Commencement - 8. Eighteen and Life

As I emerged from the woods, the sun had already set, and the darkness of a winter evening was quickly chasing the last of the daylight away. That’s the thing that sucks about having a birthday on one of the shortest days of the year. That and my birthday’s close proximity to Christmas meant half the time my birthday got lost in the holiday shuffle. I realized that I was going to need to invest in a hat. I hadn’t needed one in a while since my hair naturally kept my head warm. I felt like I was going to freeze to death before I made it to the warmth of Brett’s house.

 

I slipped through Brett’s neighbor’s yard and onto Reilly property. Since the mayor and Pastor Carl had cleaned up the park, Brett’s neighborhood seemed safer than it had. I had to admit, I wasn’t too upset that Dustin had lost contact with the seedy underbelly of Donora’s life. I was glad that he didn’t know how to get in touch with his old life. I wondered if he would still go back if he could, knowing what that life had done to him before.

 

I knocked on the backdoor of the Reilly residence and waited. I could have just barged in, but I didn’t want to be rude. I knew Brett wouldn’t have minded, but it was still his mom’s house and I wanted to respect that. Dr. Reilly and I hadn’t been getting along very well since the day I’d revealed what I knew about her and Brett’s father. She was still polite, but something had definitely changed between us. It was like she had added an extra wall of security between us. She avoided being alone with me.

 

When Brett answered the door, I saw his eyes widen like saucers when he saw me.

 

“Oh my god!” he exclaimed.

 

“No, it’s just me, Billy,” I replied. “I’m not God.”

 

“What did you do to your hair?” Brett asked.

 

“What are you talking about?” I joked.

 

“Billy!”

 

“I asked Dustin to chop it off. I couldn’t stand it anymore. Do you like it?”

 

“I… I don’t know!” Brett replied. “I mean, I do like it, but it’s such a dramatic change! You went from Triple H to Stone Cold in one day!”

 

I laughed. “It’s not that big a deal. I’m not completely bald.”

 

“It’s just… Wow! You should probably get used to that reaction, dude. You shocked the hell out of me. Your hair wasn’t even this short before you grew it out.”

 

“Yeah, I won’t keep it this short. I just wanted to get rid of it all and start over. You know what I mean?”

 

“Hey, I’m all for new beginnings. Well, come on in and get warmed up. You’re going to freeze to death without a hat now. I’ll let you borrow one of mine if you want.”

 

“All of your hats are Yankees hats, though,” I complained.

 

“All the better! You can finally support a good team instead of that abomination in Pittsburgh.”

 

I followed Brett inside and made myself at home. Brett told me that his mom wasn’t home and wouldn’t be until late that night. We went into the kitchen.

 

“I’ve got something really special planned for you tonight for your birthday,” Brett said.

 

“Awesome. We’re going to have sex, aren’t we?” I joked.

 

“Oh yeah!” Brett replied. “We’re gonna fuck like rabbits.”

 

“Well we better enjoy it while we can. Once I turn eighteen tomorrow we’re not going to be able to do it again until your birthday in March.”

 

“Why is that?” he asked.

 

“Dude, I’m not going to fuck some underaged little kid! You’re just going to have to wait until you turn eighteen.”

 

Brett stood there silently for a moment. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked anxiously.

 

“Do you want me to go to jail for fucking you?” I asked seriously.

 

“I… No, you’re joking, right?”

 

“Yeah,” I laughed. “Age of consent in Pennsylvania is seventeen. But either way, we’re only three months apart, so the law doesn’t apply to us.”

 

Brett laughed. “I knew you were kidding me. I mean, you kind of had me going, but I knew you were bullshitting me.”

 

“Yeah. Not much is changing really. Mom’s not kicking me out. I guess I can buy cigarettes and porn legally.”

 

Brett put his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him. As we kissed I felt his beard brush against my skin. His beard had matured to the point where it truly looked like a beard, and not like a kid trying to grow one. Brett’s hands slipped beneath my shirt and up my back, mine found their way into his pants and squeezed his ass. Then Brett took both hands and rubbed them on my head.

 

“I still can’t believe you chopped your hair off. I was kind of getting used to it being long. But I like it this way too. It makes you look more mature.”

 

“Well, I’ve never been a legal adult before.”

 

“And I’ve never fucked a legal adult before either!”

 

“Oh you think you’re going to fuck me, do you? I’m not going to let some kid put his little boy dick inside me.”

 

Brett laughed. “I’m sorry, I could have sworn that mine was bigger than yours the last time I checked.”

 

“Thicker, yes. Longer? I don’t think so. I’ve got you beat by like an eighth of an inch.”

 

“All I know is you weren’t complaining the last time I put it in you!”

 

“That’s because I was just an innocent little boy. But now I’m an adult!”

 

“Oh shut up!” Brett laughed. “Come on, let’s go upstairs.”

 

Brett led me upstairs, but when we got to the top of the stairs I pulled him toward the bathroom.

 

“Come on, there’s something I want to try.”

 

“I don’t want to fuck in the bathroom,” Brett protested.

 

“We’re not going to fuck. Well, maybe…”

 

I turned the light on in the bathroom and then I kissed Brett for a while. As I was kissing him, I slowly worked his shirt loose, and then pulled it up over his head. Then I pulled my shirt off as well. Our kissing got a little more passionate once we were shirtless. Brett pulled me closer to him and slipped his hands into my pants and he squeezed my ass. I kissed and sucked at his neck, then lowered myself to his chest. I licked and sucked at his pierced nipple. I could feel the goosebumps forming on Brett’s skin. Brett’s hands found their way to my head, and he rubbed them all over my scalp again. I enjoyed the new sensation.

 

I dropped to my knees and tore open Brett’s jeans. With a firm tug, I yanked down his pants and boxers. His dick sprang free and bounced with every beat of his heart. I put both hands on his ass and then I blew him. I slowly ran my hands up his sides, gently tickling him as I twirled my tongue all over his dick. Brett tugged off his pants with his feet and then kicked them away. It wouldn’t be long until he pulled me back up to my feet so he could rob me of my pants. Brett loved to be completely naked when we made love, and he loved for me to be naked too. But that wasn’t my plan.

 

I jumped back up to my feet and leaned into him, feeling his naked body. I always had to lean into him when we kissed because I was four inches taller than him. We had long ago gotten used to the difference in our height. Brett began fumbling around with my belt when I stopped him.

 

“No, that’s not what we came in here for.”

 

“What? You want to shower together or something?” Brett asked, out of breath from the passion of our make out session.

 

“No, I want to do something to you that you’re not going to like. But this is a new beginning and I want to start fresh.”

 

“What do you want to do to me?” Brett asked nervously. He followed my eyes to the sink, and then to the mirror above it.

 

“No…” he said. “No, not the beard!”

 

“Come on, I don’t want you to shave. I want to do it. I want to shave you.”

 

“You’re evil, Billy. Getting me all worked up so you could get me to do whatever you want.”

 

“What can I say? I know my boyfriend. So, are you going to let me?”

 

Brett sighed. “You know I’m going to let you. God, I’d let you do anything to me right now. I’m so fucking turned on.”

 

“Okay good! Let’s get you ready.”

 

I filled the sink with water and then I had Brett face the mirror. My god, he was so beautiful standing there naked. I’d kept my pants on for a reason. If I’d have had to stand behind that beautiful naked boy with my exposed dick brushing up against that unbearably adorable ass I wouldn’t have been able to finish my work without slipping my dick inside of him. As it was, my cock was angrily pressing against my pants, straining to escape its confines. I found the shaving cream and slathered it all over his face and then I went for the razor.

 

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Brett asked. “I mean, it’s not like you’ve had a lot of practice at this.”

 

“Trust me,” I said.

 

From behind him, I placed the razor on his left jawline, just in front of his ear, and began to run the razor against his skin. I took my time, slowly clearing off his cheek and his neck. Under his left jawline was a faint white scar from when he’d been hit by a car. I leaned in and kissed him there. Then I worked on his right cheek, again, kissing the newly exposed skin. He tilted his head any way I needed him to in order to get at him properly. Any time I would look up from my work with the razor to his eyes, I would find his ocean blue eyes locked with mine. I had to look back at the razor in the mirror to keep from just staring at him for an hour. It didn’t take long until I was carefully shaving his chin and then his upper lip. When I was finished, I offered Brett the razor to get anywhere I’d missed. Then he bent over the sink and splashed the water onto his face, removing what was left of the shaving cream. When he was finished, I offered him a towel to dry off.

 

He checked his face out in the mirror, tilting his head this way and that.

 

“I look like I’m twelve,” he sighed.

 

“You look like the boy I fell in love with,” I replied.

 

“Like I said, I look like I’m twelve.”

 

“I think you look handsome. I’ve always liked your face.”

 

“Yeah. It’s very boy-pretty, right?”

 

“Yep. Especially your eyes. I’ve always loved your eyes. I wish mine were blue like yours. You have the most beautiful eyes. And I’m not just saying that because I’m your boyfriend. Everyone thinks you have beautiful eyes.”

 

“Well I like your eyes. Anybody can have boring old blue eyes. I wish mine were green like yours.”

 

“You want to trade?” I asked.

 

“Sure. I’ll get a spoon,” Brett laughed.

 

After we cleaned up the bathroom, we made our way to Brett’s bedroom. He had candles ready, eighteen of them he told me, and he lit them all. The room gave off a romantic glow. Our shadows danced around the room as we made love. We pleasured each other in so many ways that night, both of us reaching the heights of pleasure more than once. We both gave ourselves to each other and filled each other with the essence of our love. As the candles slowly melted away, we lay together on the bed, each of us contented beyond satisfaction, I leaned my back against Brett’s chest as he gently stroked my body. He slipped his hand up to my chest and he lightly played with my pierced nipple.

 

“You’re my life, Billy,” he whispered into my ear. Then he gently nibbled on my neck. “I never want this night to end.”

 

“Me neither,” I said. “But I think my dick has had enough.”

 

“Yeah, mine too. I don’t think I could get it up again tonight. I can’t believe I came three times! My nuts are going to be sore tomorrow.”

 

“Well maybe I’ll take care of them again in the morning,” I said, reaching behind me to give Brett’s exhausted balls a gentle squeeze.

 

“That sounds good. Jesus, there’s cum everywhere! You want to take a shower before we go to bed?”

 

“I think we need one,” I replied.

 

We managed to untangle ourselves and make it out of bed. Brett asked me to get the water going in the shower while he changed the sheets on his bed. I opened the door to his bedroom and was surprised to find Brett’s mom arriving at the top of the stairs. Talk about awkward! I’m sure the last thing she expected to see when she got home from a long day at work was my naked ass covered with her son’s spooge. She was obviously as disturbed as I was embarrassed. I don’t know why our first instinct as boys is to cover our junk even when we’ve already given away the whole show, but my hands went to cover my bits.

 

“A little early to be running around in your birthday suit, isn’t it?” she asked.

 

I just turned a deeper shade of red.

 

Dr. Reilly shook her head. “Be sure to clean whatever it is that is dripping off of you on to the floor when you’re done,” she instructed as she walked past me to her bedroom.

 

I looked down, and sure enough there was a small puddle of spooge forming under me.

 

Just as her door closed Brett opened the door to his room. “Why aren’t you warming up the shower?” he asked.

 

“Your mom is home,” I replied.

 

“Is she in the shower?” Brett asked.

 

“No, she just saw me naked.”

 

“You think my mom’s never seen a penis before? She lives with me. Come on, let’s get washed up.”

 

“Dude, I don’t think she appreciated seeing me with your cum all over me,” I said as the warm water began to wash over us.

 

“Who gives a fuck?” Brett asked as he ducked his head under the flowing water. “It’s not like she doesn’t know we have sex.”

 

“Yeah, but there’s a big difference between knowing something is happening and seeing the evidence all over your son’s boyfriend.”

 

“I can’t tell you how little I care about what she thinks,” Brett replied.

 

After we finished, we dried off and then Brett opened the door and walked naked across the hall back to his room. I wrapped my towel around my waist before leaving the bathroom, just in case Dr. Reilly was lurking about. Brett just laughed at me. When we got to his room, I checked my blood sugar.

 

“Oh shit, you probably need to eat, huh?” Brett said. “What was your number?”

 

“Pretty low,” I replied. “I just did a lot of cardio, you know.”

 

“Well, let’s go get something to eat,” Brett said as he pulled on a pair of boxers. I tugged on a pair of shorts and joined him in the kitchen. Brett slapped together some sandwiches for us and then we went to the living room to watch tv.

 

“Hey,” I said. “Instead of watching something stupid on tv, why don’t you play something for me on the piano?”

 

“Aw man, come on. I haven’t played in a while. I probably suck right now.”

 

“Come on, babe. You were so good at it! Why did you quit?”

 

“I just got tired of it.”

 

“It’s my birthday. You should play something for me,” I insisted.

 

Brett sighed.

 

“You know, your mom might be asleep. Playing piano might wake her up.”

 

Brett laughed. “You do know me well! Okay. Since it’s your birthday.” He walked over to the piano and cracked his knuckles. “What do you want to hear?”

 

“I don’t know. Something good.”

 

Brett thought for a minute. Then he started to play a piece by memory that was way more complex than anything I’d ever heard before. His hands were flying all over the keys. It was absolutely beautiful, and he’d played it all by heart. When he finished he sighed.

 

“That was incredible. What was that?”

 

“Bach’s Prelude in D minor,” Brett replied.

 

“That was awesome.”

 

“It sucked,” Brett said. “I missed like five notes and I had to look at the keys. That’s why I quit. I suck.”

 

“But you just played it without music,” I said. “How can you say you suck? Play something else.”

 

“Billy…”

 

“Come on, Brett! Play something else, please! I love to hear you play. Play something fun.”

 

Brett grinned. “Okay, I’ll play something fun. This is Beethoven’s ‘Rage Over a Lost Penny.’” Once again, Brett caused the most beautiful music to fill the room. Every once in a while I’d hear him curse under his breath as he played, obviously not as thrilled with his musical abilities as I was. When he finished the song I couldn’t help but clap my hands for him. But I wasn’t alone in my adulation for him. From the stairway, Dr. Reilly joined me in cheering for Brett’s incredible talents.

 

“Why are you cheering for that shit? It sucked,” Brett grumped.

 

“Brett, that most certainly did not suck,” Dr. Reilly insisted. “You haven’t played that song in months.”

 

“Because I suck at playing it!” Brett insisted. “It’s shit!” He slammed the lid down on the piano and stormed to the back stairway. We heard him stomp up the stairs and then heard his door slam shut.

 

“Well, he certainly captured the ‘rage’ part of the song,” I said. I walked to the stairway that Dr. Reilly was sitting on. “I thought he played it really good,” I said.

 

“He did. But he’s very hard on himself. If he misses one note in a five minute piece he thinks he ruined the whole thing, even though he’s playing the song by memory. It’s part of his ADHD. He wants so much to get things perfect that he gets frustrated when things go wrong and stops trying.”

 

“Like how he would get mad and throw his book on the floor because he couldn’t read?” I asked.

 

“Exactly. You know him very well, Billy. And you know what he needs now. Go be with him.”

 

“Okay. Hey, I’m sorry about earlier.”

 

“Why?” she asked.

 

“Well, we were… I mean, I was covered with… You know.”

 

“Billy, you love my son and he loves you. His happiness is what’s important to me. You brought music back to this house. What you do together to show your love to each other is your business.” She turned to walk back up the stairs to her room, but then stopped and turned back to me. “I like your haircut, by the way. It makes you look older. And it was nice to see my baby boy’s face again. I don’t know why he keeps it covered up.”

 

After giving Brett a little time to cool off, I climbed up the stairs and back to his room. I knocked on the door and after a few seconds a naked Brett opened it and let me back in.

 

“Sorry I acted like a little bitch,” Brett apologized.

 

“I know you are. I get it. I get mad when I don’t get a perfect score on a math test.”

 

“You forgive me?”

 

“On one condition,” I said. “Before we go to bed, go tell your mom you’re sorry you flipped out.”

 

“Why would I want to do that?”

 

“Because you acted like a little bitch to her, too. I’m not kidding. Go apologize.”

 

Brett stood there for a second and then he started to smile. “This is revenge for me making you go back to your mother last week, isn’t it?”

 

“Yep. Oh, and Brett… Put some pants on before you go over there for god’s sake. Just because your mom’s seen your dick before doesn’t mean she wants to see it again.”

 

Brett laughed and called me a prude as he pulled on a pair of shorts. I expected to hear yelling and screaming coming from his mom’s room, but surprisingly, things were quiet as he went there to apologize. That was a real good sign. After a few minutes Brett came back to the bedroom.

 

“Apology accepted, Captain Needa,” he said.

 

It felt so perfect to spend the night snuggled up with my love. It was always a beautiful thing to wake up in each other’s arms. We made love again under the covers as the sun began to fill the room with light. Brett insisted that we should have morning sex on the day of my eighteenth birthday. After resting for a while, we took a shower together, where again, we ended up doing it as the water cascaded over us. Brett did me that time.

 

“I think you should spend the whole day in your birthday suit,” Brett said as he pulled on a new pair of boxers.

 

“If I weren’t going out to Janet’s with my mom tonight, I just might,” I replied. “But we’ve just had sex five times since yesterday and I don’t think I could go again if I wanted.”

 

“Yeah. This has been a great time. Oh! I almost forgot to give you your birthday present!” Brett hurried to his desk and pulled out a small box wrapped with paper.

 

“Wow, you didn’t just leave it in the bag from the store like usual,” I teased.

 

“Go on, open it!” Brett insisted.

 

I tore open the package and found a box inside that contained a cell phone.

 

“Sweet,” I said.

 

“Look inside the box,” Brett said. I opened the box and pulled the phone out.

 

“I already programmed my number into it, but that’s not it, look in the box some more!”

 

I looked down into the box and saw something shiny inside. I flipped the box upside down and two gold chains fell into my hand.

 

“Wow…” I said.

 

“There’s one for each of us,” Brett said. “I know we did the whole nipple piercing thing together, but that was more to spite your mother than to show our love. I wanted us to have something that we could share together. Here, let me put it on you.”

 

Brett took one of the gold necklaces and put it around my neck. Then he asked me to put the other one around his neck.

 

“It’s beautiful,” I said, feeling it with my fingers. It felt cool against the back of my neck.

 

“Just like our love,” Brett said, leaning forward to kiss me. After our kiss Brett began to laugh. “Oh my god, that was probably the corniest thing I’ve ever said. ‘Just like our love.’ I’m such a dork!”

 

“Yeah, but you’re my dork,” I replied, kissing him again. “This is a great present. Thank you!”

 

“Thank you, babe,” Brett replied.

 

Brett offered to drive me home, but I wanted to walk. It gave me the chance to think about things. As I walked, I kept reaching up to my neck and feeling the loose chain dangling there. It reminded me of Brett and his love for me, and I knew that back at his house Brett was touching his necklace too. I don’t know how I knew, I just did.

 

Dinner with mom went well. Dave couldn’t make it, so it was just the two of us at Janet Rush’s diner. Mom was thrilled with my haircut. Janet made a big deal about bringing me a small cake with eighteen candles on it, getting everyone in the restaurant to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me. And yes, I successfully blew out all the candles.

 

Dave was there when we got home. He wished me a happy birthday and then he and mom went to bed for the evening. I spent a while watching some television before I too decided it was time for bed. When I turned the light on in my room, I noticed right away something was sitting on my bed – Five hand-built wooden boxes. I knew right away what they were. It was dad’s coin collection.

 

There was a note laying on top of the stack of boxes. I grabbed my glasses to read it:

 

Your dad wanted you to have these. Happy Birthday.

 

I sat down on the bed and stared at the note. The boxes hadn’t been there when we went to dinner. I opened each box and peeked inside at all the old shiny coins. The newest box was still empty, waiting for the next generation to carry on the legacy which had started long ago. It had been this coin collection that had led to my very first sexual experience with Brett. It had led to my first real argument with dad, and my first black eye. But it also had led to many happy memories with dad. I knew the story behind almost every coin in the boxes, so neatly displayed and organized. And now it was mine. Who knew what experiences it would lead to in the future?