Discoveries - 8. The Next Morning

I had the strangest dream that night. It started out pleasantly enough, with Jesse and I in my bedroom, both wearing our school uniforms. Neither one of us spoke, and there was some soft pop music playing in the background. Jesse just stood there with a little smile on his face, his crystal blue eyes twinkling in a way that could only happen in a dream. I approached him and pulled off his white polo shirt. Then I undid his khaki pants and pulled them down to his ankles. Jesse slipped off his shoes and stepped out of his pants, leaving him dressed only in a dark pair of boxers and white socks. I led him to my bed and he came docilely. We sat on the edge of the mattress and I started kissing him. It felt very real. I could feel the moisture of his saliva and the slipperiness of his tongue as it probed me. I ran my hands up and down his bare shoulders and back. The music started to change, getting faster and louder. It sounded familiar...

When my hands slid down his front to tease his nipples, I felt something very ...unexpected, something soft and fleshy. I pulled back from our kiss and was shocked to see that Jesse had breasts! Only, it wasn’t Jesse any more, but Jessica Bainbridge, sitting next to me--topless in Katy’s guestroom! Her small pert breasts protruded from the cascading rivers of her long brown hair while music from last night’s party blared in my ears...

“Gahhhh!” I sat up in bed, breathless, shocked by the sudden transformation. It took me a few seconds to remember where I was.

“What’s...what’s...the matter, Perry?” Jesse groaned, half awake.

I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was 2:00 a.m.

“Just a weird dream,” I explained. I wasn’t really frightened, or even repulsed by the dream, but my heart was racing, and the sudden transformation of Jesse into Jessica disturbed me.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked groggily. He was lying on his side, looking at me through heavily lidded eyes. He touched my arm lovingly and threw one of his legs over mine. It felt so good to be wrapped in Jesse’s limbs like that, and the image of that strange but vivid dream began to dissipate as I started to drift off.

When I woke up again, it was from a peaceful sleep. I glanced at the clock and was startled to see it was nearly seven thirty. My mom would be coming by in a little over two hours. I turned over in the small bed and saw Jesse, his head propped up on one elbow, his beautiful blue eyes still bleary with sleep, staring lovingly at me.

“You look so beautiful when you’re sleeping,” he remarked. When he saw me blush, he quickly added, “’Course, now that you’re awake...” His face twisted into a hideously exaggerated grimace.

“That’s rude!” I said, hardly feeling groggy at all. I reached under the covers and quickly found what I was looking for.

“Yipes!” Jesse squealed as I squeezed his penis through the fabric of his sweatpants.

“Hey, you’re already hard!” I said with surprise at my discovery.

“Don’t think it’s because of you, sweetheart,” he said snidely. “I always have a morning boner!”

“Me too,” I giggled childishly.

We were soon embracing tightly, shucking off the morning chill with our body heat.

Jesse looked at me suspiciously. “I hope you don’t have morning breath...” he said before locking his lips onto mine. It was a long, slow, delicious kiss. I finally pulled away, trying to catch my breath.

“I wish I could wake up like this every morning!” I said with astonishment and delight.

“Me too,” Jesse said, “but I don’t know if I could keep up with you, you horny bastard!” Before I knew it, Jesse had rolled right on top of me. The scary thing was that I was balanced right on the edge of the twin size bed and instead of feeling Jesse’s weight pressing down on me, I felt that momentary loss of equilibrium which inevitably preceded...

“Ooph!” I groaned as we landed in a heap on the thinly carpeted floor.

“Hehe, I meant to do that,” Jesse said in a silly voice, pulling me another foot over so that we were lying on my unused sleeping bag.

He straddled my hips, pinning me down with his knees. He lifted my T-shirt off my belly and lowered his head to kiss and lick me. I began squirming and laughing hysterically, vainly trying to push him off. His tongue found its way into my belly button and I cried for mercy. Finally, he puckered his lips and blew through them, making a disgustingly loud farting sound on my stomach. He lifted his head to catch his breath, sexily tossing it back to get the tumbling locks of blonde hair out of his eyes. His lips were moist and his cheeks were red. His crystal blue eyes gazed intensely at me and I had the weirdest feeling that he was looking right into my soul. But the quiet moment passed quickly, as he directed his gaze elsewhere.

“How’s my little man doing this morning?” he asked in a motherly voice as he pulled my sweatpants down to my knees. He took my half erect penis gingerly between his fingers and shook it lightly, sending little shocks of electricity through my groin.

“Did you have a good sleep?” Jesse asked, his questions directed towards my dick.

“I was a wittle sore wast night, but I’m weady to have wots and wots of weally gweat fun!” he answered himself in a baby voice, shaking my boyhood like a hand puppet as he put words in it’s ‘mouth’ so to speak.

“Isn’t he cute when he gets all excited like that,” Jesse replied lovingly, again directly addressing my penis.

“I miss my wittle friend!” I said in a childish voice, twitching my cock a bit as I tried my hand at a little clumsy ventriloquism.

“Little?” Jesse asked, shocked. “LITTLE????!!!!” he bellowed. He quickly tugged his pants down and stripped them off, and finished stripping off mine as well, leaving us both wearing nothing but our T-shirts. “I’ll give you little!!!!!” he said, leaning in towards me and slapping his erect cock against mine.

“En garde!” he announced, whipping his stiff organ back and forth by swinging his hips. Soon, we were engaged in a full on ‘sword fight,’ our hips gyrating around as we brought our hardened shafts against each other, both of us laughing as hard as we could.

Finally, Jesse pulled his T-shirt off and he fell on top of me, kissing me hard on the lips while he ground his stiff member into my groin. Somehow, the two of us got my T-shirt off as well without me getting off the floor. Soon, the friction of our two bodies rubbing against each other, and the urgent probing of our tongues down each others’ throats was enough to send us both into simultaneous orgasm. Jesse clung to me so tightly, that his nails were digging into my shoulders, while I held fistfuls of his luscious blonde hair, pressing his face tightly to mine. We both spasmed in near unison, sending jets of hot sticky cum up onto our joined bellies. I was still quivering with smaller spasms when Jesse rolled off on to the floor, breathing heavily.

We just turned and looked at each other with silly grins pasted on our faces. Who would have thought you could have so much fun before breakfast?

I looked at the slick puddle of murky white semen on my belly and made a face. Seeing my reaction, Jesse reached over and brushed his finger across my stomach, scooping up some of the goo and taking it to his lips.

“Mmmmm, now that’s a nutritional breakfast!” he said with a satisfied smile.

“Don’t stuff yourself,” I cautioned. “My mom is going to take us to brunch after church. It’s the biggest and best brunch in Santa Corina!” I bragged. “I just know you’ll love it!”

“Seeing as I’ve never had brunch before, I’m totally looking forward to it, dude!”

At first I thought Jesse was joking, then I realized that at twenty five dollars a person, the price tag would be a little high for the Taylors. I felt a twinge of guilt at my brash words.

“Do they have carved roast beef?” Jesse asked with keen interest.

I nodded, glad to see Jesse was looking forward to it.

“Do they have sushi? Do they have pizza? Do they have chocolate mousse...?” Jesse just kept going on and on until I leaned over and stifled his babbling with a sloppy wet kiss.

“Just one more question,” he said, looking seriously into my eyes as I leaned over him. “Do they have beautiful, hazel-eyed, sweet teenage boys with yummy earlobes" he asked, nibbling on one of mine, "or delicious wet lips?" he asked, kissing mine, "or scrumptious nipples?" he asked, licking mine, or delightful little belly buttons?" he asked, probing mine with his tongue.

“I don’t think so...” I giggled.

“Then it can’t be the best brunch in town...” he concluded, grabbing me around the neck and reaching up to give me a long sweet kiss.

Again, we stared at each other silently, just appreciating the moment and what we had together. “They do have a really nice omelette bar,” I added thoughtfully.

We laughed some more, and Jesse gently caressed my cheek. “Hit the showers, dude. Somehow you got Elmer’s Glue all over yourself during art class!” he said, indicating the semen that was dripping off my stomach onto his.

I was kind of hopping that Jesse might join me, but I finished up my shower alone. Oh well, it would be something to look forward to next time...whenever that would be. I carefully brushed my teeth and blow dried my hair, knowing that a lot of kids from school would be at the ten o’clock Mass, all done up in their Sunday best.

I returned to Jesse’s room with a towel around my waist. Jesse had taken it upon himself to straighten the place up, making his own bed, rolling up my sleeping bag, and picking up any stray clothes that had been laying around. He had also put his sweatpants back on.

“Have a good one?” he asked sweetly.

I shrugged. “It was fine...just a little lonely,” I pouted.

“Sorry, dude. Don’t want to be late for your mom. You probably don’t want to eat much if we’re going out after church, but help yourself to whatever’s in the kitchen. There’s cereal, juice, toast...”

“Thanks, I’ll be fine,” I said appreciatively.

Jesse went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. I browsed his small CD collection. There were several Christian pop albums, folk/rock stuff I think, Dave Matthew's Band, the Lord Of The Rings soundtracks, and even a couple of Beethoven symphonies! I shivered with delight when I discovered The White Album! It was the only Beatles album he had, and it made me feel even closer to Jesse than I already was. There was a small boom box next to his dresser. I put it on and kept the volume low, remembering we were in an apartment. I got my garment bag out of Jesse’s closet and started slowly getting dressed, dancing a little in time to Back In The U.S.S.R.

When Jesse came back, I was sitting on the floor leaning against his bed, listening to the Beatles. I had put on a white T-shirt, my dark grey dress slacks, and my black dress socks. I’d wait to put on my white button down shirt and tie until it was almost time to go.

“I was going to tell you last night that they actually made an album out of your T-shirt, dude!” he informed me innocently, referring to the Beatles shirt I wore to bed last night.

“Whoa! Black socks!” he said admiringly, “very sexy!”

Somehow, by 9:30, we were ready. We had managed to keep our hands off each other long enough to get dressed. Jesse looked drop dead gorgeous in his light grey suit and shiny blue tie.

“I used to have a Ken doll like you,” I said appreciatively as I slipped on my loafers. “No matter how I dressed him up, he always looked simply mah-velis !”

“Those dolls always gave me the creeps,” Jesse said, straightening his tie in the dresser mirror. “I mean, no genitals--that’s gotta be rough!”

I gathered up my things. Jesse grabbed my rolled up sleeping bag, and we walked out onto the balcony. It was another bright sunny day with a bit of an autumnal chill that would give way to southern California warmth by noon. We just got down to street level when my mom pulled up in the Lexus. Before we could get in, she got out, her mouth hanging open.

“I didn’t know they were shooting a GQ layout here!” she laughed. “Have you two seen two scraggly teenage boys around anywhere? I was supposed to meet them here.”

“Mom!” I groaned with embarrassment.

We both blushed as Jesse hurriedly pushed me into the back seat. His whole look had changed abruptly and I knew that he was back in his ‘shy’ mode. Sometimes it seemed too extreme to not be a put on, but I just knew better--it was part of who he was. Jesse closed up around other people, and it took him a long time to come out of his shell for anyone but me.

“It’s just my mom, dude!” I whispered, poking him lightly in the ribs.

“I know--it’s just that I feel weird after everything we did...”

“Now you tell me!” I groaned quietly. “Anyway, my mom was right. You look hot!”

Jesse got a little look of panic on his face, thinking that my mom might have overheard. But she was just driving along, minding her own business and he gave me a little smile.

At St. Agnus, we saw a few kids from our class, including Katy and Jessica (while this church served at least half the Catholic population of Santa Corina and had a very diverse congregation, ten o’clock Mass on Sunday tended to be when the ‘High Rollers’ showed up). They came up behind us as we were about to go upstairs. I usually sat in the pews up in the choir loft to be by my mom.

“Don’t you two look handsome today!” Jessica’s voice said rather loudly.

Jesse gave me a pained look, but I turned casually and smiled.

“Hi, Katy, Jessica. Great party the other night--thanks for inviting me.”

“You’re very welcome,” Katy said, not in the least hiding the fact that she was looking Jesse and I over from head to toe.

“Hi, Jesse. Haven’t seen you here before,” Jessica said.

Jesse looked too nervous to speak and he just shrugged and nodded. The girls found this funny and started to laugh, making Jesse even more uncomfortable. I was starting to feel defensive, but I also didn’t want to brush the girls off.

“We’ve got to go up--my mom’s waiting for us,” I explained. “But you gals look totally awesome!”

There was no question that Jessica blushed a little at my compliment, and it made me feel good knowing that there was a very pretty girl who had the hots for me. Then I suddenly remembered my bizarre dream...

“Er...so anyway, we gotta go!” I reiterated, putting my hand casually on Jesse’s shoulder as we ascended the stairs. I glanced back once and saw that Katy and Jessica were staring after us.

“What happened to you down there?” I asked, once we had turned a corner, and had a bit of ‘public’ privacy.

“Girls scare me,” Jesse said in a way that made it clear that he wasn’t joking.

We got a pew to ourselves in back of the balcony. The choir was quietly warming up.

“This is cool,” Jesse said, relaxing a little bit. “It’s sorta like being behind the scenes!”

“I wish we were behind the scenes!” I whispered, giving him an unmistakably sexy wink. Jesse blushed.

“Hey...er...guys...” We turned to see Tom Espinoza, dressed in a navy blue blazer and striped tie. He had his tightly curled hair combed back instead of spiked, but still with a healthy coating of gel to make it cling closely to his scalp.

“Tom! What are you doing here?” I had never seen him here before, and assumed his family probably went to Sacred Heart, the other, much smaller Catholic church in town, closer to their neighborhood.

“I had my dad drop me off,” he explained, standing nervously at the end of the pew. “We always go to Sacred Heart, but I told him...well...” Tom blushed. “I told him my friends from the party would be here and...”

“Come and sit down,” I said cheerfully, trying to cover my surprise.

Tom smiled slightly and hesitantly came and sat beside me.

“Hey, Tom,” Jesse said with a quiet smile.

“Hey, Jesse--man, you look sharp!” Tom suddenly looked embarrassed, as if he had said something he hadn’t intended. He certainly wasn’t acting as weird as he was at the party, but he definitely wasn’t behaving normally either. Something was making him jittery and uncomfortable.

“So do you,” Jesse returned the compliment. And there was no need to lie, because Tom looked incredibly cute in his blue blazer and dress slacks. I didn’t care much for all the greasy gel in his hair, but hey, that was the style of the day and he wore it as well as anyone.

“It was totally cool of you to come!” I said excitedly, hoping that would alleviate some of his discomfort.

“Thanks--you guys don’t mind if I sit here?”

“Not at all,” I assured him. “Hey, did you run into Jessica and Katy downstairs?”

Tom really turned red when I mentioned their names. “Well...er...actually...I was kinda hiding out until they went away--hehehe!” he stammered self consciously.

“They took us by surprise!” Jesse informed him.

We laughed a little, and settled back as the choir began it’s prelude.

While I had a hard time controlling my physical urges while being so close to Jesse for an hour, he seemed to be handling it much better. I kept glancing at him and thinking about all the things we had done since yesterday morning, and I felt myself getting hard. And the flimsy thin fabric of my dress slacks didn’t help that matter much. Jesse actually noticed at one point, and scowled at me. I think Tom might have noticed too, but I couldn’t be sure since he mostly kept his eyes buried in the liturgy.

Jesse seemed to take the whole thing quite seriously, reciting the prayers when we were supposed to, singing all the hymns (he had a really nice, clear voice), and following Father Garetto’s sermon closely. I usually drifted off, daydreaming, and like I said--today, I couldn’t get Jesse out of my mind. I mean, he was sitting, standing, kneeling right next to me the whole time! How could I not notice how his perfect bubble butt stuck out when he knelt? Or the way he moistened his lips with his tongue as he recited the prayers? Or the way his eyes sparkled as he sang the hymns? When Father Mike, the assistant priest came up to administer Holy Communion to the choir and to those of us sitting in the balcony area, I felt envious of the flat white Host that the Father placed directly on Jesse’s moist pink tongue. I wanted to feel that tongue swirling against mine as we pressed our lips together, his sweet warm breath tickling my nose...

“Hey!” Jesse said, nudging me. He was standing up and I realized we were supposed to be singing the final hymn. I blushed when I saw Tom looking at me with concern.

“Bo-ring!” I mouthed by way of explanation.

My mom was as surprised as I was that Tom had shown up, but she kindly invited him to join us for brunch.

“Uh, thanks, Mrs. Thompson, but my dad’ll be picking me up in a few minutes.”

My mom then went off to chat with some of her choir friends, some of whom would certainly be joining us for brunch.

“It was really cool being able to hang out with you guys!” Tom said with a shy smile. “And Jesse, you should be singing in the choir instead of next to it! You have a really awesome voice!”

“I’ll second that,” I chimed in.

Jesse just blushed and shrugged.

"Hey, I got your message yesterday," I said.

"Yeah, me too," Jesse added.

"Oh that," Tom said, actually blushing. "I...uh... just wanted to see if you guys wanted to meet at the mall arcade. I was going to meet Morgan and his brother."

"I'm tutoring Derek, you know," Jesse remarked.

Tom nodded, still in full blush mode. I couldn't figure out what that was all about. Tom's eyes kept darting from me to Jesse, and I wondered again if he had some kind of feelings for Jesse. Being that we were in church, I prayed that wasn't the case.

“So, I guess I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow, huh?” Tom said nervously, getting ready to head back downstairs.

“Tom, was there something you wanted to talk about?” I asked, since it was clear to me that he wasn’t acting quite like himself this morning. It seemed extra strange that he would show up at my church on the Sunday after Katy’s party--where he had acted extremely weird!

“Um,” Tom said, suddenly getting that nervous, uncomfortable look again. His eyes darted to me and then Jesse, and then to the floor. “It’ll keep,” he said.

“All right,” I said, not wanting to press him. Maybe he didn’t want to talk in front of Jesse. “Maybe you could come home with me one afternoon and we can have a one on one,” I suggested.

“That would be awesome!” Tom replied with more enthusiasm than I would have expected. I guess that was what he was hoping for. “’Kay, see you guys tomorrow!” he said, more like his usual cheerful self again. He took off down the stairs. I gave Jesse a puzzled look.

“What was that all about?” I asked, totally confused by Tom’s behavior.

“I think I know,” Jesse said quietly. “I’ll tell you later,” he whispered in my ear. Just feeling his hot breath on my cheek sent a tingle through my whole body. I was already hoping that Jesse would come back home with us for a few hours after brunch. I just couldn't seem to get enough of him.

Jesse was just totally blown away by the sumptuous Sunday Brunch at the Castaway Hotel. It was a big restaurant with several large banquet halls adjoining the fanciest hotel in town. Besides the large crowds that milled around waiting for their tables, there were always a few weddings going on--even on Sundays! People running around in tuxes and always a few young gals stumbling around in garish bridesmaid dresses and too much make-up.

I was glad to see that Jesse wasn’t shy about eating. He tried everything! I couldn’t believe that such a skinny guy could put so much away! Still, I was so glad that he was enjoying it. I know it sounds condescending, but I really loved it when I could give him something extra--something he normally couldn’t afford to do on his own. It was one small way that I could show how much I loved and appreciated him. He had also gotten over his shyness a little--at least with my mom--and we were able to have a nice--if somewhat innocuous conversation. Fortunately, my mom’s attention was mostly on her friends, leaving Jesse and me to provide our own entertainment.

Jesse and I had our own little conversations, of course, most of them not requiring much in the way of actual words. At one point during our pigfest, we both picked up our breadsticks and had ourselves a little sword fight, in our minds, reliving one of this morning’s truly wacky highlights. We both giggled like eight year olds to the point where my mom had to throw me one of those glances. This only made us laugh harder, causing my mom to exaggeratedly roll her eyes and shake her head. But I had to give her a lot of credit, even though she had no idea at this point how deep our relationship had gotten, she did know that we were very close friends and she was clearly happy for both of us. God bless my mom!

As we stood outside, both of us barely able to stand we were so full, waiting for the valet to bring the car around, I told Jesse some of the plans I had for the rest of the afternoon.

“An hour of hoops will help all that food digest,” I suggested. “Then I can teach you Kingcarver II, one of my favorite video games of all time, and then...”

Jesse looked at me a bit sadly and I stopped my babbling. “What...?” I asked hesitantly.

“I think I should just go home,” he said reluctantly.

“What?!” I exclaimed, loud enough that my mom glanced away from her friends to look at me.

“What are you talking about?” I whispered fearfully.

“I think I should go home,” Jesse said calmly. “I need to do a load of laundry, and I have homework to catch up on...”

I, of course, had the same pile of homework as Jesse, but was more than glad to put it off until the last possible minute. I felt so disappointed that he wasn’t coming home with me that I actually felt a little angry with him.

“Don’t,” Jesse pleaded quietly, once again seeming to read my mind. “It’s not like we won’t ever see each other again,” he said with a wistful little smile.

I remembered what my mom had told me yesterday morning on the way to Jesse's place (on my way to getting tied up, giving and receiving my first blow job, and rolling around naked with another boy in the most passionately sexual way imaginable). She had told me to appreciate the time we would be spending together alone, because Mrs. Taylor wasn't particularly comfortable with the idea of leaving Jesse on his own. Still, I felt a tad embarrassed by my overreaction, and reluctantly nodded in agreement. When we got in the car, I told my mom that Jesse needed to go home. She seemed a little taken aback herself, but just nodded understandingly when Jesse gave his explanation. I hoped my mom would at least see that Jesse was a responsible young teenager, and not deserving to be branded as a 'troubled' boy.

“You’re a very conscientious young man, Jesse. I know that your mom is very proud of you,” my mom said, as we headed back to Jesse’s part of town.

When we got there, I think I was starting to tear up, even though I knew I’d be seeing him at school tomorrow. Jesse had that look on his face that I now recognized, the one where he used all his self discipline to appear outwardly calm while something completely different was happening inside.

“Uh, I think I forgot my toothbrush in your bathroom,” I said, following Jesse out of the car after he had profusely thanked my mom for everything.

My mom gave a knowing little smile and turned the car engine off.

“I’ll be right back!” I assured her before racing up the stairs behind Jesse.

When we were inside Jesse’s apartment, I told him straight out how disappointed I was that he wasn’t coming back home with us.

“I know. It’s hard for me too,” Jesse said, trying his best to give me a satisfactory explanation. “But I owe it to my mom to ‘take care of business.’ She’s been very cool about letting me spend time with you.”

I nodded understandingly, knowing all that I knew about their conflicts, though tears were in my eyes.

Jesse finally let down his guard, giving me a big, loving smile even as tears welled up in his own beautiful blue eyes.

He grabbed me around the neck and our lips locked in a long passionate kiss. “Thanks for this weekend,” he told me after we had pulled ourselves apart. “It was the best two days of my entire life!”

I was dumbstruck with emotion knowing that he was being absolutely sincere about what he said. Finally, after staring at each other for an eternity, I managed to get some words out through my constricted throat. “I love you so much,” I said, sniffling a little. “I just don’t want it to end.” I held him tightly.

“Hehehe...my first swordfight!” Jesse snickered.

“My first sacrificial foot washing!” I added.

“My first blow job!” we said in unison! We hugged and kissed some more, until I remembered that my mom was waiting in the car.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said with more emotion than the simple statement required.

Jesse reached over and brushed a few stray tears off my cheeks. “What about your toothbrush, dude?” he asked with a sly grin.

“That was just an excuse,” I said, stating what Jesse (and probably my mom) knew was just an obvious way for me to say goodbye ‘properly.’

I was just reaching for the doorknob when I remembered something. “You said you knew why Tom was acting so goofy?” I asked, turning towards Jesse.

He gave me a knowing little smile. “Gees, you can’t see it?” he asked in quiet amazement.

I just shrugged stupidly, not having a clue what was going on.

“I think our little Tommy is...gay!” Jesse said with a giggle.

I almost fell over. It had never occurred to me. I had been hanging out with Tom for over a year now, and I had never suspected...But now that Jesse said it, I felt that it might not be a totally absurd possibility. I just stared at Jesse, dumbfounded.

“You have that talk with him,” Jesse advised me. “I think he wants to tell you.”

“Why me?” I asked, as much to myself as to Jesse. Tom was already part of the little group that included Morgan and Gene, before I showed up last year. While we always got along just great, I would not have thought of him as a really close friend, the kind you would confide your deepest darkest secrets to. Then again, I couldn’t think of anyone else at school, besides those in our little group, that would fit that description for Tom. Still, he might have some friends outside of school that I didn’t know about...

Jesse shrugged. “I think he trusts you--who wouldn’t?” he said with admiration and love in his voice.

I wasn’t very convinced of that, despite Jesse’s obvious affection for me. Then I had a thought that sent a shiver of fear down my spine.

“Either that, or he thinks I’m gay too!” I said, really wondering for the first time if anyone else at school actually did suspect me. I mean, I didn’t even know myself!

“No one thinks your gay,” Jesse said, quickly dismissing my concern. “Except for me, of course!” he giggled.

“Still...” I said, nervously.

Jesse touched me lightly on my shoulder. “One thing I learned is that, you’re the only one who really knows what you are, and people will always come up with some quick and easy label to slap on you regardless. Besides,” he said, touching my chest , “it’s really about who you are in here that counts. To me, it’s plain as day why Tom would want to talk to you over anyone else at school.”

I didn’t want to argue with Jesse because I knew he was biased, as swept up in our little romance as much as I was, but it really did make me think about other people’s perception of me. Did I really want to be labeled as gay? I didn’t think so, what ever the truth of the matter was. With high school coming up, the ignorant teenage animosity towards homosexuals could become a very real and dangerous threat. I didn’t want that for myself or Jesse, or Tom for that matter.

I sighed, feeling the weight of new problems to be solved, along with all the other unresolved garbage floating around in my head. I paused and just stood there in the doorway, looking at my beautiful blonde angel, the boy who had walked into my life only a month and a half ago. “Thank you for everything, Jesse. I really truly love you with all my heart!” I gave him a light kiss on the cheek and headed out, not looking back but hearing Jesse sniffle behind me.

I stood on the balcony for a moment, gathering my wits about me, enjoying the cool crispness of the autumn afternoon, before heading back to the car.