Butterflies Fly Free - 5. Chapter 5 – Settling In

After taking my shower, I called work and left a message to tell my boss I’d be a little late this morning, but I would get there as soon as I could. Then I fixed both of us breakfast and we ate quickly, so I could drive Colt over to his new school and get him enrolled. Before we got out of the car though, I asked him to hold out his hand.

“What for?” he wanted to know.

“Just do it and you’ll see,” I told him.

Hesitantly, he did as I requested and I placed something in it.

“What’s this?” he wondered aloud.

“It’s a key to the house,” I responded, noting the look of wonder on his face.

“You’re giving me a key to your house?” he asked, amazed.

“Of course,” I replied. “Most likely you’ll get home before I do, unless you want me to pick you up, so how else would you get in?”

“I thought I’d just have to hang out until you got home from work,” he told me.

“But what if the weather is bad?” I asked, trying to put this into perspective.

“Then I suppose I’d just have to find someplace to hang out or stay at school a little longer and wait for you to come pick me up,” he stated, unfazed. “Not a big deal.”

“Well, that’s not acceptable to me, so just take the key,” I insisted.

“You really trust me that much?” he pressed.

“Look, if you’re going to be living in my house, you’ll need to have a key and that’s all there is to it,” I explained.

Colt seemed pleased by this simple gesture and a satisfied grin spread across his face. Once he accepted the key, I also handed him a few dollars so he could buy his lunch.

Now that those issues were settled, we got out of the car and made our way to the main office, where I announced our intentions. There was a flurry of activity, as the secretary rushed around pulling out a collection of paperwork for us to fill out and then she went to get the principal to handle things. We began filling out the forms as we waited for the principal to arrive and then she guided us into her office, where we could discuss this matter in private.

Once we were all seated, I informed her about Colt’s age and grade level, before I told her that he had been kicked out of his home, which wasn’t technically true. I then quickly added that I was going to hire a lawyer to deal with his emancipation from his family and that would happen just as soon as it could be arranged.

“He is old enough to drop out of school without parental permission,” she told us, “so I guess he’s also old enough to transfer here, especially since you are seeking to have him emancipated. My only question is, who will be paying his tuition?”

She was a typical private school bureaucrat, quickly getting down to the financial bottom-line.

“I will be covering that expense and he will be residing with me,” I told her.

“And you are?” she countered.

“A close family friend,” I replied.

I know I just lied to her again, but I felt my relationship was none of her business, except that I would be paying the tab. She gave me a quick once over and made a face that told me she thought I had a different motive for doing this, other than just helping Colt. However, she took the paperwork after we finished filling it out and told Colt he could start attending classes as soon as his tuition was paid. I immediately pulled out my checkbook, wrote a check for the amount she indicated and placed it on her desk. I think she might have been tempted to call the bank to make sure I had sufficient funds to cover it, but she didn’t do it right then and there, although I had a strong suspicion she would do it as soon as I left. Instead, she welcomed Colt as a student, so the two of us thanked her for her help. As I left the building, I noticed the principal was escorting Colt to the guidance office, where he would be given his class schedule.

I drove directly to work, since I didn’t wish to arrive any later than I already was. After taking care of a couple of minor emergencies, I called my company’s legal office, so I could speak with Jared, one of the attorneys who worked there and whom I was friendly with. I told him about Colt’s situation and asked if he could recommend a lawyer we could use to handle the emancipation. He said he’d do a little research and then get back to me before the end of the day. I thanked him and then turned my attention to the mounting pile of work that I had to deal with.

For the remainder of the day, however, I had trouble concentrating on what I was doing. That’s because my brain was filled with thoughts of Colt. I could see him in my mind’s eye, hear his sweet voice and even feel his gentle touch. I continually looked up, as if I expected to find him standing beside me, even though I knew that would be impossible. Not only was he at school, but there was also no way he knew where I worked, because I never gave him that information. The funny thing was that logic wasn’t playing any role in my thoughts today. Instead, I was fixated on a younger guy who had been in my life for only a short time. How could I be so enthralled by him, after only a few days?

I continually tried to force myself to focus on what I was doing, but I could only think about being with Colt again. During our first day apart, I found myself obsessed by an urge to rush home, so I could be with him when he got out of school. I even considered feigning illness, just so I could leave early, but then I decided against it, because if I thought I needed to do that today, then how was I going to make it through the rest of the week? Would I have to leave early every day or just stay home until the following Monday? I couldn’t do that! My boss would require a doctor’s note to excuse any absence that lasted that long, so I’ll just have to tough it out.

I will admit that it was the longest day I’ve ever worked, or at least it seemed that way. Every time I looked at my watch or glanced up at the clock on the wall in my office, only a few more minutes had passed, even though it had felt more like hours. In the long run, I accomplished very little, except for getting the name of a lawyer from my friend that we could contact about the emancipation. It was almost 5:00 when he got back to me, so I decided to wait until the next day to call the other lawyer and make an appointment. I was just in too much of a hurry to get home to my baby to take the time to do it now. All I wanted to do was to see how Colt’s day had gone and spend a little time with him.

Colt had been home for a couple of hours by the time I arrived, but he must have been listening for me to enter the front door. When I did, he came rushing out to greet me, like a puppy welcoming home its owner. As I turned around after shutting the door, I found two arms wrapped around my chest and an excited young man’s head pressed against mine.

“Well, I’m happy to see you too,” I told him, once he broke his grip. “Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah, it was great,” he said, excitedly. “The school has a lot of neat things and there aren’t very many people in any of my classes, so the teachers were able to spend some time helping me with some of the stuff I’d missed. I think I’ll be able to catch up quickly.”

“That’s great,” I told him, while giving him a hug, which was as much for me as it was for him. “I’m glad to see everything is working out so well.”

“Yes, and I might even try out for some of the sport teams, if I go back there for my senior year,” he announced. “Well, if that’s ok with you.”

I think he added that last part after thinking he might have overstepped his boundaries a bit.

“Why would I mind?” I asked him. “I think it would be great being able to watch you compete on the school teams.”

He beamed back at me, after hearing my response.

“Oh, I also made dinner for us,” he quickly added. “I hope you don’t mind that I dug through the freezer, fridge and the cupboards to find the things I needed. I just haven’t put it in the oven yet, because I wasn’t sure what time you’d be home.”

“Mind? I’m thrilled,” I exclaimed. “I didn’t even know you could cook, other than you mentioned you could fix breakfast.”

“I can make quite a few other things too,” he told me. “Most of the time I was expected to have dinner ready when my parents got home from work. The things I make aren’t really a big deal, because I don’t know how to fix any fancy dishes – only simple stuff.”

“That’s all right. Simple is good too,” I assured him. “So what are we having tonight?”

“Well, I found some ham slices in the freezer, so I thawed them out, put crushed pineapple and brown sugar on them and they’re ready to go in the oven, along with some French fries. I’ve also fixed some candied carrots, which are ready to go in the microwave, plus I made us both a small salad. I hope that’s ok?”

“It sounds great to me,” I announced, before giving him the largest smile I could manage.

Colt’s chest seemed to puff out when he heard my response and looked extremely proud of himself. Now that he had my approval, he turned and raced into the kitchen, so he could put the ham and French fries in the oven, which he had already preheated. I could see from this that he might turn out to be more of a blessing than I’d first suspected.

While our meal was cooking, I went to my room, took off my work clothes and got into something a little more comfortable. When I came back out of my room, something else came to mind.

“By the way, Colt, did you finish your homework yet?” I asked, while giving him a curious glance.

I wasn’t sure how he was going to react to my query, but he flashed me a comical look in response.

“Most of it, Dad,” he teased, while making another face.

“Well, I just wanted to make sure,” I explained, while thinking I might need to justify my reason for asking. “I just thought as long as you’re living here with me that I should make sure you didn’t fall any further behind. I’ll also help you with whatever I can, if you need assistance.”

After hearing my last comment, he gave me a devilish grin.

“Now that doesn’t mean I’m willing to do your homework for you,” I announced, which caused his smile to dim slightly, “but I will try to explain anything you’re stuck on or check your homework for you, if you want me to, including proofreading your papers.”

His smile suddenly grew again.

“Thanks, I’d appreciate that,” he assured me, “and I’ll be sure to take you up on it. I do ok, but I probably could do even better with a little help.”

I felt it was a good sign that he was willing to let me work with him. It appeared that he wasn’t afraid to work hard or attempt to do his best, so that pleased me immensely. From what I’d seen, all too often the male students feel those who get good grade and volunteer in class are geeks or worse, so they only do enough to receive average grades, to keep from standing out and getting labeled.

It didn’t take long before dinner was ready and I have to admit it was quite good. Colt had done an excellent job, even though it was a simple meal, but I still made sure to praise his effort. He seemed quite pleased with my response, so I had a feeling he’d be doing more things like this in the future. Once we finished eating, I told him he should go finish his homework, while I cleared off the table, took things out to the kitchen and began to put things away. He started to protest, saying that was his job, but I told him it was only fair that I do the dishes and clean up the mess, since he had prepared the meal. Although I could see he didn’t fully agree, he finally relented and went to his room.

When I finished my chores, I went into the living room and began watching CNN. I thought I needed to catch up on what was happening in the world, while my life was being turned upside down by Colt. I was engrossed in one of the news stories when Colt suddenly burst out of nowhere and leaped onto my lap.

“Done,” he announced, with a giggle, as he landed on me.

“Damn, are you trying to scare me to death or just crush me?” I asked, in a playful manner.

“Neither,” Colt giggled back. “I just want to be close to my best friend in the whole damn world!”

His comment may have been a bit sappy, but I totally melted when he put his head against my chest and stared up into my face. I’m afraid I didn’t know what to do or say when he did this though, but I must admit that I liked having physical contact with him. The only drawback was that this was looking more like a case of hero worship, rather than one of love.

“Hmmm, I guess you don’t know very many people then,” I shot back, to see what his reaction would be.

“I do too!” he countered, emphatically, while lifting his head and staring me in the eye. “But none of them has ever cared about me as much as you do.”

“Oh, I’m sure some of them did,” I explained, “but they just might not have been in a position to help at the time.”

I was hoping my comment would get him to think a bit and maybe take me down from his pedestal.

“Uhnt uh,” he shot back, in child-like defiance. “I might have other friends, but none of them care about me like you do. I think you even care more about me than my parents ever did. At least you wouldn’t throw me out because you didn’t like what I was.”

“Well, I’m glad you feel this way,” I conceded, “but I think you’re blowing it all out of proportion. Sure, I care about you, but I’m sure your parents do too, in their own way. Maybe they just needed some time to deal with this new knowledge about you. I mean, think about how they found out - hearing it from someone else and not from you. The shock of that alone might have caused them to react in a way other than they might have done, if the situation had been different.”

I hoped this might cause him to reconsider things.

“Uhnt uh,” he responded, defiantly. “They wouldn’t have accepted that I’m gay and like guys, no matter how they found out about it. I’ve heard my dad say many times that fags are disgusting and shouldn’t be allowed to live. What makes it even worse is that my mother agrees with him. I couldn’t have continued to live there no matter what, especially now that they know about me. They’d have made my life a living hell and would have tried to ‘fix’ me.”

Colt was so worked up after telling me this that his body was visibly shaking. Seeing this, I wrapped my arms around him, in an effort to make him feel better, and he slowly melted against my body and let go of all his pent-up frustration.

“I think maybe it would be best if we just ended this discussion for now,” I advised him. “I think we need to find something a little more enjoyable to focus on instead. Here, you take the remote and find something on TV, while I run to the toilet.”

As he got up to let me out of the chair, I handed him the controller and then rushed off to the john. I didn’t really need to go that badly, but I did want to get away from him for a few minutes, because I was getting emotionally choked up listening to the things he was saying. Since I was trying to convince him that his parents cared, I didn’t think it would be wise to let him see me reacting this way. Right or wrong, I went into the toilet, forced myself to urinate, washed my hands and then went back to join him in the living room. Seeing Colt was sitting in my chair, I went over and sat on the sofa.

“Hey, no fair!” he exclaimed, when he saw me sit down

After saying this, he leaped out of the chair and raced across the room, so he could sit down beside me. Once he did that, he leaned tightly against my side, so I instinctively lifted my arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, as he got comfortable.

“Oh, this is nice,” he whispered. “I like this even better.”

Colt quickly made himself comfortable, while flicking through the channels. He finally found something he wanted to watch and we settled in.

While Colt was watching the television program, my mind was busy racing over the events of the past few days. I was mentally going over everything that had happened and then wondered where all of this was leading. I knew I would have to accomplish more at work tomorrow, since I wasn’t very effective today, but in order to do that I would first have to come to grips with my feelings for Colt.

Colt seemed to sense that I wasn’t really watching the program with him, because I hadn’t reacted to the various scenes when he did, so he was curious about what I was up to.

“What are you thinking about?” he wondered, breaking my reverie.

“Uh, just some stuff from work,” I lied, since I had to come up with an answer with little forewarning.

“Oh, just forget about that stuff and relax,” Colt advised me.

I think this meant he wanted more of my attention than I was currently giving him.

“I’ll try,” I replied, switching my focus to the program I was supposed to be watching with him.

Colt leaned back against me again, just to make certain I remembered he was there. When he did that, I bent forward and kissed the back of his head, without even realizing I was doing so. This caused Colt to spin around and give me a very wicked grin. Seeing I was somewhat oblivious to what had caused his reaction, he eventually turned back around and leaned back against me again.

When the program ended, Colt got up and went to his room, while I went around and quickly locked up, so I could follow suit. After getting to my room, I took a hurried shower, put on fresh undies and slipped into bed. Before long, I heard my bedroom door open, saw a shadowy figured walk briskly across to the other side of the bed and then I felt the mattress sag, as he crawled in beside me.

“Colt, I though we discussed this last night,” I announced.

“But we aren’t going to be as busy tomorrow,” he protested.

“But I still have to go to work and you have to attend school,” I replied.

“So, what difference does it make where we sleep?” he challenged. “We’ll still get our rest.”

I really didn’t want to spend the night arguing about this, so I gave in.

“Ok, but just tonight and no funny business,” I warned.

“What kind of funny business?” he asked, before bursting out laughing.

“You know, so just go to sleep,” I answered, before rolling onto my side and facing away from him.

I guess he didn’t take that as a deterrent, because he slid his body closer to mine and spooned up behind me, while resting an arm over my chest. He sighed dreamily as he did this, so I let him have his way. Actually, I found it quite enjoyable as well and didn’t want to discourage or scold him.

We must have slept that way all night, because it was the position we were still in when I awoke the next morning. As I attempted to get up, I gently lifted his arm and crawled out from under it, just before I heard a sleepy voice behind me speak.

“Hey, where are you going?” it asked.

“It’s almost time for the alarm to go off,” I began, “so I was just going to make a pot of coffee and get things ready for breakfast.”

“K, I’ll come help you then,” he mumbled, still not totally coherent.

Colt then crawled out of bed and began to follow me when I realize he wasn’t wearing anything. It was kind of hard to miss, since his erection was leading the way, which meant he must have slept naked with me all night long.

“Uh, maybe you’d better go to the toilet and slip something on first,” I advised him. “I don’t need a mess on the kitchen floor and would prefer not to have any pubes in my eggs.”

Colt glanced down quickly, showing he had obviously forgotten he was naked too. Once he realized this, he looked up and gave me one of his patented grins.

“But I didn’t try any funny business, did I?” he asked, raising his eyebrows as he did so.

“I’m not sure,” I shot back. “Did you?”

As soon as I said this, Colt began laughing.

“I guess you ARE a sound sleeper then,” he teased, before running off to his room.

I wasn’t exactly sure what that comment was supposed to mean, but I think we had just reached a new level in our relationship.