Grand Adventures

by Dawn Kimberly Johnson

  “It’s not your fault.” I would make him believe this.

  Right then, the oversized man by the gas pump stopped in place, right where he was, glanced over at our Focus, crossed his megahuge arms across his chest, and tilted his head as if he was sizing us up. Or maybe like he was protecting something important. I sent him a wave and a half-assed we-aren’t-up-to-no-good sort of smile, but he didn’t smile back—he just shrugged and went back into the store.

  Hope like hell he isn’t gonna call the cops, because that’s the last thing Nort needs right now.

  Less than a minute later, he came out again, this time holding hands with a much smaller, fragile-looking man. And the big dude seemed to be trying to get the smaller, younger man to swing their hands as they walked over to the display of wiper fluid he’d set up. The little dude was blond-haired and real fair-skinned—I could almost see his pink blush from where we were parked all the way across the parking lot. But it wasn’t a blush of irritated embarrassment. It was the kind of flush that showed he knew he was the center of that other guy’s universe.

  “They look in love, huh, Ben?”

  “Just like us.” Couldn’t help it. I thought it, and so I said it. And I’d remind Timmy of that fact every chance I got.

  Right after I said that, Timmy pulled back from me so that he was fully in the passenger seat. “I’m so fuckin’ sorry for bein’ an asshole over the past couple weeks…. Feel like shit ’bout that too.”

  “It’s water under the bridge, buddy. We talked it out, and we’re cool now. I just missed you bad, is all.”

  “Guess I blamed myself for Tanya’s gettin’ pregnant, and so I tried to separate myself from you, ’cause I thought that I was gonna have to quit college to go take care of her. Figured it’d hurt you way less if all you were losin’ was a partyin’ asshole.”

  I didn’t like what he’d just told me, but it made total sense, and it sounded exactly like the Timmy I knew.

  “That’s not gonna happen, because you need your education, and you’re gonna get it. You’ll never be able to offer anybody stability if you quit school.”

  “I know that now. And I’m totally bummed for Tanya, but I learned a lotta shit through this whole thing. It’s like… it’s like I’m startin’ to believe I got you, your dad, and my foster parents from high school on my side to help out when I’m in over my head.”

  He was right—we were all there for him—and seeing as he’d finally figured that out for himself, my guy was gonna get a reward. “Come here and kiss me.” I opened my arms and leaned in over the console, and Timmy met me in the middle. Our lips knew each other about as well as our hearts did, so it was a great kiss. Honest and true and all Timmy, which was really the only thing that mattered to me. When we finally let each other go, I put the car in drive and pulled it over to the gas pump.

  The small guy came up to the driver’s window and leaned in. “Fill it up?”

  “Yeah, sure…. Thanks.” We needed a full tank as we were planning on driving first to the hotel, then to the mountain for alpine slide rides, to Wallace Center for minigolf, and then back to the hotel for a hike around the property. The big guy watched the attendant as he pumped our gas, a certain hunger and desire in his expression that I could relate to. It was how I felt when I looked at Tim. What was sort of odd, though, was there was a protectiveness in his eyes, like he was gonna make sure nothing bad happened to his boyfriend. My face heated, because even though I knew it was odd, the way he was looking at the guy who was pumping the gas was actually familiar to me. You see, the expression in the large man’s eyes, the look of I-love-him-and-I-want-him-and-I-plan-on-keeping-him perfectly captured the love I held for Timmy in my heart. Just saying, it was cool to see.

  While the gas was being pumped, Timmy and I got out of the car and took turns in the men’s room. And when I paid the attendant for the gas and again thanked him for his service, I noticed that the big guy was looking at me like he knew we had something in common.

  “Carlos, you want to run inside and grab some change while I wash their windows?” The blond guy held out the fifty I’d given him to his partner.

  “Sure thing, baby.”

  “Nah, just keep the change, man,” I replied.

  The big guy winked at me.

  Timmy and I got back into the rental.

  AFTER CHECKING my phone for the correct route, we headed off. I’d been driving for about ten minutes on the Riverview Highway, just outside of Ashton, when it hit me. “You hungry or anything, Tim?”

  “I could eat.”

  “But are you starving? Or do you mind if we stop for a minute or two first?” I was hoping for longer than that, but, hey….

  “Nah, man. I’m fine for now. What do you wanna stop for, huh?”

  I wasn’t gonna come right out and say it, but I hadn’t made love to Timmy in almost three weeks now, and I needed him. Not in just the getting off way, either. I needed to reconnect with my guy. I couldn’t wait for the hotel bed.

  We drove in silence for a couple more minutes until I came upon the right spot, just past a rustic wooden bridge that must have been built at least a hundred years ago. I had no idea how I knew, but beneath this bridge was the perfectly right spot to do this. And from the road, I could see a small path on the steep downward-sloping embankment leading to a river.

  The cleansing virtues of the water below pulled hard at my heart so I pulled over onto the shoulder of the road.

  “What’s here?” Timmy looked around at the woods outside the car.

  I unbuckled my seatbelt and turned to face him. “We are, Timmy.”

  Timmy tilted his head and looked at me curiously, but he didn’t say anything.

  “Come on. Let’s get out.”

  Timmy was the kind of guy who didn’t question the small things too much, so he nodded and unbuckled. I looked over at him before I opened my door, and I felt a surge of desire so strong that I wanted to pull him to me right there in the car. But something told me I needed to stretch out on the cool damp ground with the man I loved, in this peaceful woodsy setting where we could hear the rush of the river so close to us.

  We met up by the back passenger door. I opened it and grabbed my sleeping bag. We’d planned on camping out more than half the nights we were in the mountains and spending only a couple of nights in hotels, so we’d brought all our camping stuff along. Before I closed the trunk, though, I rifled through my duffle bag until I found the big ziplock bag that held my toiletries. When my hand emerged with a tube of lubricant, Timmy blushed sweetly and looked down at the mossy ground.

  “Let’s go down a little closer to the river.” I didn’t know why, but something told me we needed to be down there—like maybe we could somehow connect better. The refreshing shade, the purifying flow of water….

  This is a place where we can renew our love.

  Again, Tim nodded and took the hand I’d extended to him.

  The terrain was pretty steep, and holding hands made it tough to keep our balance, but we didn’t care, and we clung together. About fifty feet down, we found a mostly level surface with an excellent view of the antique bridge, so I unzipped the sleeping bag and spread it out on the ground. Without so much as a word, Timmy kicked off his flip-flops and pulled his T-shirt over his head. Then, without unzipping or unbuttoning, he slid his jeans, and his boxers along with them, right down over his narrow hips and legs. And just like that, he was standing in front of me, stark naked, looking up into my eyes with an innocence that caught me off guard. He stepped over to the sleeping bag and once there, dropped to his knees.

  “I wanna make love to you, Timmy….” I knew exactly what pleasure he was offering me, and I knew how much he needed it, and truth was, I wanted it more than I could express in words. But I needed to be inside him… you know, as in making love to him.

  “Just let me do it for a minute, ’kay?” His eyes looked big and hungry too. And I knew Timmy loved to have me in his mouth. He’d once told
me that it made him feel joined to me in a special way. So I went to stand in front of him and unzipped my fly. Timmy took it upon himself to reach into my jeans and boxers to pull out my dick. Just the feeling of his hands on me had me moaning. “I’m gonna kiss you right here….” He tapped the head of my dick with a fingertip and looked up at me one more time. And then Tim made good on his word.

  I had to close my eyes at the sensation of having my erection suddenly engulfed in the warm wetness of Timmy’s mouth. He didn’t suck me hard, as he knew I didn’t want to come in his mouth, but he just bathed me with his tongue, tasting me unhurriedly, looking up at me, allowing his affection to be further revealed in his eyes. But within ten seconds, his eyes were closed and he was moaning even louder than I was. I knew he was reconnecting with me in a way that was important to him.

  After a couple of minutes, I had to push him back. I hadn’t made love to him in weeks, and if he kept that up, I wasn’t gonna be able to make love to him now. “Lie down, Timmy.” Still kneeling, he looked up at me with his deep gray eyes and allowed a tiny, satisfied smile. That motivated me to strip off my own clothes in record time, making sure to hang onto the lube, and then I stretched out beside him on the sleeping bag. The ground was bumpy and cool underneath us, as it was the forest floor, but neither of us gave a shit about that.

  Timmy scooted right up beside me, pressing his chest against mine. He reached up and ran his fingers over my short-cropped blond hair, back and forth, again and again. “You feel good, Benny. Missed ya so bad….” His voice cracked as he spoke.

  And I felt my eyes fill up at his heartfelt words. “We worked everything out. ’Cause that’s what we do.” I thought on it a bit more and added, “There’s always gonna be troubles, T-man. But we know how to wash them away, right?” I reached behind him, my fingers already slick with lube. “Gonna get you ready.”

  He clutched me real tight around my waist, and I went to work, opening and stretching him with my fingers so I could get in. He started to make those adorable squealing sounds, which had me more than a little bit eager to get this show on the road. When I knew he was ready for me, I turned him onto his back, lifted his legs, and propped them on my thighs, loving the feeling of so much of his skin on mine, and so glad we didn’t need condoms, since we’d only ever had sex with each other.

  “I love you, Benny…. I’m sor—”

  Leaning down, I kissed away his apology. “No harm done. We’re stronger for having worked it out… it’s nothin’ but water under the bridge.” I pushed into him, steady and even, not slowing even a bit at the sound of his little squeaks.

  And then, as I moved in and out of my best friend in the world, we stared at each other, both of us wide-eyed at the awesomeness of our bond. Once he said something like, “So blue.” And I knew he was talking about my eyes, but his words made me think of the pure-flowing river below.

  “Love you…. You’re gonna always be mine” came out of my mouth a couple of times over.

  “Never gonna go nowhere…. Gonna stay with you, Ben….” It sounded like Timmy agreed.

  We kept on saying sweet, breathless kinds of shit like that and staring at each other like star-crossed lovers until we got close to coming, and that’s when Tim let go of me with one arm so he could grab ahold of his dick. Then we both kind of went to town with our frenzied movements. And it was fucking stellar. Felt like the first time all over again, but better, because we knew exactly what felt the best.

  I let my love flow into him at the very moment he let his love rush out.

  And after we were done and were just lying beside each other, completely spent, on the forest floor, looking up at the tall pines and listening to the rush of the water as it surged underneath the old bridge, the weirdest thing happened. I found myself thinking about the look of love on the face of that enormous dark-haired man while he watched his partner pump gas for us.

  Complete devotion was what I saw in the man’s eyes… at a fucking gas station, of all places. And I knew it was the very same kind of complete devotion I felt for the man stretched out beside me, still panting from our lovemaking, an arm draped loosely across my chest. I’d felt this devotion to Timmy when we were eating lunch in the cafeteria at Cranville Tech, when we were jam-packed inside my tiny twin-size bed in Hopkins, as well as when we were lying on the floor of a forest, listening to the streaming sounds of a river. Our love didn’t need a fluffy bed or a couple of glasses of champagne to be perfect—it only needed to be able to flow and change and move with the times, both good and bad, like the effortless way water could run down the uneven grooves of the nearby covered bridge’s roof.

  “Kinda hungry…,” Timmy mumbled against my shoulder.

  “Mmmm. Me too,” I said into the echoes of the river.

  “We still got a couple more minutes, though, don’t we, Wellsy? You know, before we gotta head out?” Timmy’s pretty eyes narrowed like he was thinking up some mischief.

  “What do you have in mind, bud?”

  “I’ll give you a clue…. It starts with ‘skinny’ and it ends in ‘dipping.’”

  I grinned.

  “I wanna get in the water with you. Dunk all the way underneath it and come up kissing.”

  That sounded like rebirth to me. “I like the way you think.” I couldn’t stop grinning.

  Stark naked, we got to our feet, grabbed the sleeping bag and our clothes, and made our wobbly way down to the river’s edge.

  And I knew when I looked at Timmy, dipping a toe in the water, that a love like ours would flow on and on. It had no real start or end. Just a rushing, changing passion, working its way cautiously through rocky spots, rushing easily on the smooth, open expanses… snaking its way beneath a bridge. But always finding its way to the ocean.

  Always.

  From Fantasy to Friends

  CR GUILIANO

  Strength is a term usually reserved for physical prowess. However, as you, TJ and Eric, wade through the obstacles ahead, you show great strength in your resolve and love for each other. That is a strength worth having and showing to the world. Much love to you both!

  GRAHAM SHOOK hands with Mr. O’Brien, surprised William was still the president here. It had been five years since he’d attended Hampton College, and he wondered who else might still be part of the faculty.

  “It’s wonderful that Oakland Marketing was gracious enough to have you lecture at our small university.”

  It was very obvious William O’Brien didn’t remember who Graham was, but then Graham had never stood out when he was here. Small, scrawny, and bullied, he’d quit two years into his studies and registered at a different college. To get away from the bullying and, well, to flee his feelings for a certain teacher. He only hoped that teacher wasn’t here anymore. He didn’t relish running into him.

  “Let me give you a tour and then get you settled into one of the on-campus apartments. I didn’t think you would want to stay in the dorms.”

  Graham smiled at William’s chuckle. “No, sir, I would rather not relive that experience.” The hint went right over the president’s head, and he showed Graham out the door, oblivious as always. Graham kept the smile to himself. Other than being rounder… and grayer, William O’Brien hadn’t changed one bit.

  Graham gazed around the campus, a déjà vu feeling invading him. It was as if time had not passed and he wasn’t older, stronger, and more mature. Graham hadn’t wanted to come here, the memories still painful. But with little choice, he figured he’d suck it up, get it over with, and then head home, hopefully never to set foot on this campus again.

  They continued onward until Graham stopped in his tracks at the booming sound of a voice that had haunted his dreams for years. When he turned, he saw the man who had been his fantasy for longer than he cared to admit.

  “William! Hold up! I need to speak to you.”

  When Coach McIntosh reached them, Graham had to struggle not to allow his body to react to the stunning man. The coach had aged
well—really well. Graham’s heart raced and his stomach flipped, just like it always had in the presence of the coach. He bit his lip and took a small step back. He loved Jeremy; he had no business lusting over a memory. Not even a memory, but a fantasy that didn’t and never would come true. Coach McIntosh was straight, or Graham might have been tempted all those years ago. And he had Jeremy now.

  “William, did you manage to get ahold of that contractor for the plumbing in the showers? I don’t need my fitness center flooding.”

  “Yes, Aiden, they’ll be here at 7:00 a.m. on Monday.”

  Graham almost held his breath when the coach turned toward him, his eyes narrowing before he pointed at Graham.

  “I know you. Hmm, skinny kid, ’bout five, maybe six years ago. Hanson, Holland—no, Hamlin! Graham Hamlin! Am I right?”

  The coach’s grin did funny things to Graham’s insides, and he only nodded, flabbergasted the gorgeous man would remember him.

  “Wait, what? You were a student here?”

  William was looking at Graham in puzzlement, and he was grateful for the distraction. “Yes, sir. Five years ago, but I transferred out, so it’s no wonder you don’t remember me.” Graham could feel the heat of a slight blush. Graham rarely blushed, but with the coach who had starred in some very… erotic… fantasies standing there, it was hard not to be embarrassed.

  “Well, what do you know?”

  Graham smiled at William’s words. Nope, he hadn’t changed at all, still absent-minded as he’d always been. An awkward silence ensued, or at least awkward for Graham. He didn’t know what to say, the feeling unwelcome. He’d grown so much since leaving the small college and had thought the gawkiness behind him. Seemed he was wrong. It didn’t help guilt riddled him. He had no idea that his feelings for the coach would still flood him like this.

  “Well, I’m off. Time to get the boys moving.”

  Aiden slapped his hand on Graham’s shoulder and smiled at him.