Together Box Set

Chapter 5-1

Chapter 5

Over the next few months David and Bud managed to spend on average every other weekend together. David began to live for those weekends, when he could be alone with the man whom he was falling deeply in love with. But he knew he could never speak his feelings aloud, his ever-present fear of rejection stopping him at the last moment from making the declaration.

David knew he ran pretty much on auto-pilot during the times he wasn’t with Bud. Classes seemed to fly by, his mind never totally focused on what was happening. But no one seemed to notice he wasn’t giving all of himself as he usually did. He still interacted with his students, trying to enthuse them into the joys that lay ahead of them in the world of the sciences. He still attended meetings with fellow faculty members. Then there were the usual after-school conferences with parents who wanted to know why their child wasn’t doing as well in school as they would have hoped.

The weekend rolled round again and David had rushed home, declining the usual invitations to go out for a drink with his colleagues. Normally he wouldn’t be eager to get home and be alone in his empty house, but this was a weekend that Bud would be visiting. Since Bud had come into his life, the times he spent with the hunky Marine were filled with joy, laughter and love-making. Okay, he and Bud had never gone the whole way with one another, but David knew it wouldn’t be long before they did.

“Come on, David, come out for a drink. We don’t have to go with the others if you don’t want,” Corey, a fellow science teacher, said to David just as he was about to make his escape. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’d found yourself a man and were rushing home so you could have mad monkey s*x with him all weekend.”

David blushed. Corey was one of the few people who knew he was gay. “Well, uh.” His blush increased.

“You have! You sly dog. Why haven’t you said anything before now?” Taking David by the elbow, Corey led him into an empty classroom and closed the door behind them. “I want details, and the more salacious the better.”

“Horn dog.”

“Yeah, well. Knowing your best friend has been getting some is almost as good as getting it yourself. Now come on, who is he, when am I going to meet him? And what’s he like in the sack?”

“Corey!”

“Stop being a prude, Dave, it doesn’t become you. Spill.”

“Uh, well, he’s not out, he can’t be because he’s a Marine.”

“Oh, you fucker. A member of the few, the proud.”

“Yeah.” David knew he shouldn’t say much more, Bud would be furious with him, but he was so excited at finally being able to share his good news, he found himself telling Corey everything. About how they met, how Bud was big, strong, a total take-charge, but still caring sort of guy.

“Girl, you gotta bring him round to my place. He sounds too good to be true.”

“Well, uh. I don’t know. He has to be real careful about who knows. You have to swear that you won’t tell anyone about what I’ve just said.”

“Of course not, silly. But please, Dave, I have to meet this hunk.”

“I’ll see what Bud says. I’ll call you to arrange a meeting if he’s agreeable. But,” waving his finger at Corey, “no promises. I don’t ever want to rock the boat with us. It’s still new, delicate and—”

“Don’t let him make all the decisions. You have to put your own stamp on the relationship, too. Otherwise it will never work between you.”

“I know.”

Kissing Corey on the cheek, David left for home, a spring in his step. At last he’d told someone else about his amazing boyfriend, and how happy he made him.

Driving home, trying not to step too hard on the gas, David thought about the close but platonic friendship he and Corey had built.

In the beginning, David had hoped that he and Corey could make it as a couple. But both had finally agreed that they made much better friends than lovers. They were too similar, both hopeless romantics, crying at the drop of a hat whenever they watched a cute, sappy or sad movie together.

Pulling into his driveway, he saw Bud’s Jeep Wrangler already there. He’d given Bud a key to the house, so he was relieved to know his man hadn’t had to sit on the doorstep waiting.

Opening the side door, David had no more than stepped over the threshold before he was taken up in a massive bear hug, robbing him of breath.

“I sure have missed you.” David felt, more than heard, the deep voice as its owner’s chest resonated.

“Sorry I’m late. I got talking with—” The rest of David’s words were cut off by Bud giving David a firm lip lock, sucking out his tongue and generally sending David’s mind rocketing into orbit.

Finally releasing his man, Bud held him at arm’s length. “God, I’ve wanted to do that all week.”

“Uh,” David still hadn’t returned to earth.

Bud laughed. “I’ve made a start on supper. Thought you might like to try my meatloaf. It’s a secret recipe, known only to a very privileged few.”

David became aware that his house was filled with an array of most appetizing aromas. “I didn’t know you could cook.”

“There’s lots of things you don’t know about me.” Bud’s face changed just then, but he turned away before David had a chance to study it more closely.

“Smells great.”

“It won’t be ready for at least a half hour. Plenty of time for you to get changed, washed up, and…” Bud raised an eyebrow.

“You gonna come and help, especially with the and part?”

Bud’s face brightened into a wide smile. “You just try and stop me.”

The two raced into the back of the house, acting like children, but David didn’t care. Bud was with him, hopefully for the whole weekend, so all was right in his world.