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From: Rass Senip <rass_senip@usa.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} Tim, the Teenage MC - Chapter 21 (b/j) NEW!!
Date: Sun,  2 Dec 2001 22:10:04 -0500
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Tim, the Teenage MC
By Rass Senip
Chapter XXI: Fall 89 - Summer 90
Part 2 - Revealing Truth with Every Brushstroke
(mf)

I hadn't been to the mall since I stopped going there looking for another Her
that fall.  With it being the week before Christmas, the mall was like a
totally different place than it had been.

I couldn't believe how... uncomfortable I was being around so many people
again.  I think I would have freaked out and left if I hadn't been there with
Joey.  But I couldn't show that kind of weakness in front of him like that.

My biggest problem was what to do with my eyes while we were walking.  What
_do_ you look at when anytime you look at someone else they feel your eyes and
turn to look at you?  It's pretty hard to keep your eyes on neutral objects
when you're walking in a crowd.

Joey was oblivious to my... problem.  We were there to find something for him
to give to Suzi for Christmas, but everything we found was either not good
enough for her, or just didn't represent his feelings for her appropriately.

Like when we found a rather perverted, but funny as hell, board game that I
thought she'd love, Joey wouldn't hear of it because it wasn't the least bit
romantic.

So after an hour of keeping my eyes down, I finally asked him, "Why don't you
just buy her a ring or something?"

"What kind of ring?" he replied almost nervously.

"I don't know.  Just a ring...  Or a necklace."

"You think that'll do it?" he asked me, looking me in the eyes briefly.

"Depends on what you get her," I said while sorting through the nervousness he
was feeling about it.

"Well I guess we can go look," he sighed before turning in the direction of the
nearest jeweler.

I followed him in, then waited silently for him to choose a display counter to
look at until it was clear he was waiting on me to do just that.  So I just
picked the one closest to me that was open and worked my way around to the
others.

"So how much are you willing to spend?" I thought to him after getting a feel
of what they had that Suzi might like.

"Doesn't matter," he thought back.

"Of course it matters.  I don't want to look at something that's $400 when
you're only thinking of spending $50."

"Then look at the $1000 ones."

"Uhm, don't you think that's kind of..." I said out loud.

"How much did you blow on that replica of her grandmother's necklace?"

"That was different," I said.

"How is it different?  I have the money, Tim.  And I'll spend three times that
much if I find something I think she'll like better."

"Echm," a man behind the counter interjected.  "May I help you?"

"We're still deciding on what we're looking for, thanks," I said while trying
to feel Joey out a little more.

"Will you stop that?" Joey suddenly said, looking up at me from the counter
with a frown.  "Shit, if you want to know something, ask.  You don't have to do
that empathic eyeball thing on me."

"Sorry," I said guiltily while digesting the information our brief eye contact
had given me.  "I though you might have been trying to... uhm...  You know, top
me."

Joey sighed, then looked up me with a sly grin and said, "I am.  Just not with
dollar signs.  It has to be something really special.  Something that describes
what she means to me.  The problem is nothing seems to do that for me
except..."

He looked away after realizing he had said one word too much, then in an
attempt to distract me from this, he said, "Lets try another store," and made
his way out.

We didn't say much while checking out the next jeweler, or the third for that
matter.  But when we arrived at the fourth, Joey went straight to the counter
he had been ignoring in the others, and that's when it all clicked in my head.

I hooked an arm over his shoulders and gave him an approving grin when he
looked up from the engagement rings.

But instead of my grin encouraging him, Joey's frustration deepened, making him
turn and walk out with a huff.

"Where we going?" I asked when I caught up with him.

"I don't know!  Back to your place I guess."

"What about Suzi's gift?" I insisted.

"Fuck...  All right!" he said angrily, reversing his direction and almost
running into some woman loaded down with shopping bags.

I followed him back to the novelty store and didn't say a word as he picked out
an untampered box of the board game we had looked at before and took it up to
the checkout.

I waited until we were back in my car and on the way home before saying, "I
think you picked the right gift, Joey."

He pulled the box out of the bag and looked at it again, then sighed, "It just
doesn't... mean what I want it to..."

"I know, Joey.  But it's a Christmas present.  It's not supposed to express
everything you feel for her.  The day you give her the present that does,
you'll make that day a whole separate holiday for both of you, you know?"

"I guess," Joey sighed.  "I know she's not ready for that kind of present
anyway.  And shit.... I guess I'm not either.  But the last thing I expected
was for you to be.  You're supposed to talk me out of making rash decisions,
not encourage them."

"Sorry," I said grinning.  "Can I help it if I like being the best man in
weddings?"

"Shit..."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days later, after seeing a movie together, Suzi, Joey and I went to a
restaurant for dinner before the unveiling of the painting I had painted of the
three of us.

While we were going over the menus, I looked up just as a blonde two tables in
front of me looked up and our eyes met.  A whole second must have ticked by
before we both looked away, but I almost immediately glanced back and confirmed
the blush on her cheeks I had felt begin to form.

After we ordered, I found myself periodically looking at her.  I was physically
located at the table so that my eyes just naturally looked that way whenever I
looked up.  It wouldn't have been so bad if every time I noticed, she noticed
too.

She did have a sweet smile.  And once, I caught her looking at me as well.  I
was seriously starting to consider talking to her, for she looked to be about
eighteen and while her companion had her back to me, I had a feeling they were
sisters because their body language was so similar.

"Why don't you bump into her on the way back from the restroom or something,"
Joey suggested as the two women were served their meal.

"Who?" I asked, honestly believing he couldn't have noticed the momentary
glances I had made of the girl.

"You know who," Suzi said smiling.

I looked at her, then at Joey who also was smiling, but all I could do was
shrug and say, "Nah."

"Why not?" Joey asked.  "It's not like you're going to walk out of here with
her for a one night stand."

"I'm just not...  ready to start doing stuff like that again."

"Oh, come on, Timmy," Suzi said softly.  "It's all perfectly innocent, and she
seems interested."

"She does?" I said, glancing up and catching her looking at me again.  "Well,
maybe after she gets through eating..."

Our food came pretty soon after that, and while we ate, I had a hell of a time
keeping my eyes from wandering back to the blonde who appeared to be enjoying
her companion's company just as much as I was mine.

Joey and Suzi kept my attention busy by asking me questions about what I had
been doing, and offered some topics of their own experiences at college.  I was
so comfortable in their presence, yet I felt I needed to keep some distance
between us, which conflicted a lot with the bond we were trying to reform.

When the girl across the way pushed her plate forward as if to say "I'm done,"
I took two more quick bites of my mostaccioli before getting up and saying,
"Well, I'll be right back...  Maybe."

She never made eye contact as I walked towards her, so I just kept on going
towards the bathroom like Joey had suggested earlier.  As I passed her I
noticed they had a baby in one of those portable baby beds on a chair between
them, but the other woman at the table appeared to be older, so I assumed she
was the mother.

I stalled for a few minutes inside the dimly lit bathroom, then washed my hands
and proceeded to walk back towards my table.

As I approached her from the rear, I was shocked to see a cloud of smoke rising
above her, and was dismayed when she turned her head slightly as she pulled her
lit cigarette from her mouth and held it over the ashtray.  

Now I don't really have a problem with smokers.  It's their lungs, and despite
the smoke clinging to their clothes and the odd taste to their kiss, I never
really minded whether a girl smoked or not.  I would be upset if someone I
cared about started smoking, but I always tried to accept people as they are
when I meet them, so if they smoked, they smoked.

But this girl had seemed very nice and clean...  She even blushed, damnit!  To
see her puffing away on that tobacco stick just sort of ruined my image of her
and my mood.

Her sister lit up one herself as I detoured around them and retook my seat, and
after they finished their smoke, they got up to leave.  When the baby started
to fuss from being disturbed, it was the younger sister who picked it out of
the bed and held it like the mother she apparently was.

The three of us just looked at each other, then after I shrugged, I said, "Come
on.  Let's go.  I've been waiting all day to show you my painting."

I honestly didn't have another thought about the incident with the girl and her
baby.

But Joey and Suzi did, and it was on their minds during the drive back to my
place until I said, "You both know as well as I do there's more fish in the
sea.  Stop worrying.  I didn't chicken out, I just decided not to go for it.
There's a difference."

After that they must have picked up on my excitement about showing them my
painting for they let the whole thing go.

"Tada!" I exclaimed while uncovering the portrait I had painted of the three of
us.

"Oh Timmy!  It's fantastic!" Suzi cooed.  "You really painted this yourself?"

"I sure did.  I haven't just been sitting around masturbating like some people
would say," I joked.  "I'd show you where the twins and I paint, but I still
haven't cleaned up from finishing Joey's."

When Joey didn't make the expected comment from my indirect tease, I nudged him
and said, "So...  You like?"

"Huh?  Yeah, I like.  It's...  Incredible," he said energetically. 

But then a moment later with a sound of disheartedness he added softly, "Really
incredible."

I threw him a questioning glance while Suzi studied the painting close up and
she asked, "So what are you going to do with it?"

"What do you mean, do with it?" I replied while Joey shook his head, then
stepped up beside Suzi to have a closer look himself.

"Well, were you planning on hanging it anywhere particular?"

"Uhm, well, not really.  I figured it'd go in my room, somewhere.  Why?"

"Oh, no reason really," she lied while putting an arm behind Joey and giving
him a one handed hug.

"I can't get over how beautiful you made Suzi look," Joey said in awe.

"I don't know if I should be insulted or grateful by that," Suzi teased.

"It's like he painted you right after you fixed Donaldson's head that one
night.  You looked like you were on top of the world...  With that playful
look... That happy glow..."

"And look at you," Suzi pointed out.  "That's exactly how you smile when you're
having fun.  Your sharp blue eyes... He even put in the way your cheeks redden
when you smile a lot."

"They do?" he said, blushing as he looked at her a moment, then glanced back at
me.

I nodded my confirmation, then let out a snicker as he grinned then suddenly
felt his cheeks with his hands.

"It's a shame he messed his own image up," Suzi said.

"He did?  Oh... Huh.  Yeah, I guess he did, didn't he?"

"What do you mean I messed me up?" I said, stepping up and looking over Suzi's
shoulder.

"Well, you never look at us like that any more," Suzi explained.  "You used to,
but now you're always so... uhm..."

"Reserved.  Like you're afraid to let too much out," Joey finished for her.

"I don't mean to," I said honestly.  "At least I don't mean to any more."

Suzi turned around, looked me in the eyes, and asked, "Why did you paint this,
Timmy?"

"Why?  I guess because I missed you two."

"I think you painted it because it made you feel better about not coming out to
see us.  You painted us like you wanted to think of us.  Happy and having fun
together.  But we weren't happy, we weren't having fun, and because of you we
weren't together."

"I...  But...  Shit..." I said, turning away to recompose myself after finding
her comments striking too close to something I didn't want to explore.

"Timmy, what are you afraid of?  Do you even know?" Suzi said, forcing me to
turn to face her again.

"Suz...  I'm sorry I didn't go see you, okay?  I just...  I didn't want..."

"Don't tell me the same story you told Joey because I don't believe it.  You're
still trying to avoid telling us something."

"I am not," I said honestly, then realized it wasn't entirely true after all.

"Now I know you're holding back something," she said, reading my eyes with
precision.

"Suz...  Don't," I said, again turning away, finding myself trembling slightly.

"Don't what, Timmy?" she said, wrapping her arms around me from behind.  "Are
you afraid of me?"

"No!"

The calm sternness in her voice evaporated as she said, "You are..."  then in
an increasingly emotional voice she asked, "Why are you afraid of me, Timmy?
TELL ME!"

The emotion in her voice triggered my own to cascade within me, and suddenly
the truth I had been struggling to deny to myself and everyone else began to
slip through my lips like the tears suddenly springing from eyes and flowing
down my cheeks...

"I still love her Suz," I choked out.  "I don't want to feel that close to
anyone else until...  Until I prove to her that I love her more than anything
else in my life...   But whenever I'm with you or Joey..."

"How does not letting yourself get close to us again prove anything to her?"
Suzi interrupted.  "You don't think she expects you to not have feelings for
others when she's not even around, do you?"

"No, but there's more to it than that." 

I turned around to face them, taking a hand from each of them and saying, "Some
nights I think I'm going mad from needing sex so badly...  And other nights I'm
just lonely for the lack of... intimacy.  I just know the more time I spend
with you two the harder it will be to resist...  Resist making love with
you..."

"That's why you've pushed us away?" Joey asked.  "Because you're afraid we'd
talk you into having sex with us?"

"No..." I sighed while wiping my face with the back of my hands.  "I'm afraid
I'll WANT to have sex with you two because... Because of our history together
for one thing.  And because you know me so well, it'd be hard for me to step
back for some space without you picking up on it and hurting your feelings if I
told you why."

"You just never learn, do you?" Suzi said while hugging me again.  "All you
ever had to do was explain it to us.  Now that we know what you really want,
we'll make sure it never goes that far.  And if you have to distance yourself
from us once in a while, that'll be a lot easier to deal with than not having
you around at all."

"I don't think it'll be that simple," I said honestly.

"Neither do I," Joey objected.  "I mean, I'll do what you want, but..."

"But what?" Suzi asked when I didn't.

Joey let out a huff of frustration, then said to her, "Well, for starters, if
he.."

Suzi stopped him and turned him towards me before sitting down on one of the
chairs in the room.

Joey hesitated a moment before asking me, "I just don't understand why you
haven't even tried looking for her if you really feel that way about her."

"I want to," I admitted.  "But I know her, Joey.  I think she'd run if I tried
to contact her before she's ready.  I don't really know the exact reason she
left, but I think part of it was because she was scared she'd break her promise
to her mother out of love for me...  Sort of like what I'm afraid will happen
if I spent too much time with you two."

"So you're willing to avoid having a life of your own in hopes she eventually
come looking for you and find you've been faithful to her?  How long are you
going to wait if she doesn't?"

"I don't know," I said feeling my own frustration rising.  "I guess I'll wait
until she's eighteen, then if I haven't heard from her by then, I'll go looking
for her.  But I can't imagine her going that long without at least a phone call
or something."

"Shit, Tim...  You really want her that bad?" Joey asked after a few moments of
careful consideration.

"As much or more as you do Suzi," I said softly yet full of emotion.

"What do you think, Suz?" Joey said, glancing over at her.

"I don't think we have a choice," Suzi said.  "We either pledge to not allow
our feelings to grow beyond being friends for the next three years, or..."

"Or we don't see him except during holidays, if even then," Joey concluded for
her.

"It's only two years, two months, and... three days," I corrected.  "And I'm
not sure a pledge would be enough."

"Don't you want to spend time with us?" Suzi asked.

"Of course I do," I sighed. "But even now my wanting to stay faithful to
Jennifer is seriously struggling with my urges to...  get it on with either of
you, if you know what I mean."

I watched as they had a brief telepathic discussion with each other, and for a
few moments I was completely distracted by the fact I could get the gist of
what they were thinking to each other just by watching for key symbols in their
telepathic streams.

My attention was brought back to the topic at hand when Joey inserted a stream
of symbols into Suzi's mind, then Suzi did the same to Joey a moment later.

Before they could say anything, I probed Suzi to see what the command was, then
said, "That wouldn't slow me down at all if I really wanted to have sex with
you."

"It isn't supposed to," Suzi explained.  "It's to prevent accidents from
happening, not to stop you if you completely lose control."

"And we're not done yet," Joey added.  "Only by giving up Jennifer forever will
you be able to undo our commands."

"Shit," Suzi complained when her attempt to insert the commands Joey was
speaking failed to reach my mind.

"If I hadn't known you were going to do that, I'd probably be pretty upset
right now," I said, covering up the painting for lack of anything else to
distract them with.  "I know you mean well, but part of what I want to prove to
Jennifer is that I don't need anything but my feelings for her to keep me...
faithful to her.  I have to do that on my own.  

"But," I added while turning around to face them again.  "You two have made me
realize that I can't keep hiding from temptation if I really want to prove
anything to her.  So if its okay with you two, can we just drop the subject and
go do something fun?"

They looked at each other, then Joey asked, "Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know," I said with mischievous grin.  "Maybe something a little
slippery."

"And maybe something a little dirty, in a clean way?" Joey said, catching on.

"And is this something a close contact kind of sport?" Suzi sighed.

"The closer the better, I always say," I confirmed.

"And I just had my hair done," Suzi sighed again as she stood up and lead the
way out.

It's amazing what fifty gallons of mud can do for a friendship like ours.
First Suzi and I ganged up on Joey, then Joey and Suz ganged up on me, then
Joey and I ganged up on Suz...  I think we went through three or four cycles of
that before Suzi almost fell asleep while laying on top of Joey, resting, after
unsuccessfully trying to pull him off balance to help free me from underneath
him.  By the time we pulled our sorry asses out of the mud and headed for the
showers, I felt completely at ease with them, in sync with them, almost like
the last two and a half years hadn't happened.

I was overwhelmed when I realized the large emotional weight which had been
holding me back since Jennifer left was gone.  I could barely contain myself
long enough to reach Suzi and hug her before letting my happy tears and rather
loud sobs flow.

Joey at some point put his arms around both of us to keep us on our feet after
Suzi wobbled a bit too much from my extra weight.  I blubbered out to Suz that
she had been right, that she always had been right that by telling her and Joey
my problems, we'd always find a way to fix them, and swore I'd never keep
anything like that from them again.

That's the last thing I remember from that night.  I woke up the next morning
in my bed with my best friend spooned up against my backside.  But instead of
moving away from his close contact like I had every morning before, I snuggled
back against him, then grinned at the concept of teasing his arriving morning
hardon with my ass, knowing I could without any fear of it leading somewhere I
didn't want to go.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Timmy!  Timmy!  Ho-Ho was here!" my baby brother exclaimed extremely early
Christmas morning, right in my ear.

"UhG" I groaned, rolling away from his chirpy irritating baby voice and
covering my head up with one of the pillows on my bed.

"Timmy...   TIMMY!"

"What!!" I exclaimed rather grouchily through the pillows.

"Timmy??" he mewed.

I sighed, then rolled back towards him again, only to find him halfway up on
the bed already.  I helped him up, then was shocked to find he was as cold as
ice.

"You're freezing...  Get under the covers with me," I ordered.

"But Ho-Ho," Richie complained weakly as he complied, plastering his cold skin
against my bare chest.

I shivered as I checked the time, then said "Dang, Richie...  It's only five
o'clock.  You'll never get dad out of bed this early."

"I been good for Ho-Ho," Richie said, looking up at me with sparkles in his
eyes.  "I saw.  Ho-Ho was here."

"Did you see...  Lots of pretty boxes?"

"Uh-huh."

"And the big red socks all full with candy?"

"Uh-huh.  And Ho-Ho ate his cookies," Richie said laying his head down on my
breast.  "Can we g'see's the bunnies eat theirs?"

"Reindeer, Richie.  Remember?  And no, it's too early to go outside."

"Bunnies," he stubbornly yawned as he snaked his hands underneath me to warm
them.

I carefully probed his mind to find out what all he had done during his early
morning reconnaissance.  Besides tugging down a "red sockie" and filling his
gut with the sweets inside, most of his time had been just walking from my
parents room, to the study, then to my room.

I was nearly giggling when I probed for how he had managed to get up to this
floor.  He just jumped up and pressed all four buttons on the elevator, then
just sat there in the elevator eating some more of his heist until the elevator
stopped at the right floor... the third time.

"I told mom she should have barricaded the door to keep you from wandering
around the house for Santa.  How long have you been up?  An hour?  Two?

"Richie?

"Figures," I sighed softly.  "And now I'm wide awake, of course."

But then next thing I knew, I awoke to Richie exploring the insides of my mouth
with his fingers.

I was just about to try and suck his hand in when he pulled it away.  

His eyes sparked again looking in mine as he said, "Ho-Ho was here."

"I know he was," I said while catching a bit of the old Christmas morning
excitement myself.

Richie wasn't really excited about the presents and sweets that older children
dream about.  That was the first Christmas he'd take part in, so he knew
nothing of the pleasures of tearing colorful paper off of mysterious boxes.  He
was a Christmas virgin, so to speak.  His excitement was mainly from the
magical nature of Santa Claus visiting during the night.  The fact that Ho-Ho
left gifts for him was secondary to the so called realism of one of the fairy
stories read to him at night had come to life.

I put on the special Christmas robe my dad had gotten everyone, then we went to
Richie's room to get his.  Richie wouldn't put it on until I let him take off
his rubber pants and undershorts, and then he got this look in his eye...

"I'm daddy," he said seriously when he got a hard on and it poked out of his
robe.

He then proceeded to crack me up by proudly strutting around with his little
pencil dick bouncing up and down between the gap of his robe.

I don't think I've mentioned that my dad and Richie both have dark hair, and
while my own certainly wasn't blonde any more, it was definitely lighter than
theirs.  The older Richie got, the more he really resembled me at the same age,
but with his dark hair matching my dad's perfectly, he really did look like a
smaller version of my dad strutting around with a hard on.

When we finally got down to the study where the big Christmas tree with all the
gifts underneath was, Richie went straight to the newly installed fireplace,
jumped up and knocked the gas key off its hook, inserted the key into its hole
in the floor, twisted it until the auto lighter started clicking, then waited
until the fire flared up before removing the key and very carefully put it back
on its hook, having to stand on his tiptoes just to reach it.

After giving him the standard scolding while hiding my pride for his showing
his smarts, I led him over to the presents and tried getting him interested in
guessing what was in them.

But he was more interested in learning whose present was for who rather than
their contents, and without any help from me beyond reading the labels out loud
for him many times, he learned to read "Richie", "Tim", "Twins", "Joy",
"Honey", "Mom", "Dad", "Charles", and "Sam".

When that finally got old, I decided we'd waited long enough for "Charles" and
"Sam" to get up, especially when I realized it was nearly nine o'clock already.
So after Richie picked out a few pieces of candy to take with him, we headed
off for the master bedroom.

I think I was as disappointed as Richie when we found their bed empty.  The
plan was to toss Richie on the bed between them and let Richie kiss them silly,
smearing the chocolate off his face onto theirs.

So to keep the element of surprise, I didn't probe for their locations, just
did it the old fashioned way.  I called Sherman and asked if he knew where they
were.  Heh.

Sherman didn't know where my mom was, but my dad was eating breakfast in the
main dining room.  I wondered why my mom wasn't eating with him, but figured
she probably went to check on us, which as it turned out was right...  Sort of.

"MommY!  Ho-Ho was here!" Richie exclaimed when she appeared down the hall
while we were making our way back to the study where I expected her to be.

"Yes, I saw.  And it looks like you've already had some of Ho-Ho's sweets?"

Richie pulled out a red foil wrapped chocolate Kiss from a pocket in his robe
and held it up to her.

"Mommy wanna kiss?"

"Do I get to choose what kind?" she asked while picking him up.

"Uh huh."

"Then I'll take... this kind," she said before kissing him on his pursed lips.

"Good?" he asked after doing his best to smear his lips across hers.

"Very chocolaty", she said with amusement, then laughed when he tried to do it
again.  "Now stop...  I don't want to get fat from your sweet kisses."

"Heh.  And I thought you couldn't get fat that way," I said before giving her a
kiss on her cheek.

"I can get fat on anything," she sighed.

"Sam, I need'a potty," Richie slyly announced.

"Sam, huh?" my mom said while giving me an accusing look.

"He wanted to know what the labels on the presents said, and when he noticed
that es ay em wasn't the same as em oh em, I told him why," I explained.

"Noo...  Em oh em EM WHY," Richie corrected.

"Oh yeah, smarty pants?  Ho-Ho has reindeer," I teased.

"Bunnies,  Tee I em em why" he teased back.

"Shit," I gasped.

"Timothy.." my mom growled.

"Sorry...  But I didn't...  I mean, all my presents are labeled Tim, not Timmy.
He must have figured that out all by himself."

"Oh, don't give him so much credit," she said, pointing to the Timmy
embroidered on my Christmas robe.

"Es ay em ay em tee... uhm...  uhm...  Richie... Are... I... see... uhm..
aych... Aych.   Es ay em ay em tee aych ay...  Sam-am-cha Timmy?"

"Samantha," I corrected before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "That was so see
oh oh el cool, Richie."

"Coo'w," he repeated softly, then looked at mom with a bashful smile before
hugging her the rest of the way to the nearest bathroom.

I went back to the study, and as I studied some of the larger gifts with my
name on them, the twins showed up, one dressed in an all red outfit, the other
in all green.  Until that morning, I had purposely avoided looking to see how
many were mine, figuring most of them would be Richie's since I pretty much
bought anything I wanted for myself.  But while going through them with Richie
earlier I quickly realized that a lot of them were mine, and I was perplexed as
to what they all could be.  And the twins weren't helping by letting me know
they knew what each gift I inspected was.

By chance, both my mom and dad arrived at the same time from opposite
entrances, and I instantly felt there was some sort of tension between them.  I
was then distracted by Richie running full steam at me, and I barely had enough
time to grab him as he playfully collided with me, his momentum knocking me
onto my back with Richie landing on top.

I tossed him up and down a couple of times before mom complained I'd make him
sick, then when my dad made a remark that I didn't hear over Richie's protests
of "More!  More!", I kept Richie occupied while they argued telepathically.

This wasn't the first time they had argued like that.  They were both strong
willed individuals who had their own ideas of how things should work, and that
naturally led to rather long private disagreements before one of them gave in
to the other's logic or they just dropped it altogether.

But this time they were both sticking to their guns, and it seemed like it
wasn't just going to go away on its own.  I wasn't about to interfere with
their business though.  I figured they'd include me if it ever got really
serious.

I don't know what my dad said/thought to her, but whatever it was, it hurt my
mom's feelings immensely and the next thing I knew my dad was calling after her
trying to apologize as she left the room.

A few moments later, I was on my feet in a flash when my mom's frantic high
pitched emotional voice reached my ears, but resisted my instincts to rush to
her defense when it didn't continue, and relaxed a little when my mom's and
dad's swirls of symbols went in two different directions.

My dad reentered the room with a discouraged but stubborn expression, but lost
his nerve a bit when he saw us standing there watching him.

He sighed, then did an about face saying, "I'll be back in few minutes...  With
your mother." 

"Uhm, take your time," I called after him, then with lessening volume I added,
"If you need to I mean..."

Despite his promise, he didn't come back with mom, but he said she'd come in a
while and that we should start opening gifts without her.

Richie silently went up to our dad and put his arms up to be picked up, then
clung to him for probably the next half hour without saying a word no matter
how much I prompted him.

I opened a couple of mine, then opened a few of Richie's to try and get him
interested, but it wasn't until mom finally showed up and asked him what he got
from Ho-Ho that he actually left dad's lap and opened one himself.

At first I tried to ignore the fact that they avoided looking at each other,
but after Richie opened two more gifts on his own, he was hooked, and I had my
hands full keeping him from opening every gift under the tree himself.

Not all the gifts were for the six of us.  Seven of the servants had no family
to spend Christmas with, so they were included in our Christmas and all had
gifts under the tree too.  Sherman was one of those people, and he was the only
person besides my dad who always got something for everyone.  That originally
was probably out of a sense of duty since he was in charge of the staff, but I
think he also just didn't have much use for his money besides that, since
everything he needed was supplied for him and he never seemed to desire
anything for himself.

When Richie decided he wanted to play with one of his new toys before he opened
another gift, I took an inventory of what I had got, and was further perplexed.

Oh, there were the regular things like new shirts, a bottle of cologne, a
transvestite makeover kit (a joke from Brad, of all people), a paint by numbers
(from Richie), a couple of CDs, a new sports coat, and an ultra-deluxe,
seven-speed male anal pleasure probe (from the twins, the little darlin's).

But the dish set, the toaster oven, the microwave, three sets of Tupperware,
the stickless pots and pans, the bath towels, cordless phone, answering
machine...  Whew, and probably a few other things I don't remember....  Well,
it was like they were trying to tell me something.  Like, get out.

I guess with their own problems plaguing them, my mom and dad just didn't
notice my confusion about their gifts.  And as soon as the last gift was
opened, my mom left, taking Sherman with her which surprised everyone,
including Sherman.  Well, not my dad.  He didn't even flinch.

I was busy playing with Richie and his new toys until around one thirty when he
finally gave in to taking a nap, then decided that now would be the best time
to  go over to Suzi's for our little gift exchange and to hopefully talk.

I didn't try to hide my concerns from Suzi when she picked up on something
being wrong after I laughed too hard at something she said.  After telling her
everything that happened that morning, she told me to stay there and went to
her room for a few minutes.

I didn't listen to her very well when I started looking around the room for an
empty space on the wall, and ended up wandering into some of the other rooms
looking for just the right spot for my painting which was still wrapped in gold
foil paper.  

Betty and Jason were watching a Christmas special on TV in the family room,
with Jason lying on the couch with his head on his mother's lap.  If I hadn't
just barely touched one little branch of the Christmas tree that naturally
caused a silk ball to fall to the floor, they wouldn't have noticed me.

"What'd she do, give you your present then tell you not to open it until she
came back?" Jason joked.

"Not exactly," I said while having to refrain from feeling him out during his
casual glance.

"Did you see what Joey got her?" Jason said, sitting up with a hint of mischief
in his voice.

"Oh don't be so..." Betty began.

"What?  I didn't give it to her," Jason said with amusement.

"No, but you've told everyone you've talked to about it ever since she opened
it this morning."

"You're talking about the game, right?" I asked.

"What game?" Suzi asked, walking in with a gift that wasn't wrapped in
Christmas wrapping paper.  

"Oh, that game," she said after Jason made a face.

She then handed me the six by four by one inch box and said, "It was supposed
to be an early birthday present from me and Joey, err mostly Joey, that you
were to open before you left for Central State, but I think you might want to
open it now."

Betty and Jason didn't say a word, apparently already knowing what it was, so I
slowly undid the bow and slid the top off the box.  I got the feeling this was
something which had been planned for a while now, but I was even more confused
than ever when I opened the box up and found just a silver key in a piece of
gray foam rubber.

"What is this?  A key to someone's heart?" I joked.

"Wait a minute.  Where's the..." Suzi said, lifting the foam out of the base,
then said, "Oh, of course.  Look in the lid, silly."

Stuck in the lid of the box was piece of folded paper, which after I nearly
dropped the rest of the box to pull it out, I found to be a five month lease
agreement for an apartment in Kenton County.

"What's this for?" I asked.

"What do you mean, what is it for?" Suzi said excitedly.  "It's for you, that's
what.  The girl who lived in the apartment below me moved out two weeks ago,
and Joey and I rented it for you as.. a..

"surprise?" she peeped when she realized I wasn't sharing her excitement.  "We
thought you'd like being in the same apartment building.  Joey sleeps there
practically every weekend, and we... You know...  Thought you'd..."

"That's why I got the dishes and towels," I realized out loud.  "That's why the
twins have been trying to get me to spend more time with Richie.  Everybody
thinks I'll want to go to Central State after seeing it again."

"Everyone but you," Jason said after feeling me out in his own way.

"I'm sorry, Suz," I said with a tense sigh.  "I'm trying to keep an open mind
about it, and I'm not saying I won't go.  It's just...  Well now I feel like I
have to go when I'm still not sure I really want to."

"This wasn't supposed to put pressure on you to do it," Suzi explained softly.
"It just seemed the right thing to do.  You don't know how hard it was for us
to find my apartment in the first place, and having you in the same building
was just...  Well, it was like it was meant to be."

"Thanks," I said, giving her a peck on the top of her head.  "You're right, it
is a neat idea.  I'm just a little out of sorts from earlier, I guess.  How
about you open mine now?"

She looked me in the eyes with a suspicious squint, then smiled slightly,
probably from the twinkle I had in my eyes.

"Gee, what could it be?" she teased as we walked up to the three by four foot
object leaning against wall.  "Could it be a dress?  A pair of shoes?  A TV
maybe?"

She started peeling off one end carefully, then found the heavy brown paper
wrap underneath and said, "You sure wrapped it enough."

"I had to.  Christmas paper doesn't hold up very well if there's nothing behind
it.  But you should have seen what all I did to Joey's.  He's probably still
unwrapping it right now.  I even warned him he'd need a crow bar."

She finished tearing off the decorative wrap with ease, then after carefully
feeling out the depth of the frame and the canvas from the paper, she took one
of her fingernails and carefully cut a slit near the top, then took a good hold
and tore a third of the front off.

"Oh my GOD!" She exclaimed.  "Mom!  Jason!  Come here and see this!"

"What?  Did he do a nude?" Jason partially joked as they rushed down the hall.

"No he didn't do a nude!" Suzi blathered.  "This is so GOOD, Timmy!  I can't
believe it."

"Wow, you did this?" Jason said just as Suzi tore the last strip off, revealing
Frank's hand laying on top of the open book.

They all froze when they saw that, and just as I started to ask what was wrong,
the back door opened and shut, and I recognized Frank's swirls of symbols
coming in.

"I'll get him," Jason gasped out as he sprinted back down the hall. 

"What's wrong?" I asked Suzi as Betty kneeled down beside her.  "You all are
acting like you've seen a ghost."

"A ghost would almost make sense," Betty remarked.

"When did you paint this, Timmy?" Suzi asked without looking up.

"Uhm, I guess about three weeks ago.  Yeah, two weeks before you and Joey came
home.  Why?  What is going on?" I asked as Frank stepped up, equally stunned by
the painting, but only momentarily.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" Frank said with an unsteady voice.

"A joke?" I repeated.

"Tim.  In the family room, on the left side of the tree.  Go look," Betty said
with a quiet urgency that I was compelled to follow.

Next to the tree, sitting on top of two boxes was another painting.  My eyes
bulged out of their sockets by the uncanny similarities between my painting and
this one.

The people were unfamiliar to me, and their clothing were...  well, pretty old.
But the setting was all too familiar.

A bearded man sitting in a library with his hand on an open book, a young man
standing immediately behind him with a hand on his mother's shoulder, while she
and young teenage boy were standing on either side of the bearded man, each
with a hand on the man's shoulder nearest to them.

"That boy was my grandfather," Suzi said from the doorway.  "He died a few
years ago, but my grandmother is still alive and just gave that painting to my
dad for Christmas.  She found it in their attic a couple of weeks ago and just
knew he'd like it....  But... how did you..."

"I don't know," I said almost too soft for her to hear.  "I mean, I didn't...
Shit, Suz.  I just got inspired by thinking about the first time I met your mom
and dad in person.  Remember the goblet my dad gave your dad to auction off
before we even knew they knew each other?"

"Vaguely."

"The library, remember?  Your dad mentioned naming the new library after my dad
if he gave the rest of the goblets up for auctioning, and the library thing
just always stuck in my head about your dad."

I sighed with a touch of disappointment, and then said, "But maybe while I was
racking my brain for ideas I unconsciously connected with him and pulled this
out of his head."

"I don't think so.  My dad said he had never seen it before today."

"Well, then maybe somehow I picked up on your Grandmother finding it."

"What, all the way in Canterbury England?" Suzi pointed out.

"Shit, I knew you were going to say that," I said, then couldn't add anything
to that but a shrug.

"Dad wants to see them side by side in the living room," Jason said coming in.
"There's better light in there."

I got out of the way, then followed Jason and Suzi almost timidly back into the
living room where Frank was on his knees looking at the book closely.

"I didn't make the text readable," I confessed.  "It would have taken me weeks
to get all the letters to slant the same way and at the right angle."

"Wow, now that's what I call freaky," Jason commented as he backed away after
setting the older painting down in a stable spot.

"Damn.  They are the same, aren't they," I said unhappily.  "I'm sorry.  I
thought I was painting it on my own, not copying someone else's work."

"The poses may be the same, but the people aren't," Frank said as he went back
and forth between the two canvases, taking close looks at some of the details.
"My grandfather's right hand has a ring on it, mine doesn't.  Suzi's hand lays
flat on my shoulder, but my father's is loosely coiled."

"Their faces are... cold," Betty pointed out.  "But you made ours... pleasant.
Even Frank's."

"Yeah kind of went overboard on dad's, if you ask me," Jason muttered.

"I heard that," Frank pronounced, then looked back at Jason with a grin,
startling Jason by having the same twinkle in his eye as I had portrayed in the
painting.

"Okay, maybe not," Jason said, recovering quickly. 

"So does that mean, you like it?" I asked.

"Like it?  I love it!" Frank exclaimed. "I don't even care HOW you did it.  The
parallelism between the two separate generations, versus the obvious
differences between the ages they were painted... But there is that same family
link blatantly displayed in both despite the gap of time.... and it is so
genuinely us.  I've haven't been so... excited over something like this since I
saw the Mona Lisa at Le Louvre for the first time."

"Uh oh..." Jason said, stepping away.  "Uh mom...  You know that show is still
on."

"Oh, you're so right," Betty said, quickly following him just as Frank put his
arm over my shoulder and asked, "Have you ever really looked at the Mona Lisa,
Tim?"

"I...  I guess not," finding Suzi also silently taking the opportunity to
escape whatever I was doomed to experience.

Bah..  They just didn't understand Leonardo Da Vinci's astounding brilliance
and talent.  Oh sure, everyone knows the famous chick's mug shot with the less
than exciting smile.  But have you ever really looked at the details of the
painting?  It's incredible how real the strands of her hair look, the illusion
of depth in the background, even her own shadow beneath her chin.  Sadly, this
picture just doesn't have the resolution to show these details very well, but
believe me, to paint something as detailed as the Mona Lisa with only oil
paints and brushes truly takes a genius, and a hell of a lot of patience.

After Frank and I delved into a real Master's work, my own never seemed as good
as it should.  Frank got me so wound up in the magic of Da Vinci's brush, I
rushed home that night and immediately started a new Jennifer portrait which
would have been my Mona Lisa.

But it just wasn't meant to be.  After I couldn't replicate a single strand of
hair like the Master had, I gave up painting altogether.  You see I no longer
had to express my bottled up emotions through the brush, pigments, and canvas.
They simply weren't bottled up like they were, thanks to Joey and Suz.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey man, wazzup?"

"Hey Brad!  I wondered if you'd ever gonna call me back.  I've like left ten
messages with your sister."

"Sorry dude.  I've been like tied up, but I can hang with yah today."

"Tied up huh?  ... Hey, the twins and I were about to go pick up Suz and go
shoppin'.  You wanna go?  Suz was even asking about you yesterday."

"She was?  Yeah, okay man.  Shopping's cool.  I'll meet you over at Suzi's,
'kay?"

"Yeah, okay.  Unless you want me and the twins to pick you up on the way over?"

"Nah.  I'm not home right now.  I'm like at a friend's.  I'll see you in a few,
then.  Cool?"

"Cool."

"See yah, man... <click>"

The day was December thirtieth, nineteen eighty-nine, two days before the end
of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties.  I couldn't get rid of the
feeling everyone was pressuring me to move to Kenton County to go to school,
but the greater the pressure got, the less I felt inclined to go.

I was relishing every last minute I had with Suzi before I left to see Central
State a week later to find some reason against moving there.  The strange thing
was, I wasn't hiding any of this from Suzi, and we even talked about it openly
without it upsetting either of us.

But we both knew better than to tell Joey about it.  At least not until I was
out there anyway.  We didn't want to spoil his "peace of mind" as Suzi called
it that he had had since I had agreed to give Central State another try.  That
of course was just another source of pressure, probably the biggest come to
think of it.

So you could say I wasn't looking forward to the nineties.  To many unhappy
possibilities were down the road.  And from the way my parents were acting, one
of those possibilities was my parents getting divorced over something they
still hadn't clued me in on.

And that made another reason I didn't want to move to Kenton County.  I felt
obligated to be there to shield my little brother from the increasingly
unpleasant yet so far still silent arguments my parents were having, and I had
made the decision to confront them about it before my preview trip to Central
State in a week's time.  I was still hoping they'd somehow work it out before
then, but I wasn't counting on it.

There was a brand new green Ford pickup parked in front of Suzi's when the
twins and I arrived in the limo, and I quickly concluded it was Brad's from the
"TI-MEDWN" on the license plate.  Brad had received a partial scholarship from
Texas A&M University, and his parents had practically forced him to take it.
Apparently he had gotten over the "trama" of being so far from his sister
enough to enjoy himself, for he had the A&M logo painted on the back window of
his truck.

I was about to touch Suzi's mind to let her know we were there when she and
Brad came out on their own.

"Hey man," Brad said as he climbed in, then quickly added, "Wow, you two look
awesome," from the snow bunny outfits the twins had on.

"See?  I told you," Suzi said to the twins as she sat down.

"Told them what?" Brad asked with a million dollar grin as the twins sat down
on each side of him and teased his ear lobes with their tongues.

"That's between them and me," Suzi said wickedly.

"Suz helped pick their outfits out," I added.

"Yeah, man..." Brad said somewhat incoherently from the twins experienced
caresses of his chest.

"Hey, don't get too carried away," Suzi objected when Brad's shirt started
getting untucked.  "We're not THAT far from the mall."

The twins complied, and Brad wasn't the least bit disappointed, which was
surprising to me.

"Cool truck," I said when his eyes wandered towards me and he gave me a
sheepish smile.

"Thanks, man.  My dad almost had a hernia when he saw it, but he's cool with it
now."

"Didn't your dad help you pick it out?" Suzi asked.

"Nah, he didn't even know I got it until I drove up in it.  Heh, Sandi doesn't
seem to tell them anything, even the things I said she could."

"Shit, Brad.  How are you paying for it if your dad isn't?" I asked.

"I got a weekend job, man.  A real good one, too."

"Well?  What is it?" Suzi said slightly exasperated when he wasn't forth
coming.

Brad put on his most charming smile and said, "I'm a model.  Isn't that totally
wild?"

"A model?" Suzi repeated.

"Really?" I said surprised, then adding, "Yeah, actually, I can see that."

"So how much do you make?" Suzi asked with more than just passing interest.

"At first it was only a hundred bucks or so a shoot, but now everyone thinks
I'm really hot, and my agent says she doesn't even call them back unless it's
four digits."

"Your agent?" Suzi cooed.

"Four digits, huh?" I said, sensing that while he wasn't speaking a mistruth,
he was stretching the truth a bit.

"Yeah, man.  I bought my truck after Harriet landed me a contract for fifteen
gees, and she's lining up another big one for me for the summer."

"Wow," Suzi exclaimed.  "What are you modeling?"

"Clothes," he simply said.

"What kind of clothes?" I asked.

"You know...  Shirts, pants, suits, underwear, shorts, jeans...  Clothes."

"Underwear?" Suzi said with enthusiasm as she sat down beside him, literally
butting Honey out of her way with her butt.  "You mean, like in catalogs?"

"Yeah...  That's what that big contract this summer is for too."

"Wow Brad," Suzi said with a rather husky voice.  "Will you model some stuff
for me while we're here?"

"Man, that's what Sandi said when I told her.  I guess I can, but no pictures.
I gotta be careful not to breach my contract."

For the next ten minutes the twins and I sat quietly as Suzi interrogated on
what all he had modeled before, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that
Suzi really wanted to jump his bones, probably with Brad still wearing a pair
of white briefs if it was possible.

When we finally arrived at the mall, I think Brad was as relieved as I was when
Suzi and the twins got into their shopping mode and basically ignored us except
when asking for our opinion before they made a purchase.  Actually, I don't
really know why they bothered to ask since every time I ever disapproved of
something, all three would argue with me until I caved, even if one of them had
disliked it before.  

You're probably wondering why I even went shopping with them if they didn't
really respect my opinion on what they got.  The pure and simple truth of the
matter was... I got a kick out of it. 

Seinfeld can't hold a candle to the twins silently arguing with Suzi over every
nit picky detail.  Their superb performances were reason enough to want to go,
and the expressions of the sales people as they struggled to fill the twins
side of the... discussion were just the icing on the cake.

The problem was they couldn't do it very often or very long without the word of
mouth spoiling it.  It just isn't any fun when other people come watch the
show, especially when they're the sale people from the surrounding shops.

But this was only the second time we had gone to this mall this Christmas, and
the few salespeople who recognized us I was able to... divert their attention
(mainly with the old "bladder is really full" command.)

It was while we were in Sears watching them argue over lingerie (they couldn't
resist when they saw one of the salespeople was a guy) that it was Suzi's and
my turn to be astounded by someone else's performance.

Having people stare in our direction wasn't unusual in these situations, but it
always had stopped when the girls had finished their show and either purchased
the item or put it back.  But this time the whispers and glances didn't stop,
and this fact was just starting to register with the twins and I when a group
of noisy teenage girls happened by and suddenly became all whispers.

I was bewildered by this, but not Brad.  He leaned back against the counter
with his arms crossed and gave them a sparkling smile, making the girls swoon
momentarily before they quickly moved on in a fit of giggles.

Suzi and I just stared as Brad suddenly seemed to be in a spotlight where
everyone, and I mean everyone walking by took notice of him and was awed in
different degrees by his friendly smiles, nods, and even a few winks at his
public.

It wasn't until that first group of girls came back and actually asked him for
his autograph that we noticed the sales add he was signing, or more
specifically the 25% off for men's casual shirts add, was in fact Brad.

And damn our surprise when Suzi and I looked up from the "borrowed" ad and
found Brad's image down the isle in the men's store on top of a post they put
in the middle of the isle to advertise special sales.  The four of us had
walked right by it without noticing it, but now all we could see at that end of
the store was Brad, Brad, and more Brad.

What a performance he gave too.  He was outgoing, charming, humorous, and
didn't come off the least bit stuck up.  Brad was completely comfortable at
being in the public's spotlight like that, thriving in it in fact.  Neither
Suzi nor I had ever seen him so...  personable?  Energetically sociable?
Whatever.  This just wasn't the laid-back, self-absorbed,
never-lift-a-finger-unless-you-really-have-to Brad.  I would have said it was
alien supermodel disguised as my old friend if I hadn't known better.  I guess
you could say I hadn't taken Brad's success in his modeling career seriously
until I had to blanket the store just so we could leave in time for Suzi's
dinner.

Speaking of Suzi, all this had quite an affect on her.  I knew she had been
pretty restless ever since Joey went home for Christmas, so it hadn't been a
surprise the day before when she mentioned Joey's suggestion to look Brad up
for a roll in the hay.  But I was a bit shocked when the moment we were all in
the limo with the door shut, Suzi grabbed Brad by the chin and promptly
inserted her tongue into his mouth with a primal growl.

It took every ounce of my will power to resist the temptation of joining them
somehow.  Once I even opened the sunroof and stuck my head out while we were on
the highway to clear my head, but it was way too cold outside to do that for
long.

Now that was the Brad I knew.  He let Suzi do most of the work, and I ended up
blowing my own load (manually with the twin's objections) moments before Brad
from watching his admittedly perfect male ass while he pounded away into Suzi's
front door.

After dropping Suzi off fifteen minutes late, Brad left his truck at Suzi's and
came with us to the North mansion per the twin's suggestion.  At least I got to
talk to him during the drive and during dinner.  But the moment the plates were
cleared, the twins led him away and I quickly located Richie and kept clear of
the twins' room for the rest of the night.

The next morning, I was combing my hair after a quick eye-opener shower when I
sensed Brad coming down the hall.

"Morning, Brad," I said just before he entered my room wearing only his
jockeys.  "Twin's didn't keep you up too late, huh?"

"Just 'till around two, I think.  You know, I never thought I'd run out of
cream with the twins, but after a week of it, I was out, man!"

"Cream?  Oh...  Wait.  A week?"

"Shit yeah.  I told you I'm pretty hot right now.  I got women lined up all
over the place, man.  Isn't that fucking wild?"

"Yeah, I guess," I said, trying to sound enthusiastic about it since even Brad
wasn't so shallow that he'd share this with just anyone.  "So how does Sandi
feel about all this?"

"She's not too happy with it, but she has three different guys from school
giving her everything she wants, so she'll live."

"I guess so..." I said, having a momentary flash back to the time Brad, Ted,
and I had gang banged her the day I enslaved her for what I had thought had
been her own good.

I zoned out a bit thinking about the mistakes I had made concerning Sandi, and
when I snapped back to the present, I discovered Brad had stretched out on my
bed and had fallen fast asleep.

I took a good look at him while he was like that.  There was no mystery to his
sudden stardom in the model industry.  Brad was lean, tanned, smooth, and while
he wasn't built like Joey, his arms, pecks, and legs were muscular.  I kept
meaning to ask him how he kept himself in good shape knowing how lazy he could
be.

I got on the bed myself and started thinking back to when Joey, John, Brad, Lex
and I were the fantastic five.  We played sports together, swam together, went
to camp together, built our "fort" in the woods together, and basically spent
every summer of our childhoods doing what boys do.  It was the time of
innocence, when I was just another one of the boys.  Sometimes I really missed
those days where the biggest responsibility I had was taking out the garbage
every Tuesday and Friday mornings before school.

My thoughts wandered to what Lex and John were doing those days.  Lex had gone
to a private high school and we just never really saw him after Jr. High.  I
had heard he had gone away to college, but that's about all I knew about him.  

I never did get John's address from Dawn, the ex-ring slave who shared losing
her virginity with John our sophomore year and had apparently rekindled their
relationship after holding hands at my funeral.  I had felt that maybe it was
just best to leave things as they were, that maybe John was better off...

I knew better than to continue that line of thinking, but I did at least
acknowledged to myself that I had this fear that anyone who I formed or
reformed feelings of friendship with would eventually have some kind of harm
come to them.  Not that I personally would ever do them harm, but I knew
Gladius had made me unable to be coerced by anyone threatening to harm someone
I cared about.  That worried me enough that I formed a sort of resistance to
the idea of making new friends or reforming old ones.

But Brad was a special case.  I felt obligated to him and his sister after
screwing them both up with their incestual relationship I had helped form.  And
while Brad could be somewhat self-centered, he openly trusted me, and that
meant a lot to me.

I nearly dozed off myself if it hadn't been for the twins showing up and seeing
an opportunity for a good morning blow.

I watched them do their thing, stroking myself after watching too long, then
nearly jumped out of my skin when Brad uncharacteristically reached over and
tried to give me a helping hand when I had stopped and rested with my eyes
closed.

It was purely innocent, and I while I didn't allow it to continue, I let him
know I appreciated the gesture before signaling to the twins to hurry it up.

Shit, they didn't like that.  They basically told me that if I wasn't willing
to participate that I should go find something else to do, for they weren't
about to hurry up their favorite pastime.  I got out of there fast.

After Brad and the twins had their breakfasts, no pun intended, Brad and I
ended up playing handball in the gym while the twins watched.  Brad seriously
kicked my ass, but I didn't mind.  While we played Brad told me about his life
at A&M, and surprisingly it wasn't just about his modeling and the girls he had
slept with.

Brad really enjoyed living on his own and college life.  While his classes
weren't exactly exciting, which isn't surprising it being his first semester,
he wasn't all that bored with it like he had expected to be.  And once he had
gotten into the routine, he managed to get most of his schoolwork done during
the week, leaving his weekends free for whatever he wanted to do.

Suz and Jason came over after lunch.  I was initially surprised that Jason had
come on his own initiative, but I quickly realized he was more interested in
seeing what the twins were up to than what Brad, Suz and I were going to do.

The twins took one look at Jason and whisked him away to their chambers.  I
queried Suz if she knew what had stirred Jason's interest in the twins, and she
simply said he got a look at them when we dropped her off the day before and
just started asking questions about them.

The three of us went swimming, played some pinball, pool, and then raced around
outside on go carts for a while.  When we came in to warm up, Suz suggested a
little mud wrestling, but she mostly watched Brad and I.

I do love the mud.  I'm slipper than a snake in oil.  Once I felt vindicated
from the earlier handball humiliation, I nagged Suz about just being a
spectator until she finally stripped naked and came in all fired up.

She actually pinned me down twice, but I pinned her at least seven times before
we realized Brad had gotten out, toweled off, and was now watching us.

"Next," I said to him as I let Suzi up and got up to get out.

"Naw man.  I gotta get going.  My mom made me promise her I'd have dinner
tonight with them."

"Aw Bradley," Suzi teased while she swirled her left index finger around her
left nipple.  "Don't you want to have just one more round with me?"

"Well..." Brad began, looking over his shoulder at the clock.  "I really need
to get going, I'm sorta trying to save some energy for Sandi and...  well...
you know..."

"Oh," Suz said, trying to contain her feelings.  "I understand.  I guess we
should go shower then, huh?"

"I'm gonna wait and shower at home.  I'm clean enough for the drive home, don't
you think?" he asked me.

"Yeah, you're clean enough for the limo.  I take it you want to go now?"

"Yeah, man.  I don't want to be late for Mom and Sandi," Brad said, glancing at
Suzi as she got out of the mud ring.

"Okay," I said after notifying the driver.  "The limo will be out front by the
time you make it up there."

"Thanks man.  It's been a blast.  Say bye to the twins for me," he said,
pulling his under shorts on and grabbing the rest of his clothes as he hurried
out.

Suz sighed, then gave me a weak grin when I gave her a consoling look.

I extended my arm out to her then, without a word, we walked to the showers
together, my arm snuggly behind her back with my hand on her hip and ass.

Washing each other was a great strain on my self-control, and even though Suzi
ignored my boner, I knew it was only because of Joey's programming that she
could stay so cool with what we were doing.  But for the rest of the time had I
left before my trip to Central State, I held that shower to be the greatest
proof that I could be around them without breaking my personal oath.

As the day for my visit to Central state approached, I became more worried
about being uncomfortable around Joey and wished deeply that Suzi was going
with me.  I felt so close to her, so in sync with her, and I trusted her like
no other before.  I had never had such a close and open nonsexual relationship
with a female besides my mom, and I was becoming very dependant on our exchange
of worries and concerns and talking them out.

With all my anxieties about what would happen when I got to Central State, I
couldn't bring myself to query my parents about their own problems.  On the day
I was to leave, I was so full of anxiety I threw up after eating breakfast.  I
was seriously considering canceling the whole thing when Suzi showed up and
gave me a kiss on the lips.

"No matter what happens or what you decide, I'll always be here for you,
Timmy," she said after walking me out to my car and belting me in.  "The sooner
you see Joey the sooner you'll feel better.  Now stop thinking about it and
just go?"

I sighed and started the engine, then said, "I hope you're right."

As usual, she was.

-- 
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reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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