Bodega Bay - 13. Chapter 13

If there was one thing about Justin’s brother that I could’ve pointed to as his best character trait, I would say it was his taste in friends. In fact, his taste in friends had a profound effect on me, in ways I could never have imagined. His magnetic personality made it easy for him to meet nice people, and Mark was no exception.

It was Friday night, and I was spending the whole weekend at Justin’s house. Great America was in our plans, but it rained all weekend long, so we had to cancel our plans. Instead, we just decided to rent DVD’s and hang out inside, letting his mom bake all sorts of goodies that we knew were bad for us. That night, though, Justin’s mom and dad were going to Walnut Creek for dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, so we were on our own.

Of course, my dad was alright with that. He had met Justin’s dad and the two instantly clicked. In fact, they were making plans to rebuild the engine in a 1969 Camaro that Justin’s dad had recently bought at an auction. Naturally, I was interested in helping, but I was still smarting at the whipping my dad had given me the previous weekend, so I had no plans to ask if I could be there. Besides, I was more interested in spending time with Justin.

As soon as his parent’s were out the door, Mark showed up. We followed them to the garage, where we all looked over the Camaro. Justin climbed inside against the protests of his brother, but in the end, he won out. Eventually, I joined him, getting in on the passenger side and watching them through the windshield. The hood was raised, but I was able to peer at them from the gap between the end of the raised hood and the fender.

I had to look twice when I saw Mark produce a small baggie with a green substance inside that I could only have guessed was pot. He handed it to Justin’s brother, who opened the end and inhaled with a smile, then nodded as Mark pulled a small metal pipe from his pocket. With the ends of his fingers, Justin’s brother pulled a chunk from the pouch and stuffed it into the pipe that Mark was holding for him.

The smell hit my nose like a punch. It was earthy, and maybe a little pungent. I watched as they both choked over and over as they hit the pipe while Justin acted like it was something that happened everyday.

“Come on,” Justin said casually as he opened his door to get out. I thought he wanted to leave the garage so we wouldn’t be around while Mark and his brother were getting high, but he shocked me when he walked up to his brother and accepted the pipe himself. Mark held the lighter up to the bowl as Justin took a hit, coughing the smoke roughly out as he giggled, watching me with a huge smile.

I for one couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I never knew that Justin, or his brother for that matter, were doing drugs. It seemed so wrong to me, against everything I had ever been taught. Still, when the pipe was offered to me, the only thing I could think to do was accept it and act like I knew what I was doing.

I tired to smoke a cigarette once. I stole one from my aunt on my mom’s side of the family, and I took it to the stove and lit it. My mom herself never smoked, but if we had guests who did, she let them smoke in the house. So she was none the wiser when I lit the cigarette. When I took my first drag, though, she knew what was happening.....everyone did.

I coughed and gagged so hard that I ended up vomiting on the kitchen floor. My mom was embarrassed, and my aunt was beside herself. My mom helped me upstairs where she had me brush my teeth and rinse the puke from my mouth, then she marched me downstairs and made me finish the cigarette. From that moment on, I knew I wasn’t going to smoke cigarettes.

So why I was standing in Justin’s garage with a pipe full of marijuana was anyone’s guess. Still, I had resolved to hit the pipe and look like I was a regular, so I held it up to my lips and drew from it as Justin’s brother lit the bowl. I guess I didn’t anticipate the brevity of what I was really doing, because the instant the smoke hit my lungs, I went into a coughing fit that was unequaled by any other I had experienced. My head shook, my chest burned and my eyes watered.

Mark took the pipe from me while I was bent over, coughing loudly. Justin was patting my back, trying to help me get control. Once I did, I stood up straight and took about six really deep breaths before I was blasted in the face by the hit that Mark was expelling from his lungs. As I recovered from the smoke that was blown in my face, Justin’s brother packed another bowl and took the first hit. He passed it to Justin, who hit it again, then passed it to me.

This time, I held the pipe up and took a more conservative hit, and to my surprise, I didn’t cough. I passed the pipe back to Mark, who hit it and passed it to Justin’s brother. He dusted the bowl and handed the empty pipe back to Mark, who put the pipe away. We ended up in the house on the couch, and as we watched the TV, I felt like I was surrounded by fog. It was all around me, and I was smiling about nothing in particular. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about anything. I was simply sitting there smiling.

I was having fun.

Before I knew what was happening, Justin was handing me a beer. I took it and looked down at the can, realizing what it was. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be drinking either, but I was thirsty and I happened to be quite accustomed to the taste of beer. I cracked the can open and took a long, refreshing swig. When I pulled the can away from my lips, I could hear Mark’s voice. So I looked over and watched as he cracked his own beer open and took a sip.

He was cute. Actually, that was an understatement. I couldn’t seem to get enough of his face. It was perfect in every way. There were no blemishes to speak of. No acne. No pock marks. No dark circles. No wrinkles. His blonde hair seemed to fall in place, but it was obvious that he didn’t brush or comb it. He didn’t have to, it seemed. Every strand was where it needed to be.

I brought my beer back to my lips and tilted my head back, never taking my eyes off of him. I finished my beer off and crushed my can the way I saw my dad do the weekend before.

“Awesome, Kevin,” Justin said with a smile that took my breath away as he pulled his beer up to his lips for a small sip.

“Wow, bro,” Mark said, making eye contact with me and grinning.. “You put that thing away.”

I smiled shyly and looked away from the three of them. The only one who hadn’t said anything was Justin’s brother, who was staring off into nowhere. He hadn’t opened his beer yet, and he looked really high.

“Want another one?” Justin offered as he stood up. I shrugged and looked down as he took my smashed, empty can from me. The electricity that ran through my hand when we made skin contact was intense, and I felt my insides jump when he turned and walked away from me. My eyes settled on his butt, and as I took in the curves of his round, bubbly bottom, I smiled.

“So what are you looking at Kevin?” I suddenly heard Mark say coyly, and I was immediately snapped out of my thoughts. I turned to look his way, and he had an incredibly cute and knowing look on his face. I blushed and darted my eyes from his to the television, suddenly realizing that I didn’t feel like I was in control of myself. I was surrounded by three guys that I found incredibly cute, and I was stoned. My eyes traveled from the television, across the rug and back to the couch that Mark was sitting on, and suddenly, I found myself gazing at his face.

He had taken his eyes off of me and was now focused on the TV, and I found myself lost in thought as I admired his whole body. He was dressed so nice and yet so casually, and from the moment he had arrived, I noticed his cologne. I wondered to myself if he knew what he was doing to me. He had a look of innocence on his face, but at the same time, he was such a bad boy. I found that combination insanely sexy.

The feel of a cold beer against my cheek got my attention, and when I looked up, there was Justin with a smirk on his face.

“Dude, you’re fucked up,” he said, and I immediately fell into a fit of giggles. At a point unbeknownst to me, Justin, his brother and Mark joined in, and we were all laughing hysterically. It felt so good, and we seemed to all be on the same wavelength. I soon let my inhibitions go and freely talked about whatever came to mind with everyone.

As the night progressed, I ended up polishing off everyone’s beers for them. I made fun of them for being lightweights, and in return, Justin’s brother trapped me in a headlock and gave me a noogie.

“Roll a joint, Mark,” Justin said as soon as I escaped the headlock.

“Sure thing shorty,” Mark said with a playful smile as he reached out and messed up Justin’s hair. He took his bag of weed out and carefully chopped the buds up, then he used a pack of orange Zig Zag’s to line everything up. He pulled out a paper and held it in place with his fingers as he used the cardboard flap of the Zig Zag package to scoop the row of weed up evenly and dump it into the paper. I marveled as he expertly rolled the joint, licking it from end to end before sealing it.

We got up and walked out to the garage, where we all sat on folding chairs in a small circle.

Mark smiled and passed me the joint, careful to explain to me in advance to pull my lips in first, as not to get any slobber on the end. I did as I was instructed to, and he lit the joint for me.

“Hit it, dude, hit it!” he encouraged me in an excited voice as I pulled a hit from the joint, then passed it back to him. I coughed as I exhaled, but not nearly as bad as I had been coughing earlier. The joint itself seemed to last forever, but when we got down to the roach, Justin’s brother stuffed it into a pipe and dusted it.

I was definitely stoned, but on a different level than I had been before. I was feeling so good that I didn’t worry about getting up and following Justin and his brother back inside when they said they were getting cold. Mark stayed in the garage with me and packed another bowl, hitting it and passing it to me. I accepted the pipe from him and hit it, feeling almost unconscious as I watched him dust the bowl, then he produced a large roach.

“I forgot I had this thing,” he said, putting it to his lips and lighting it. “Want to take a hit?”

“Sure,” I shrugged, but he didn’t pass me the roach. Instead, he got up and walked over to my chair, kneeling down in front of me and turning the joint around so that the lit end was in his mouth, then he leaned in. I wasn’t too sure, but I had a feeling I was supposed to take the other end into my mouth, so I leaned forward to meet him halfway.

He blew the hit into my lungs with force, causing me to cough uncontrollably again while he giggled and patted my back for me. When I calmed down, he smiled at me and I felt a rush of something unfamiliar run through me as I looked deep into his eyes. Before I knew what was happening, I heard him sigh lightly and felt his lips against mine. I thought he was giving me another hit, so I opened my mouth a little to accept the end of the roach, but there was no smoke when I prepared myself.

Still, oddly, I didn’t feel the urgent need to move my lips from his. Instead, I stayed right where I was and let my lips tingle as I felt his hand running up my shirt. I felt his head cock to the side gently and in an instant, his other arm was draped over my shoulder, moving around my neck and pulling me in closer to him. When our lips parted, I felt a little disappointed.

“Wow, you kiss good for a little guy,” he said softly, and my heart raced. “Have you ever done it before?”

I shook my head slowly, still reveling in the energy that we were passing between us.

“Did you like it?” he asked thoughtfully.” I nodded with a small smile, and he did just what I wanted.

The second kiss was even more magical than the first. I turned my head the way he had before, and in a moment of perfection, I felt his tongue flicking at mine, and almost instinctively, I flicked back. I whimpered out loud as his hand cupped the back of my head and pulled me closer. Our kisses was intensifying by the moment, and my head was spinning with thoughts of how badly I wanted to keep kissing Mark, and how terrified I was that Justin and his brother would come out and catch us in the act.

I pondered the possibility of being discovered, and then being ratted out to my dad. I was momentarily shaken by the thought of him finding out what I was in the middle of, but the feelings of bliss I was experiencing were far outweighing the fear I was feeling. When we broke the second kiss, I let out a sigh of my own, realizing that I was as hard as a rock and for the first time in my life, knowing exactly why.

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“I love you mark,” I said as I got in the car and prepared to kiss the man I loved. “That was the most amazing kiss I’ve ever had.”

Mark’s tongue was moving rapidly back and forth in my mouth as I wrapped my arms around him and held him close.

“I love you too, Kevin,” he said, breaking the kiss momentarily before he started to unbutton his jeans and pull them down. “Are you going to get naked?”

“Yeah,” I said with a smile as I started to ease my pants down. Once they were off, we got out of the car and he grabbed a handful of my butt as we walked up to the entrance of the grocery store, kneading it and leaning down to kiss me as we grabbed a shopping cart and headed for the candy aisle.

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There was one annoying problem I’d had my whole life, and no matter what I did or how old I seemed to get, it always returned at some point. Whenever it seemed to be the last thing on my mind, I’d go to bed and the next morning, I’d wake up soaked. I hated wetting my bed, and sometimes I would try to pretend it didn’t happen.

When I lived with my mom, I would usually just tell her if I had wet my bed, and she would clean everything up for me while I soaked in the tub. She never yelled at me or seemed put out about it. Neither did my dad, but at his house, I would try to let my pajama’s dry before I came out of my room. I was afraid of my stepmom punishing me. One day, though, I found out that it wasn’t such a bright idea to do that.

“Oh my god, he stinks,” she said rudely as I walked passed her to my dad. Of course, she was right. I did stink, but I was too scared to say what had happened until I was able to whisper it into my dad’s ear.

“Did you pee your pants buddy?” he asked, and I sadly nodded as my stepmom looked at me like I had a disease. He took me to the bathroom and ran a bath for me while he changed my sheets. When I got home that weekend I told my mom and she got mad and called my dad to yell at him.