Jim and Chad, Part 2 - 12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

In a moment of modesty, I reach for a second towel and drape it over a shoulder and cover my chest and the upper part of my stomach. Then I wrap the wet towel around my waist and hold it closed with a hand because it's not quite long enough to tuck in and stay there by itself. With the free hand, I open the door about a foot and look out. I'm kind of puzzled when I see Chad standing there with a bottle of chocolate milk and a huge banana that's been peeled down about halfway.

 

Chad carefully pushes his way into the bathroom, puts the bottle of milk on the counter next to the sink, and shuts the door. His free hand grabs the wrist of my free hand, and he transfers the banana to it. "I've changed our plans some. Here's your dinner. And when you're done, I'm going to need you for a while." I notice the apprehensive look on his face, but that changes to a mischievous, boyish grin as he reaches up and flips the towel off my shoulder, exposing my stomach and chest to him.

 

Since one hand is holding a towel around my waist and the other is holding the banana, there isn't much I can do to stop him. So I back up a little and quietly protest, "Chad, good friends don't do things like this."

 

"I know. But most good friends don't have the history we do." While talking, Chad runs his fingers through the hair on my stomach and chest, up my neck and to the back of my head, resting them in my wet hair. Then he begins to pull my face closer to his.

 

I feel his warm breath just before I feel his moist, warm lips graze mine. That little trigger makes the excitable part of me want to do so much more. I have done nothing, literally nothing, sexual for the last two weeks in preparation for the fun we were supposed to have here. As the adrenaline surges into my body, my breathing becomes erratic, my face flushes, and I can feel the excitement build all over, especially in my groin.

 

Unfortunately, the logical part of my brain is ringing alarm bells and yelling 'NO NO NO' loudly. So I slowly but firmly pull back and say, "Chad, this just isn't right. I don't want our history to cloud your future. We don't want to do this."

 

Chad looks at me and quietly says, "But Sarah says it's okay."

 

Okay, now I'm angry and all I can think is 'No fucking way am I trusting that statement, especially since you've just screwed me over. I won't let you screw over Sarah.' My face must have shown how angry I am at his statement, because he takes a step back and a surprised look crosses his face.

 

After a few seconds, the surprised look changes to one of amusement, then to a smirk. I am suddenly puzzled when he reaches into his jeans pocket, pulls out his cell phone, and dials a number. After a couple of rings, a female voice answers and Chad says, "Hi, it's me. Sorry I'm calling so late." The female voice continues on the other end of the conversation. When she stops, he says, "As you predicted, he doesn't believe me."

 

Through the phone I clearly hear "No shit, Sherlock. Ever wonder why?" Chad's face turns a scarlet red as the voice lowers back to a level that I can't hear and it continues for a few more seconds.

 

Soon he looks over at me, then puts the phone out in front of him. "Sarah wants to talk to you." In sort of a slow motion, I push forward the hand holding the banana with the intent that Chad will hold the banana while I talk to her.

 

"You can use the other hand," his head nodding toward the hand still holding the towel around my waist.

 

"Nope. I'll hold the towel. YOU will hold the banana."

 

Chad sighs, moves his hand up underneath the banana and takes it from me. Once I've let go, he hands me the cell phone. "Hello?" I ask.

 

I'm greeted with a warm, quiet female chuckle on the other end of the conversation. "I won't even begin to ask what the banana is for."

 

I take a quick look at the banana in Chad's hand, then grin and quietly say, "And it's a freakin' huge banana, too." The warm, easy laughter on the other end of the line makes me think that I could live with this kind of banter. But rather than continue that train of thought, I change the topic. "Actually, it's part of my dinner and nothing else. Seems Chad wants me to have a banana instead of steak for dinner tonight. Go figure."

 

The warm, easy laugh returns and Sarah says, "And I won't even begin comment on the image that conjures up, banana versus meat. But you do have an idea what he wants, right?"

 

It's a rhetorical question, and the answer is obvious to both of us. I feel the blood rushing to my face, making me blush furiously. Discussing my physical relationship with Chad with anyone else always does this to me, even this time when I know she can't see me. With a hesitation in my voice I say, "Uuuuh, yeah, but I don't want his history with me to mess up his future with you."

 

I hear a sigh, then, "You really are a rarity. Smart, nice, good looking, and with scruples."

 

I'm somewhat surprised by her statement so I say something stupid like, "Thanks, I guess." Then I think to myself, 'And nice guys like me always finish last, fucking dead last.'

 

After a short pause, Sarah says, "Okay, let me set the record straight. Chad and I are good friends. We've talked alot. We've been on a few dinner dates. We've even kissed a few times. Hmmmm, and what a kisser he is."

 

I look up to Chad and chuckle a little as I see that his face is hotly red again. Somehow he knows what she's just said to me.

 

After a short pause, Sarah continues. "But right now Chad and I have no future. Chad's future with me depends on how well he treats you from here forward. And given what he's done to you, I expect for him to exceed your expectations in whatever you may want."

 

"Uh, I think I get it, but could you be a little more specific?"

 

"Well, okay, now I'm going to be blunt." After a short sigh, Sarah says, "Tie him up, beat him, rape him long and hard, make him hurt, do whatever you want to him for however long you want to for all the crap he's put you through. He deserves it for not letting you know about him and me sooner. I'm tired of the way he has treated you, and I fear it may be what he'll do to me in the future. I've been mistreated like this by another couple of guys, and I won't allow it to happen to me again. So, basically, do whatever you want to him. But in the off-chance that you decide to cut him loose anytime in the next six months to a year, just let me know."

 

"Does Chad understand this?"

 

"Let me just say that I had this very conversation with him yesterday, but with a little less politeness and a little more . . . uh, how shall I say this . . . volume. And since we've had this not-so-nice discussion once before yesterday, he now knows really well how I feel about what he's done to you. So yesterday was pretty much the second strike. If I find out that he's not been good to you and hasn't been true to his word this time, then he's out of my life." After pausing for a few seconds, she then giggles a little and quietly continues with "But you have to tell me, does he have that whipped puppy dog look on his face?"

 

I look up to Chad's now-anxious face. He looks overly worried and that makes his eyebrows go up in the center. I've never, ever seen this look on him before. My normally ultra confident and cool lover is having an intense moment of doubt, a moment that looks like he's just realized that his future with Sarah might not be so assured. As Sarah had asked, he looks like a puppy dog who's been beaten too many times but quietly keeps coming back with the hope that maybe, just maybe, this time will be different. The look makes me want to do two things at the same time: laugh, because Sarah had called it without seeing it, and cry, because the hurt look on Chad's face makes me hurt, too.

 

Trying to keep the hurt look from becoming permanent image in my brain, I quickly close my eyes. "Yeah." After a pause, I add, "Sarah, I have to go."

 

"Understood. Bye."

 

"Bye." I open my eyes, look down at the phone, and press the 'End' button. I flip the phone closed and hand it back to Chad, then reach up to the side of his face and stroke it lightly. He sighs and relaxes some as I calmly stroke his face. After a few more seconds, the confident lover returns. I pull him a little closer to me and quietly say, "I get to keep you a while longer." But while still holding and looking him, I also tell myself that it's only for a little while longer because that anxious look showed me how important Sarah really is.

 

As he puts the cell phone away, I also say, "Hand me the banana and open the chocolate milk for me, will you? I'm hungry."

 

He hands the banana back to me and I take it in one hand as he picks up the chocolate milk bottle, opens the top and peels off the foil seal. He holds the open bottle out in front of me, not making any suggestion as to how I should take it from him. I breathe in deeply and let it out, then let go of the towel hanging around my waist and take the bottle from him using the now-free hand.