Lessons in Love

by Jerry Cole

  "I love you, Mom," he said, pushing himself back up, smiling through the tears, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand. "You are the best mother I could have ever wished for."

  She passed him a piece of kitchen paper and he wiped his eyes and nose. "Hearing you say that is all I want."

  "I know, and that's really part of what makes you the best mother," he replied. "You give and you give and you give and all you ever ask for is our love. Which you have more than earned. I love you, and I know they love you too."

  She nodded. "Speaking of which..." She cast a glance over Nate, as though making sure he was done wiping his face, before raising her voice another thousand decibels or so. "Janet! Veronica! Jack! Come back in and eat your eggs now!"

  The kids tumbled through from literally right behind the door, Janet and Jack covered in toast crumbs and jam smears, Veronica neat and tidy, bearing the empty plate, which she put in the dishwasher.

  Mrs. Thompson had stood up and was already taking Janet's plate to the microwave so it could be reheated. Jack didn't mind, and Veronica was basically done, but Janet still much preferred piping hot food. She even remembered little details like that, she even cared about such small things, after so many years of tireless, thankless motherhood. Nate realized how deeply his words must have touched her.

  Although she tried to hide it, to look strong, as his siblings clambered back into their chairs, he saw her wipe a tear from the corner of her eye with her thumb.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sunday morning, Victor woke up before his alarm again. He stared at the ceiling. It was Sunday. Nothing to do on a normal Sunday, but he was determined not to just lie in bed all the time now.

  He picked up his phone and scrolled through social media, not really taking much in other than the fact that some celebrity had appeared in some other celebrity's show and everyone was having a fight over what it meant, as if it meant anything at all in the first place.

  Nate would understand. Nate wouldn't be into that bullshit. It would be nice to just laugh about it with him, maybe take him out for ice cream or something later.

  He had Nate's number now, and Nate had said to call whenever. It was so tempting. Would he be back from seeing his family yet? And if he were, would it be okay? Or would Nate have other things to do, a life outside of work, family, and Victor? Perhaps Nate even wanted some space after the events of the last week. It wasn't fair to harass him and call him after the last week, even if he did come for Friday night jambalaya. That wasn't consent to phone-based Sunday-morning harassment. Besides, Victor knew he got up earlier than most people anyway, so it was probably early to be calling on a Sunday.

  Realizing Nate probably wasn't up yet, he dropped a text instead. Nate could answer whenever he wanted. No harassment, no bothering, no pressure.

  By then, Victor was more than awake, so he rolled out of bed and drew the blinds. It was another beautiful sunny day. It often was a beautiful sunny day in Riverdale, but it wasn't always warm, so Victor looked up the temperature before considering how he would spend the day. Even after seeing that the weather would be fine, he felt reluctant to do anything out of the ordinary. He needed to try and seize the day, be less boring, be less of a grouchy old man. He was too young to be a grouchy old man.

  He hadn't even managed to get into the shower yet when he heard the phone buzzing with a text. It was Nate, up already. All he said was that it was all right to call. So Victor, having the patience of absolutely nothing, called immediately.

  "Hey," Nate said, his voice sounding fairly cheery and quite obviously awake.

  "Did I wake you up?" Victor asked.

  "No, no, I've been up a while," Nate replied. "Since around about... five, actually."

  Victor was a little surprised. "You don't even get up that early for work. That's pretty impressive."

  "Yeah, I get up early when I'm here. Earlier than usual, anyway. I'm used to it from when I was at school. Got chores to do," Nate said with a slight laugh. "How about you? Why're you up so early?"

  "I just woke up before my alarm and couldn't get back to sleep," Victor said. "I can't believe your mom makes you do chores on the weekend. Let your brothers and sisters do it, weekends are for relaxing."

  "Nobody's making me," Nate replied, his voice sounding indignant. "I feel I ought to help out. My mother fed me and gave me a bed."

  "I guess. It's just kind of weird to me," Victor replied. "I didn't mean to insult you or anything."

  "Well, not all of us have maids to tidy our houses for us all week long anyway," Nate said.

  "Hey, I don't have a maid. I've never had a maid," Victor replied.

  "Good, now we're both insulted," Nate replied with a mischievous tone that was noticeable even through the phone.

  "Wanna come over and spend the day here? The latest season of Wolves in Suits is finally up to stream, we could watch it, have a pizza, you know," Victor said, trying to sound relaxed. "Or we could go out and get ice cream and something, or whatever."

  "Sure thing," Nate said with a voice a hundred times more relaxed and content as Victor had ever felt. "I'm obviously not there yet, but it's only a short drive, so I'll be round your part of town this afternoon."

  "I guess I could do the morning stuff on my own, go out and all that, and we can have pizza and watch Wolves in Suits together," Victor offered. "Say we meet after lunch? Around half past two? And then you can stay the night?"

  "I'll see you about half past two and bring my clothes for Monday, then," Nate replied. "But I have to go and finish this before breakfast."

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother," Victor said, realizing how long such a simple conversation could drag out for.

  "Nah, I asked you to call. See you later," Nate said.

  "See you," Victor replied, almost not wanting to hang up, but he did anyway.

  He felt like a high schooler in love all over again. He held the phone and fell back on the bed, on top of his fresh change of clothes, feeling giddy and happy with a wide grin spreading across his lips, making his cheeks painfully tight.

  Nate was coming around again. Nate was staying the night.

  Victor only then realized just how untidy the house was. He had really let it get out of control. Not to mention, he wanted to do something that would require another kind of cleaning. So much for going out in the morning. So much for going for a walk and getting ice-cream. Nate's mom had the better idea: just go out and get as much work done as possible because cleaning was virtually impossible all week.

  Only Victor should have cleaned on Saturday, rather than spent all day on the couch eating chips and watching cartoons. It was raining a little bit, so that had been his excuse for not going out, but that didn't mean he had to just be lazy.

  Why did he always wait until he had guests to finally tidy? It would be easier if he just cleaned on a daily basis instead. Just a little bit. Just doing what his mother had always said: put things back where they came from, do the dishes as you cook, always dust something if it needs dusting, take your boots off at the door... If only he did that, he knew that he would only have to tidy an hour or two even on his "big clean" days. Rather than slave away all morning on the day he had a guest arriving. Days like this were when Victor was disgusted at himself. As in well and truly. As he walked around the room tidying he kept a slight running commentary on how gross his living space was, telling himself off.

  The knock at the door came just as he finally put the last Blu Ray case back on the shelf. Great, now it just looked like a tidy college dorm. That wasn't a bad look for entertaining a booty call off a dating app, but not necessarily ideal for impressing someone he was actually emotionally connecting with. Victor wondered if perhaps he was old enough now to consider a more serious sort of painting, some ornaments...

  "On my way!" he shouted, looking around just in case there was anything left to do. He didn't have to start decorating like an octogenarian. It could be slightly more punky, original stuff. Just not cheap
crap like he was used to. Opening the door and seeing Nate there, dressed casual as usual, smooth and smart looking as ever, Victor felt so content, so at ease and happy.

  "Hey Nate," he said with a grin. "Welcome back to my house, slightly clean edition, version two: smell the bleach."

  Nate laughed. "It really is much cleaner. And the apron suits you."

  Victor glanced down at his bright green apron covered in little printed limes with faces on them. "Yeah, it's actually the manliest apron ever, certified."

  "It looks it," Nate said, kissing Victor gently.

  "And I know what you're thinking..." Victor carried on, holding the door for Nate and closing it gently behind him. "Is this also the sexiest apron ever? Well, the answer is no, that's just the model."

  Nate laughed softly but sincerely and made his way to the couch, where he collapsed down and waited for Victor to join him.

  They didn't get around to ordering pizza. Nate was on top of Victor, straddling his hips, kissing him eagerly, before the first episode had ended. Gone were Victor's major concerns about Nate hating him, or being scared of him, or wanting to avoid him. No, there was still some real chemistry between them.

  Nate's embrace, his lips on Victor's, his hands on Victor's shoulders... it was so sweet, so sexy, so sensual. Victor knew he had never felt this for anyone before, and he wasn't sure he'd feel it for anyone again. Just Nate.

  That wasn't to say all had been forgotten. There was something a bit different about the younger man today, but Victor was just glad to have Nate around again, on good terms. Victor let out a soft sigh.

  He could feel Nate slowly getting hard as the gently kissed and groped one another. Victor hadn't quite been thinking about that just yet. He had been half watching the show, looking forward to food, and just enjoying being close to Nate. Sex was something that would hopefully happen later on, when they settled in for the night.

  Nate had sort of changed Victor's intentions here. Feeling Nate's hard cock pressing against his own hip as Nate straddled him, Victor found himself getting more aroused by the second.

  "Do you wanna fuck me?" Victor asked, planting kisses up and down Nate's neck.

  Nate froze suddenly and stopped nibbling Victor's ear. "I'm topping?"

  "Don't you like to?" Victor asked gently. "I can if you want me to."

  "No, I was just surprised," Nate replied, leaning in and kissing Victor lightly. "I want to. If you want to."

  Victor nodded, reaching down and feeling Nate's throbbing cock through his jeans. Nate stood up, moving away from Victor's groping hands with a smirk, as though demanding for him to undress. And Victor was happy to oblige. In a flurry, both were naked and rock hard before one another again, and damn, did Nate look stunning.

  Lying down on the carpet, he was glad he'd tidied the living room. There was something kind of cool to him about fucking while watching a show about bad business ideas and scams. Which wouldn't be possible if the room was still cluttered with various boots, cases, and scraps from assorted homework tasks which always seemed to involve collage and glitter.

  Nate crouched down beside Victor, like he was inspecting his lover's body, running hands up and down Victor's muscled chest, his strong but ever so slightly soft belly, his well-toned arms and his very obvious tan lines.

  Every feather light touch was like electricity coursing through Victor's body, and as Nate's hands made their way down and around to brush Victor's tight hole. That was something else he was glad about cleaning.

  After a brief interruption where they realized they had no lube and Nate rushed to the bedroom to get some, they were ready to begin.

  Nate still loomed over Victor, like a giant, as he gently groped Victor's body, kissing his way down over Victor's chest and stomach, following his happy trail all the way to his now throbbing, needy, purple erection. Out of somewhere, Nate had found a condom, which he slid over his hard cock. Nate began to gently lick Victor's cock, just the very tip, teasing around the piercing, deliciously taunting Victor, who bucked up, trying to get inside Nate's mouth. But Nate moved back every time, and before Victor realized, he had Nate's well-lubricated finger inside himself, pushing in slowly but surely.

  Feeling Nate's fingers deep inside Victor, moving gently, as that soft, smooth tongue traced Victor's cock, was paradise. Victor gave up on thrusting or pushing back, he just collapsed and gave in to the pleasure, fully trusting Nate to treat him with all the sweetness he deserved. Even if it was a cruel torment, it was a delicious torment as well, and something slightly masochistic stirred deep inside Victor's soul, begging to be teased and tortured more, to barely be touched, to be denied right up until his body couldn't cope any longer and came anyway.

  Just as he was feeling like he was going to cum no matter what Nate did or failed to do, Nate withdrew and pushed Victor over onto his side, exposing his now slightly stretched, well-lubricated hole. Nate had apparently grabbed another condom and was already wearing it. Victor could feel the rubber beginning to push into him. It seemed Nate had prepared Victor well despite the lack of time. Victor had been too distracted to notice, but he felt Nate slide in with relative ease.

  Nate was not exactly small, but Victor had not expected to feel this full. He could feel Nate throbbing intensely inside him. Nate had been turned on as well, and thrust eagerly, barely controlling himself as he pumped into Victor hard and fast.

  Victor realized that in this position he was completely open for Nate to do whatever he wanted, but he could barely move or do anything. Victor relied on Nate to thrust, to initiate every kiss, to reach around and pump his needy cock. It was strangely erotic to be again in a position of such powerlessness, where Nate could please him, use him, or deny him at a whim.

  Nate's hand reached around, gently stroking Victor's needy erection with his lubed fingertips, teasing, but not gripping, as he thrust harder and faster, starting to hit Victor's prostate more consistently. Victor twisted slightly, pleading for a kiss, and as Nate obliged, Victor felt that nice, strong hand grip his needy cock.

  As Nate thrust in deeply one last time, Victor realized what he had been doing all along. Nate had teased Victor all the way to the edge and then denied him, so that they could eventually cum together. He could feel Nate pressing hard against his sweet spot, Nate's hand squeezing his throbbing cock, milking every last drop of cum out of him.

  Victor grit his teeth as he felt spurt after spurt of cum coating the floor and Nate's hand. For a moment he was completely and utterly dazed. By the time he regained his senses a little, Nate had pulled out and thrown the condom into the wastepaper basket. Now Nate was lying back down again, looking at the ceiling.

  Nate turned his head and locked eyes with Victor. Nate smirked. He had enjoyed it just as much, it seemed. There was something nice about doing different things, things he hadn't done for a while, or ever. Victor realized he still hadn't caught his breath, and neither had Nate. Their chests rose and fell in sync, desperate for oxygen, and Victor could have sworn he could hear their heartbeats, also completely synchronized. They were one. They were completely one together now.

  Through the quiet panting, the TV declared "What's just happened, is you've been thoroughly screwed." They both burst out laughing at the timing.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Nate loved this guy. That much he knew. But everything else was so unclear to him. Was Victor a good guy really? Was Victor just confused? Or was Victor one of those messed up people who Mrs. Rodriguez tried to warn him about? It was too complicated for Nate to understand. Perhaps if three older, wiser minority women like Mrs. Heeley, Mrs. Rodriguez and Mrs. Thompson were to come together they could explain the situation to him. On his own though, he felt kind of lost.

  Nate would like to think that someone he'd just fucked would at the very least like him, as a man and as a human being. So that was what he clung to. Victor had to like him. Perhaps Victor had weird thoughts. Or perhaps he was just going along with whatever happened, caught up in h
is own emotions just like Nate was, not sure what the fuck was going on, only that he wanted it to carry on for a little bit longer.

  Nate rolled onto his side and admired Victor's features. They were a little rough, like they could have been fine and delicate and model-like, but every single measurement was a few millimeters too big or too small, giving him a beautiful, yet otherworldly appearance. Nate hopes that such a lovely person could love him back.

  Once they had recovered their strength, both remained nude and Victor found a blanket and ordered them a pizza. They oddly managed to agree on the toppings selection, and cuddled under a blanket on the sofa, watching Wolves in Suits like they were a couple of four or five years, committed to even watching specific shows together, able to relax and be themselves with one another. It was like they naturally belonged together, like their routines and tastes and habits just fell together seamlessly and they didn't need to think about anything other than enjoying their time together. Nate hoped this would not all go to waste, that it would be forever, if possible.

  Watching the show, Nate snuggled close under Victor's arm, looking up at that sharp, handsome face, highlighted by the glare from the TV. It was magical how so many slightly odd features came together to make a man look so damn good. It was like all the rules of attractiveness, the Greek golden ratio, the model guidelines just didn't matter for Victor. It was like he made his own kind of beauty.

  Nate rested his head on Victor's chest, hearing the loud, strong beat of Victor's heart steadily traveling down his ear, through his jawbone, even down his neck. It was like sinking underwater at the pool the wash of the water overwhelming the senses and drowning out the world. Victor was the waves washing away all of Nate's fears.

  Victor's hands gently caressed Nate's shoulders and the back of his neck, pulling him into a deep, loving kiss. It felt so magical. Nate snuggled even closer, resting one knee on Victor's thigh, wrapping both arms tightly around Victor's torso, gently brushing his lips against Victor's mouth and cheek again. Nate wanted to meld together with Victor. He wanted to become one with the other man, forever. Nate nuzzled Victor's chest, inhaling his scent, wondering whether that unique, rich scent was all down to Victor's cologne or if some of it was the natural smell of Victor.