Secrets 2: Looking Through Different Eyes - 19. Chapter 19 S2

Chapter 19 – Spending Time With Both Families

After we left the restaurant, Gramps found a motel and requested two rooms, one for them and one for us. We were thrilled that he got us a room with a queen-size bed, while their room had two double beds.

Once we got to our room, Devin and I didn’t waste any time. After we took a quick shower, we hopped into bed and started making out. Of course this led to us doing even more, and before long we were taking turns making love to each other. It felt wonderful, since we’d just endured nearly a month long hiatus from being able to do this, but it ended far too quickly.

The problem was two-fold, starting with our prolonged abstinence from this activity, and the other was our heightened emotional level as we eagerly engaged in this activity again. The combination of these two factors led each of us to have a premature ejaculation, but we weren’t entirely disappointed. We knew we could make up for the shortened duration of our couplings the following evening when were staying at a motel closer to the airport. Until then, we merely cuddled and fell asleep.

After a good night’s sleep, we all went out for breakfast, and during the meal we talked about our experiences on this trip and made plans for a return trip to find the treasure. We continued this discussion throughout the remainder of the day, and Devin and I made certain that Gramps and Pops knew we wanted to do it again next summer. It isn’t going to be easy to explain to my parents that I’ll be going away again next summer, but I’ll figure out another story to tell them that will explain why Devin and I want to do this. We’ll just make sure to return home in time to go on vacation with them, like we’re doing this summer.

During our discussion about next summer, Gramps and Pops agreed to see if they could get ATVs for us to use, so we can accomplish a lot more before we returned home. You see, this time we’ll be doing it as humans, although we’ll be changing our appearance so no one will be able to recognize us. Gramps and Pops will also procure the tools that we’ll need to break through to the other side of the cave, so we can see if there’s actually any treasure there.

I was as excited about doing this as I’d been about coming here this summer, so now I’ll just have to come up with another good excuse to tell my parents about why I won’t be home for an extended period next summer. This must have been on Devin’s mind as well, because he asked me about it when we were in the SUV.

“Do you have any idea what you’re going to tell your parents about next summer?”

“Not yet, but I’m sure you’ll help me come up with another good excuse before then.”

“Ok, I’ll do my best.”

“My mom and dad shouldn’t have too big a problem with it, since I’ll still be able to spend a couple of weeks with them before we have to leave to return to the Ozarks. And when the trip is over, we should be back in time to spend even more time with our families, so I hope that will suffice. We’ll be able to spend time at the cabin for a couple of weeks first, and after that we will go on vacation with my mom and dad for another two weeks. I just hope that’s enough to satisfy them.”

“Yeah, I hope so too.”

“We’ll also have to make sure that our parents still get together for the Fourth of July, in case we aren’t back by then, because I don’t want either set of parents to celebrate the holiday alone.”

“Yeah, and Gramps and Pops already told me there’s a chance we won’t get back in time to be with our families for the holiday, because the next trip will probably take even longer than this one.”

As we continued talking about this, Gramps drove us around the area so we could see more of it before we returned home. Along the way, we stopped at a small town we were passing through so we could have lunch, and then after we finished eating we were able to check out the town more closely.

As soon as we had seen just about everything of interest there, Gramps continued driving us around so we could see even more of the Ozarks, but eventually he stopped at another small town where we had supper. After we ate, we walked around the area for a while to see if there was anything of interest there, and then Gramps drove us to our motel so we’d have plenty of time to relax before the trip home.

Our motel arrangements were similar to the previous night, except this motel was much nicer than the one we’d stayed at the previous evening. It was also better for me and Devin, because this time we weren’t primed to explode shortly after we started. In fact, we were able to enjoy a rather leisurely and extensive love making session, so we were more than a little exhausted when we were done. In fact, we didn’t even bother to shower and merely stayed in bed and cuddled until we fell asleep.

Gramps and Pops let us sleep in a little later in the morning, and then after we woke up and had taken a shower, they drove us to a diner to get something to eat before we got on the plane. Due to the time, we had a choice of either ordering breakfast or lunch, and we all decided to have lunch, since we felt it would sustain us longer. After we’d finished our meals, Gramps drove us over to the airport where Captain Jack and his crew were waiting to greet us when we arrived.

“It’s nice to see you all again. We hope things went well for you while you were here,” Captain Jack said.

“Yes, everything went very well,” Pops replied.

“And we might even do this again next year,” Devin added.

“Then we hope you’ll fly with us again.”

After we boarded, we took the same seats that we’d sat in during the flight here and got comfortable. It was another smooth flight, but it seemed to be shorter than our previous flight, so I decided to ask about it when we were ready to disembark.

“Was it just my imagination or did this flight take less time than the flight there?”

“No, it’s not your imagination and the flights westward always takes less time, due to the rotation of the earth,” Tony said. “When we fly east, the earth rotation keeps moving our destination farther away, so we have to travel farther and it takes a little longer to get there. When we’re flying west, however, the destination is moving toward us, thus decreasing the flight time.”

“I guess I should have been able to figure that out, but I never took the rotation of the earth into consideration as a factor.”

“Don’t feel badly about it,” Jan added, “because some of our other passengers have asked the same question and we gave them the same answer.”

“Thank you for sharing that, because now I don’t feel quite as stupid.”

We thanked each of the flight crew again as we got off the plane, and we also added that we hoped to see them again next summer.

“We’ll do our best to use this jet again next year, but that will depend on the company’s plans,” Pops emphasized. “I hope there won’t be a conflict, because we’ve enjoyed flying with you.”

“Then we look forward to seeing you again,” Captain Jack, Tony, and Jan all agreed.

Now that we were on the ground, we walked over to where Gramps had parked his SUV, tossed our things in the back, and then took our seats so Gramps could drive us back to the cabin. When we arrived there, Gramps and Pops followed us inside so they could say hello to Ma and Pa, but they didn’t stay very long. That’s because they were eager to get home so they could spend some time with their wives.

“You know, I’m still amazed that Hope and Faith don’t seem to have a problem with them being gone so much,” I told Devin when we were up in his room after they left.

“It probably has something to do with the fact that Faith and Hope are such good friends and enjoy being able to do things together while Gramps and Pops are doing other things,” Devin replied.

“Do you think Faith and Hope might be bisexual?”

“I don’t know, but I guess it’s possible. If they are, then it would explain a whole lot.”

After Gramps and Pops had left to go to their homes, Devin and I sat down to chat with Ma and Pa, and that’s when Pa asked us a question. “Did you boys even check out Devin’s SUV? I was wondering what you thought of the tint job?”

“That’s right! We forgot all about it,” Devin replied, and then we ran outside to check it out. “It looks great, Dad, and it’s just what I wanted.”

“Yeah, and it will make life a lot easier when I take Devin to the dog park from now on.”

We went back inside and spent the evening chatting to Ma and Pa, and we talked about when they would be coming to my house for the Fourth of July celebration. Devin also let him know that he was going to drive me home the next day and that he would spend some time with my family as we waited for them to arrive so we could all celebrate the holiday together. And when they returned home, I’d return with them.

After that, Ma and Pa wanted to hear all about our trip, since they knew why we went on this little excursion in the first place, so we told them all about it.

“We didn’t have much luck finding the treasure, but we found a cave that was partially collapsed, so we’re hoping we’ll find the treasure there next summer.”

“Do you really think there’s a chance it might be there?” Ma asked.

“We believe the cave might have been collapsed intentionally, in order to hide the treasure where no one else would expect to find it. We want to go back there again next year so we can find out for certain if there’s any treasure there.”

“Did my dad and grandfather agree to this?” Pa wanted to know.

“Yep, they did.”

“Did anything else happen while you were there?” Ma followed.

“Oh yeah. We already told you that we were going to be moving around as wolves, and at one point we were confronted by another wolf pack.”

“Did you have to fight them?” Ma gasped.

“No, but since it was their territory, we acted submissive as our way of saying we were sorry for trespassing, and that seemed to appease them. And after seeing they outnumbered us, we suspect they won’t be as forgiving if we made the same mistake again.”

“But if you go back there next year, will you be doing it as wolves again?”

“No, we’ve decided we’ll have to do it as humans, although we’ll have to change our appearance in case others get suspicious about what we’re doing. Gramps and Pops are also going to see if they can borrow or rent ATVs for us to use while we’re doing this, so we won’t have to do so much walking.”

“And you’re not afraid of that wolf pack threatening you again?”

“Nah, they might watch us from a distance, but I doubt they’ll come closer than that while we’re on the ATVs. I think they’ll also be leery that we might have weapons, because they’ve probably seen hunters kill other animals during the various hunting seasons.”

After we finished answering their questions, we spent the rest of the evening playing board games before we turned in.

When we woke up the next morning, Ma hurried into the kitchen and started breakfast, and as soon as everything was ready, we all sat down to eat.

“We let you boys sleep a little later this morning so you’d be well rested before you make the trip to Mac’s house,” Pa informed us.

“We also decided to wait for you to join us so we could all eat together,” Ma added.

“And we’ll see you again in a couple of days,” Pa continued, “when we get to Jamesville and join you boys and Mac’s parents for the holiday.”

“My mom and dad are really looking forward to seeing you guys again,” I replied.

“And we’re looking forward to seeing them as well,” Ma added, “since we’ve always enjoyed spending time with Mike and Cindy. We were really good friends when we lived next door to you guys, when you boys were younger.”

As soon as we finished eating, we said goodbye to Ma and Pa, and then Devin and I took our duffle bags out to the SUV and tossed them in the back. Once that had been taken care of, we hopped into our seats and drove away.

During the ride, Devin asked me a question. “Do you know what you’re going to tell your parents about next summer yet?”

“No, but I’ve got plenty of time to figure it out before then, and I hope you’re going to help me come up with an idea.”

“Yeah, like I told you before, I’ll do my best.”

We stopped at a grocery store along the way so I could pick up a few items to make supper. As expected, their car wasn’t there when we got home, so we knew my parents were still at work, just as I had anticipated. We hurriedly took everything inside and put it away, and since we knew my parents wouldn’t be home for a few more hours, we chose to make love before they got home. We took our time and made the most of having this time alone, and when we finished we hopped in the shower before going downstairs.

After I checked the time, I went out to the kitchen and took the items we’d picked up at the store earlier and began making supper so my mom wouldn’t have to do it. Everything was nearly ready when my parents arrived, and after they’d given each of us a hug and my mom also gave each of us a kiss on the cheek, I made a comment.

“I hope you don’t mind that I fixed spaghetti and meatballs for supper tonight, because Devin and I haven’t had any Italian food since we’ve been away.”

“I’m thrilled that you’ve done this and glad that I don’t have to prepare a meal,” my mom replied.

“Are you telling me that they didn’t have any Italian restaurants in Arkansas?” my dad followed.

“It’s just that we didn’t see any where we were staying in the Ozarks. Besides, I wasn’t up for having road-kill parmesan or spaghetti and wild animal testicles.”

“Oh, come on. I’m sure they didn’t serve anything like that,” my mom countered.

“I was just making a joke, but we stuck to eating the basics for the most part,” I replied. I wanted to add, ‘Like eating freshly killed venison, wild vegetables, nuts, and berries,’ but I didn’t say it out loud. That’s because I didn’t want to answer their questions about where we got those items.

“I’m sure whatever you fixed will be wonderful,” my mom added.

“It’s just about ready, but you still have time to freshen up first, if you want, and Devin and I will start putting everything on the table while you’re doing that.”

It didn’t take them very long, and as soon as we sat down to eat, my mom began asking us questions.

“Thank you for doing this and everything is very good,” she said after talking a few forkfuls, “but tell us a little bit about your trip. How did it go?”

“It was interesting and we learned a lot from Devin’s grandfather and great-uncle.”

“Ok, but what exactly did you do there?”

“We traveled all around the Ozarks and Gramps showed us the things they looked for when they were deciding on the types of impacts certain activities would have on the environment.”

“That doesn’t sound like much fun,” my dad offered.

“Probably not for you, because you aren’t interested in things like that, but Devin and I are and we learned a lot.”

“Is that all you did?” my mom followed.

“No, they also showed us the things they look for when determining the populations of various animal species. They can’t exactly go around and count heads, like teachers might do when taking their class on a field trip. Instead, they look at the size of various sample groups and see how many young there are, and then they look at how many of that animal’s tracks there are in the area. They also take into consideration the amount of that animal’s feces they find, and once they have all of that data, they make their calculations. I offered to use my math background to help them determine the probability of how large the population is in that area, and I enjoyed doing it.”

“Although it doesn’t sound like much fun to me, it seems to have made you happy,” my dad relented.

“Yeah, because you know how much I like math.”

That information was enough to satisfy my mom and dad about the trip, so now they began to focus their attention on other things.

“Devin, when we pulled it here tonight, I thought your SUV looked a little different than I remembered.”

“Oh, yeah. My dad had the rear passenger windows and back window tinted so people couldn’t see what we had inside.”

“That’s it. I knew something was different, and it looks good.”

“Thanks. We think so too.”

“Devin, are your parents looking forward to joining us for the holiday?” my mom asked.

“Yes, they are. They said they had fun the last time we did it together and they’re eager to do it again.”

“Great! We’re looking forward to spending time with them as well.”

When we finished eating, we watched a movie with my parents before we headed up to our rooms. Since we’d forgotten to do it earlier, Devin and I were eager to get online so we could check on our grades and see how we’d done. After I signed on to my laptop and logged in to the college website, I checked my grades.

“Well?” Devin asked when I didn’t say anything after a few minutes.

“I got five A’s and an A minus, so now you have to find out how you did.” We quickly switched places so Devin could see how he’d made out.

After spending a couple of minutes tapping away on my computer, he spent a few more minutes looking at his grades. When he eventually looked up at me, he had a huge grin on his face.

“I beat you! I got straight A’s.”

“I’m glad, so what does that bring your cumulative GPA to now?”

“3.943.”

“Then I’m still slightly ahead of you, because mine is 3.958.”

“But I’m getting closer.”

“Yes, you definitely are.”

Now that this had been taken care of, Devin and I got ready for bed, but before we turned in, we talked briefly about what we were going to do over the next couple of days until his parents arrived. Once we came to an agreement, we cuddled together as we fell asleep.

As we were having breakfast with my parents, we talked about our upcoming vacation and listened as they told us about what they had planned. They also asked what types of things we’d be interested in doing, and after we told them they headed into work

Once they were gone, Devin and I went up to my room and I signed on to my laptop so we could check out the places of interest near where my grandparents lived in Missouri. After we found a couple of interesting places we wanted to check out while we were there, I felt we should also plan out the activities for when we’re in Florida.

There would be a lot to do there and I definitely didn’t want to waste time retracing our steps as we made our way around Disney World. Even though everything is located in the same general area, the various rides are still spread out and I didn’t want to miss anything.

My parents had already given us a good idea about the things they wanted to do while we were there, and I wanted to make a list of the most efficient way to fit it all in. Unfortunately, I knew Devin was going to scoff at my idea and give me grief about making another list.

He reacted just as I expected he would, but I ignored his comments and began preparing my list. I was also trying to make certain that we weren’t attempting to squeeze too much into a single day, but I also wanted to mix in the things my parents would enjoy doing with the things that Devin and I wanted to do. That way there would be something for each of us every day, and even though it wasn’t an easy task, I think I was able to pull it off quite nicely. It had not only taken up most of our free time while my parents were at work, but it also made the time pass more quickly.

When my parents got home from work, they greeted us the same way they had the night before, and then my father spoke.

“Since it appears you haven’t fixed anything for dinner tonight, and because I don’t want your mother to have to prepare a large meal, I’m going to take us all out to eat. What do you boys think about going to the steakhouse tonight?”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Devin replied.

“We both enjoyed that place the last time you took us there,” I added.

“Then go get ready.”

I was surprised that my dad was offering to do this, since it was a week night, but I wasn’t about to complain. After Devin and I had changed, he drove us over to the steakhouse and we went inside and ordered.

The meal was delicious, and while we were eating we talked about different things.

“My dad called me at work today,” my dad informed us, “and he assured me that he’d purchased our tickets for Disney World.”

“Wow, that’s great.”

“And he says your Aunt Linda and Uncle Ted have agreed to let your cousins, Katy and Ben, join us.”

“Man, I haven’t seen them in a while. How old are they now?”

“I believe they’re both teenagers, but I can’t remember their precise ages, but you’ll find that out when we get there.”

“So, how are we going to handle the sleeping arrangements while we’re there? I know Ben is older than Katy, but if they are both teenagers then they probably shouldn’t be sharing a room.

“It won’t exactly be perfect, but your father and I have agreed to let Katy stay in our room and Ben can bunk in with you boys. Each room will have two double beds, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’ll just have to be very careful while I’m in the room with her,” my dad stated.

“Yes, I suppose you will, but that should work out.”

After we finished our meal and returned home, we spent some more time with my parents before they went to bed. Once we were alone, Devin asked a question.

“Is your cousin Ben cute?”

“I’m not sure. He wasn’t bad looking as a kid, but I haven’t seen him in a few years.”

“Why not?”

“Aunt Linda and Uncle Ted usually spend the holidays with my dad’s parents, and when my grandparents come here to join us instead, they spend time with Uncle Ted’s parents. That’s why I haven’t seen any of them in a while.”

“Well, I hope he’s cute. And I also hope he doesn’t mind that we’re gay and will be sleeping together. If we’re lucky and he is cute, then maybe we’ll get to check him out as well.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, because I don’t know much about him or how he might feel about those things. I just hope he isn’t a homophobe, because that would make our time at Disney World totally miserable.”

“Yeah, it would.”

We found other things to do to keep us occupied during the following day as well, as we waited for Ma and Pa to arrive and join us for the holiday.