Direct Confusion - 16. Chapter 16

It’s warm in Erin’s bed, and I open my eyes to find him curled on his side facing me, his arm flung over my waist, my hand resting on his shoulder, his face mere inches away. It’s the best sort of waking up ever.

“Good morning.” I press my lips against his forehead and the grip on my waist tightens, pulling me close. “Hi Erie.”

“Can we stay in bed all day?”

“It’s Monday.”

“Oh.” He opens one sky-blue eye. “Bugger.”

“That might have to wait.” I chuckle. Erin pulls back the quilt and looks down at us both, tucked close together on his bed. We’re both hard under thin layers of underwear.

“How quiet can you be?” He asks me with an arched brow.

I free him from the confine of his boxers and bring his erection into contact with my own in a few efficient movements.

“Really, really quiet.” I whisper as I start to jack us both slowly. “Can you be quiet too?”

“No…” Erin is already panting, blushing hard enough to make me wonder if there is any blood left for the rest of his body in between his head and crotch. “Unng-!”

I smother his moan with a kiss, wrapping my free hand around the back of his head to keep him close. He opens up for me as I stroke us together, and the sensation of his velvet-soft skin against my own is incredibly arousing. I can feel his cock throbbing in my hand, and neither of us is going to last long like this. I swipe my thumb over the head of his cock and add his pre-come to mine. We are pretty well matched. I’m maybe an eighth of an inch longer than him. Erin groans between gritted teeth.

“We’re supposed to be being quiet.” I can just about manage to string a whispered sentence together as he bites his lower lip and whimpers. “You’re so hot when you do that.”

“Luke… please!” The note of begging in his voice brings my own orgasm that much closer. “Please…”

“Yes…” My own voice is now a low growl and my hand speeds up. Erin’s fingers are digging hard into the muscles of my back and shoulder and I can’t hold on much longer. “Erie!”

“Fuck.” He gasps in my ear. “I’m coming!”

We arrive at the point of ecstasy simultaneously with twin groans half an octave apart, both of us splashing messily over our tense abdomens. Looking down at us, we look like a scene from a porn movie. Not caring about the mess, Erin pulls me against his sticky chest and kisses me hard.

“I love waking up with you.”

“Will Jame be up yet?” I glance at the clock; it’s still pretty early. “Shower time!”

We have neither the time nor the energy for what I would really love to do in the shower, but we wash up fairly quickly and by the time Jameson’s door opens are back in our boxers, brushing our teeth and trying to tickle each other.

“Could you two be any more gay?” Jameson rolls his eyes.

“Coming from a guy who cheerleads?” Erin grabs his brother and tickles him just as hard

“Get off me you oaf!” Jameson is laughing, and I wonder how often the morning comes to find my boyfriend and his brother acting like ten year olds. “You two look like you had a good night.” Jameson yawns when he finally escapes his twin. “Why is it we can’t have a coffee maker up here again?”

“Learn to cope bro.” Erin shakes his head and makes a less-than-sneaky grab for my ass as he turns back for his room. “We gotta be decent for breakfast.”

“You’ve not been decent in years!” Jameson’s parting shot follows us from the room.

Erin and I are roughly the same size, enough that I can steal his clothes with impunity, so while I wear his boxers, my new jeans and one of his many brightly coloured t-shirts, he still wears the shirt with my name on the back. I don’t want to go to school via my house, which means I’ll have to spend the day surviving without my letterman jacket, and I know I have spare kit and a second pair of cleats in my locker, so the basketball style shoes I wore on our date will be fine for the rest of the school day.

Breakfast is uneventfully nice, and Erin’s parents act as though their son’s boyfriend is often here in the morning stealing all their orange juice and wolfing down extra portions of toast and cereal. Like anyone with a serious sports fixation, I don’t believe in skimping on meals. After eating our way through the kitchen cupboards, Mrs. Parker wishes us a nice day and sends all three of us out of the door with brown bag lunches.

“Dude…” I stare at the sack in my hand. “Did I just steal your dad’s lunch?”

“Nah, mom will have made you an extra one.” Erin replies as though this is normal. “The woman can’t cook for beans, but she can put together a good sandwich.”

“What did you get?”

Like fifth graders, we compare lunches as we get to the car. I decide not to pull rank on Jameson and sit in the back while Erin drives. At the last set of lights before school he has to stop and I take the opportunity to lean around his seat, wrap my arms around him and kiss his cheekbone.

“You two are overly cute. You know that, right?”

“Jame is jealous.” Erin grins. “He didn’t get a date.”

“Heather had plans with her family. We’re going out next week.”

“Good for you.” I nod to Jameson as we all eventually pile out of the pick-up. “See you at core training yeah?”

“Study hall first, you can take me through the routine so I don’t drop dead.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“Bye lovebirds!” Jameson calls before jogging to catch up with some of his own teammates. “Hey girl!”

“I swear some days he could not be more camp…” Erin sighs gently and puts his arm around my waist as we walk towards school.

“How’d that happen anyway?” I match Erin’s gesture and hook my thumb into his belt loop. I like the sense of possession. “You know he blames you for his lack of appropriate body language?”

“And yet I’m totally capable of keeping myself at a safe distance.” Erin bumps my hip as he speaks. “Though I suppose it’s a learned thing. I don’t think Jame even notices it. He doesn’t fancy guys, not even a tiny bit, so he doesn’t understand the impact he has on them. Plus he looks the way he does and he’s really good at talking to girls. Everyone at our last school though he was gay. He pretty much had to walk into the middle of the cafeteria and make out with the hottest girl in our class to prove his point.” He kisses me quickly as we reach my locker. “I gotta grab my stuff, see you at lunch?”

“Sure thing.” I watch him walk away, unable to take my eyes off his butt. I’ll have to resist later, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t over indulge now.

There is a note lying in my locker.

Luke Mc Bride: come and see me at your earliest convenience. Coach.

I sigh. This isn’t going to be pleasant.

*

“Yes?”

“Morning McBride.” Coach is standing in front of our trophy case. There are shiny silver and gold things in there with my name on: Star Player, Captain, Junior Champion… It seems like an odd place to be looking when I know I’m about to get a dressing down. “The other players look up to you McBride, you know that.”

It’s not a question, so I don’t answer, just stand with my feet shoulder width apart and my hands behind my back.

“You’re a senior, Captain last year and this year. You’ll be getting a scholarship to college for all your hard work.” He pauses long enough to make me wonder if there is even a point to this soliloquy. “I’d hate to see you throw it all away.”

“Coach?”

“You know we; the school, the league, the team, myself; we have no problem with you being gay.”

Except apparently in theory rather than in practice, my brain interjects.

“But Parker is a distraction you just cannot afford right now.”

“Sir.” I take a deep breath. I will not simply fly off the handle at a middle aged man who should know better but doesn’t. “My boyfriend is no more of a distraction than any of the guy’s dates or partners.”

“So it’s completely coincidental that he shows up and you walk out of practice for the first time in your entire career?”

“That had nothing to do with Erin.” I stare coach down. “Are you cutting me from the team?”

“No.”

“Are you cutting Erin?”

“No.” Coach is sounding angrier and angrier.

“Are you going to pick another captain?”

“No! What are you getting at boy?”

“Then this conversation is purposeless.” I keep my voice as even as humanly possible. “I have to be in homeroom now. I’ll see you for training Coach.”

He doesn’t say anything else as I leave, and I scowl my way down the corridors. In less than three minutes, my happy morning mood is ruined.

*

“No… I can’t do anymore, you’ll kill me.”

“It’s another three hundred yards Jame, you’ll be fine.”

“I hate cardio.” My training buddy is sweating his way around the track. It’s not as though my own shirt isn’t soaked either, but I’m a captain who’s a coach, part of my job is to be constantly positive in the face of exhaustion.

“Lagging a bit there are we Jame?” Erin doesn’t even sound out of breath as he passes us. The sexy bastard has such stamina.

“Der! If your boys have got time to taunt others then you’re not working ‘em hard enough.” I shout.

“Duly noted!” Derrick calls back. “Parker, drop and gimmie twenty then finish your lap.”

“Yes Captain!”

I know Erin is glaring at me as we pass him on the grass, but I keep my promise to myself not to be distracted by him, and keep my eyes on the ground ahead.

By the time we finish the run and do a set of push ups and sit ups each, I genuinely think Jameson might be about to faint.

“Drink something.”

“Is there much more of this?”

“One circuit of weights, then swimming.”

“Fuck why’d I let you talk me into this?” Jameson pants, hands on his knees while I take measurements from his heart rate monitor. “You’ve got it in for me.”

“Sure, I wanna kill off my boyfriend’s brother, whom I just happen to quite like as a person. Shut up Jame, save your breath for actual breathing.” I rub my hand between his shoulder blades. I have discovered over the last hour or so that when touching Jameson, it is actually easier to tell the difference between him and his brother. His shoulders are strong, but narrow and skinny and his shoulder blades are sharp under his skin. “Take it easy Jame. Swimming will be better.”

After our one circuit of weights, for which I share with Derrick and Jim like we always do and Jameson takes a place between Chase and our new half-back, Potenski. I know we said that we would match our training schedules, but lifting the weights I do right now might actually kill him. His heart rate is a lot higher than I’d like.

I make Jameson drink half a bottle of an electrolyte-heavy sports-water once he changes into his trunks, and we stand under adjacent showers beside the pool getting rid of the salt from our skin. I rub my palm over my chest distractedly, and then leapt half out of my skin as someone breathes in my ear.

“Hey babe.”

“Erie!” I spin round, intending to growl at him, but it’s impossible to be angry when he smiles like that. I kiss him very quickly.

“Parker!” Derrick cracks him around the head with the end of his towel. “You’re far from done yet boy.”

“Oops.” Erin smiles at us. “Having fun bro?”

“Fuck off.” Jameson smiles when he speaks, and sends his twin away with a push.

“Come on you, time for a swim to cool down.”

“Can I not just stay here forever?” Jameson tries to lean back against the tiled wall but I grab his wrist and yank him out of the warm water.

“Nope. In you go.”

I take the fourth of five lanes, and Jameson follows me in. Usually I would be with Jim and the few others in the fastest fifth lane, but there would be no way Jameson would keep up, core training has really taken it out of him. For all the boy can jump and spin handstands without even thinking about it, his normal training is certainly different from mine. He swims strongly for three full lengths before he starts to slow, but neither stops nor complains until we have done the ten doubles which is the minimum requirement for combined training. For me, swimming today is easy, because all I can think about is what happened last time I was in this pool.