought . . . THE BIG REJECTION!!!

He stood up and started walking down the path towards the sports oval. I assumed that I was meant to follow him, and so I did. When we reached the oval, we sat on the steps that were cut into the side of the hill, and for a few minutes we just sat there, watching kids from all grades walking across the oval as they arrived for school, oblivious to the pending disaster that I was sure was about to be delivered.

‘What's up?’ I asked him after much too long a silence.

‘Where do I start?’ he said.

I just shrugged at him.

‘Now let’s see. My girlfriend, or should I say ex-girlfriend, doesn't ever want to see me again. My mother thinks I'm a dirty rotten scoundrel because we wouldn't have broken up if I had treated her right. I have this boyfriend . . .’ he paused and looked up at me before continuing, ‘. . . that I'm just crazy about who says I have to make up my own mind about what I should do. And my father thinks I'm either a drug dealer or a poofter, because some loud-mouthed prick of a friend of his told him that he saw my car parked near the toilets at Central Park on Friday night.’

‘Fuck me,’ I said without even thinking.

Matt just looked up at me with those big puppy-dog eyes, almost pleading for me to say something else.

I was just stunned.

‘What did he say to you?’ I finally asked.

‘He wanted to know what I was doing there at one a.m. in the morning. He figured I was either dealing drugs or looking for some cock – and those were his exact words.’

‘What did you tell him?’

‘I said that I had had an argument with Julie and I stopped there and walked around for a bit to try and clear my head.’

‘Did he believe you,’ I asked nervously.

He just shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘I don't know. He just stormed off.’

We sat in silence for a few minutes more, then the five-minute bell rang to signify that school was just about ready to start.

As we stood up to head up to class he asked, ‘What did your folks say about you not getting home until late Saturday afternoon?’

‘Nothing much really. They just said that they were teenagers too, once?’

‘Uurrgghh,’ he said, to which I just laughed.

‘So, what are we going to do?’ I asked him as we walked up the path to our building.

‘Lay low, I suppose. And hope to Christ that no one else hears about it and jumps to conclusions.’

I just nodded.

‘Mmmm. Do you know who told him?’

‘He hasn't said, but I'll try and see if mum knows who it was.’

As we entered the classroom for first period we looked around and could see Julie and Kerrie sitting together on the far side of the room. They apparently didn't want to sit with us today, nor any other day I would assume. At least we only had this week to go, which would be followed by two weeks of stu-vac – that’s study vacation for the uninitiated – then our final exams.

Julie looked straight at Matt, giving him the old evil-eye, then turned and whispered something to Kerrie, who giggled and poked her tongue out at me. All I could think of was how lucky I was that I didn't let things go any further with her on Friday night.

As we took our usual seats one of the guys in our class, James Bower, approached us. He was in the football team with Matt and wasn't too bad a looker, but he could sometimes be a bit of a jerk though. He had a look on his face which signaled that this was going to be one of those times.

‘Hey Matt, did you get lucky on Friday night, you know, after the formal?’ he asked quietly as he walked past.

Matt and I both looked at each other. From our expressions I guess that we could both see the fear in each other’s eyes.

‘What do you mean?’ he asked James, to which he just turned around and winked at him, before continuing to his seat.

We both knew that his father also played golf with Matt's father sometimes, so I guess we now know who the loudmouth was.

The question now was, who else now knew?

 

*     *     *

 

If things started badly that day, they were soon to get worse.

By recess time, the word was well and truly out. The whispers and snide remarks being made about Matt and public places soon got back to us, from all manner of sources.

Without wanting to sound selfish, I was thankful however for two things that morning. The first was that no one seemed to include me amongst the rumours, and the other was that our real friends still found it okay to hang around with us.

‘Fuck 'em all,’ Hoss said as we sat on the front steps of our building.

He was a big guy . . . not fat, just solid . . . and his surname was Cartwright, so that’s why we all called him Hoss, after the television character. He was also a good guy, even if never being known for his tact. We all looked at him with raised eyebrows.

‘What? Oh, you know what I mean,’ he added.

Once, while I was at my locker, one of the members of the football team walked past and said, ‘Poofter lover,’ and while I felt like spinning around and pushing him headfirst down the stairs I just stood there. Petrified.

I found it strange that even the guys that Matt played football with throughout the year were turning their backs on him now. Luckily the football season was well and truly over, and they wouldn't have the chance to get back at him on the field, but it would still hurt him to know that those who were once his friends would so quickly desert him like this.

I couldn't really say just how Matt was feeling, but by the looks of him he was pretty down. I could only imagine the turmoil and self-doubt that would be spinning around inside his head at the moment.

Davo, the joker of our little group, tried to cheer him up, but nothing seemed to be working.

Once, DJ even put his hand on Matt’s shoulder to try offer some support, but this just freaked him out.

‘What are you doing, you idiot?’ Matt almost yelled at him, then stood up and walked away, retreating into one of the classrooms and slamming the door behind him.

‘What did I do?’ DJ pleaded.

‘It's okay,’ I said to him. ‘I'll go and talk to him.’

I left them and followed Matt into the room where he had gone. He was squatting down against the wall at the front of the room, his head in his hands, sobbing. I had never seen him like this in all my life, he was always the self-assured and confident one, but I could see that this was really getting to him.

‘Come on, mate. Who cares what everyone else thinks. They've got no idea if it is true or not. It's just another story to them. In a week they will have all forgotten about it. And in a week, school will officially be over for us anyhow!’

He looked up at me and blinked, wiping his tears away with the back of his hands.

‘You reckon?’ he said, almost in a whisper, as he stood up and faced me. ‘I don't know if I can put up with this for too long.’

‘I know,’ I said, while patting him on the shoulder.

He looked at me, then hugged me, then quickly looked around to see if anyone may have been looking through one of the windows and noticed.

‘You are usually the one who comes up with all the plans, but I think I've got an idea,’ I said to him.

‘Yeah?’

‘What if we give people the same reason that you gave your father. If he bought it, then chances are everyone else might too.’

He didn't say anything, but I could see the cogs ticking over in his mind.

‘Listen,’ I whispered to him. ‘Neither of us wants to admit that we are, or might be, gay, do we?’ I said quietly. ‘If we say nothing, it will only be a matter of time and everyone will believe it. Then before long they'll start on me and Davo and DJ and Hoss as well. Guilt by association and all that.’

He was nodding slowly at what I was saying, while biting his bottom lip at the same time.

‘You're right. How do we do it then?’ he finally asked.

‘I'll ring Kerrie tonight and set her straight,’ I said. ‘That ought to get the message across to where we want it to go.’

‘Where's that?’ he asked.

‘To Julie, of course. The mouth from the south. Between the pair of them, they’re bound to tell everyone.’

‘You don't like Julie very much, do you?’

I just shook my head. It was the first time that I had ever let him know how I felt about her. ‘Sorry,’ I said.

‘And what about the rest of today?’ he asked, ‘What do I do?’

I thought about it for a moment and said, ‘I'd say we'll have to tough it out and tell them all to get fucked. If we show any weakness, they'll just assume that it must be true.’

‘You keep saying, we,’ he commented, his tears all but dried up and the sobbing finished.

‘Yeah,’ I answered. ‘You don't think I'd let you go through this alone do you? We are a team now, remember?’

Finally, he smiled, his old self slowly re–emerging. ‘You really mean that don't you?’

‘Yes,’ I answered. ‘I do.’

 

*     *     *

 

Over the past few years I had pretty much come to terms with my own sexuality, although it definitely wasn't something that I would have wanted advertised or spread around. As a matter of fact I was absolutely petrified at the thought of anyone ever finding out about me.

From Friday night to Monday morning I had been fairly certain that Matt felt the same, and the events of Monday certainly confirmed that for me.

It probably sounds a bit hypocritical of me, especially considering what had happened between us on the Friday night after the formal, but I felt that I had to do everything I could to make sure that this whole scenario didn't get blown out of proportion and get Matt down too far. I felt that for now I had to protect both of us from the harm that may possibly come from this whole episode, then we could make up our own minds about telling the world, if and when we were good and ready.

On the Monday night I rang Kerrie, and her mother answered the phone.

‘Hang on a moment Luke, I'll get her,’ she said to me, then I heard her calling out to her daughter.

Finally, Kerrie came to the phone.

‘Yes,’ she enquired.

‘Yes, yourself,’ I answered.

‘What do you want?’

Christ, I thought, this was going to be hard work.

‘I want to talk to you about Matt,’ I said.

‘Oh.’

‘Where did this bullshit come from that everyone is spreading around?’ I asked her firmly, knowing full well exactly where it had come from.

There was nothing but silence on the other end of the phone.

‘You there?’ I asked again.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘And?’

‘I don't know,’ she finally admitted.

‘Well, just so you know, it really is all bullshit. That’s actually where I found him when I went looking for him after the formal, and do you know what he was doing there? He was trying to clear his head after having that fight with Julie. And that was all.’

‘Oh,’ she said.

‘Make sure you tell it to Julie, and the rest of your little band,’ I said, then I hung up.

After my call to Kerrie word soon got out about the argument that Matt and Julie had had and things settled right back down, which was a huge relief to us all.

We managed to make it through the rest of the rest of the week without any major upsets or hassles, although there were a few minor incidents which created some uncomfortable moments.

I was right in suggesting that we stand up to the dickheads in our class that tried to stir things up, because once everyone realised that Matt wasn't going to run and hide and was quite prepared to stand up for himself, they all backed off and left us alone.

What did come as a surprise to us was the support that Matt received from some of our classmates, which did his confidence no end of good. Surprisingly, even some of the teachers offered their support, once they had found out what was happening, and one even gave a whole lesson on discrimination and tolerance and understanding in our society, even though we were only a few weeks out from our final exams and had more important things to be studied.

It embarrassed the hell out of Matt, because everyone knew exactly what had brought it on, but by the time we broke up for stu-vac – our two week study break – at the end of the week everything was basically back to normal.

The whole experience was really mind blowing, to say the least.

When Friday came, we all knew that school was basically over for us all. Each year the school had a special mass and assembly for the Year Twelve students who were leaving, which was followed by a barbeque just for the graduating students and their teachers.

This year was no exception, and we sat though the whole tedious event wishing we were anywhere but there.

The principal gave his annual speech, which sounded very much like the same one that we had heard the year before for the previous graduating class, after which the class captains gave theirs and then some presentations were made to the high achievers from our year.

Neither Matt nor I, nor any of our friends, made that elite list, so we got to stay down the back of the class group, trying our best to be inconspicuous.

We yawned through the whole event.

By lunchtime it was all over; then we adjourned to the lawn outside our classrooms for a barbeque lunch. Everyone sat around talking and generally relaxing, although a few students got up to some pranks that were frowned upon by the principal.

Matt and I made a special point of thanking the teachers who had offered their support through the week, and we even managed to talk to Julie and Kerrie without anyone getting upset.

Things were definitely on the improve.

 

*     *     *

 

By three o'clock Matt and I, along with Davo, Hoss and DJ were all bored out of our brains, so we decided enough was enough and headed downtown.

For all intents and purposes, school was now out and it was time to have some fun. We went to our favourite hang out, the Centre Café, which was in the centre of the main shopping mall. There was also a video game and pinball parlour right beside it, so naturally it was a popular spot with school kids.

After spending a couple of hours there, however, we were starting to grow tired of it. Davo had already ditched us and gone next door to play the game machines, so Hoss and DJ decided to head off home.

‘Will we see you guys next week?’ DJ asked as they were leaving.

‘We're supposed to be studying,’ I answered.

‘And?’ he added.

We all just laughed.

‘Yeah,’ Matt said. ‘We'll give you a call.’

‘Great,’ Hoss replied and then they left us.

We both stood there and watched them all walk away, and as they did, we both noticed Hoss put his hand up on DJ's shoulder.

Matt and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

‘No. Couldn't be,’ he said, to which I just shrugged.

We left the café and started to walk back to the car.

‘It hardly seems like it was a week ago, does it?’ I said as we reached the car.

‘A lot has certainly happened since last Friday night,’ Matt answered.

As we got into his car I asked, ‘Are you okay with it all?’

After thinking for a moment, he put his hand on my knee and said, ‘Yeah. I am.’

‘I'm glad.’

‘So, where to now?’ he asked.

‘Your place?’ I said, half hopeful.

‘Yeah, that's what I'd hoped you would say,’ he said, then started the car.