Chapter 5-3
666 Words
Corey kissed David on the cheek just before David got into the passenger seat of Bud’s Jeep.
“Thanks for having us over, man. I, no, we, really enjoyed ourselves.”
“Yep, sure did,” Bud added. “And aren’t I gonna get a kiss?”
David watched as Corey ran round the Jeep and laid a soppy kiss on Bud’s left cheek.
“I know what I’ll be jerking off to tonight,” Corey simpered.
“Too much information,” David told him. “I’ll see you back at the brain factory on Monday, okay?”
During the ride home, David closed his eyes and offered up a silent prayer of thanks that all had gone off okay. Except for his girlish crying jag. David winced at how much he wore his heart on his sleeve. He knew he’d have to toughen up, be more of a man for Bud.
“You okay there, stud?”
“Uh, yeah.” David opened his eyes. “Thanks for today. Corey really liked you.”
“I liked him, too. How come you and he never got together?”
“We’re too similar. Though you didn’t see it today, he’s just as much of a crybaby as me. Sometimes we plan a movie night in, both of us sitting on the sofa, a box of Kleenex between us crying our eyes out when the guy gets the girl in the final reel.”
“That’s sweet.”
“It’s stupid, and girly and—”
“You shouldn’t keep putting yourself down all the time. Sure, you show your emotions more than most men, but I see that as a good thing.”
“I bet none of your fellow Marines bust out crying all the time.”
“Maybe not all the time, but I’ve seen plenty of so called tough guys turn to jelly when their girlfriend dumps them, or they get a letter telling them their pet dog back home has died.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Didn’t someone say something about how you’re not a real man if you can’t cry in front of another man?”
“Don’t know. But how many men cry when they watch a Budweiser commercial?”
“Huh?”
“You know, when the cute Clydesdale horses pull the cart with the barrels of Budweiser in them?”
“You cry at those?”
“Yeah. Told you I was pathetic.”
“David! You. Are. Not. Pathetic.”
“Sorry.”
Bud shook his head, but didn’t say anything more.
David continued to sit there, thinking about something that had been on his mind almost constantly since he and Bud had gotten together. The more he thought, the more determined he became. By the time they arrived home, he’d made up his mind.
“Bud?”
“Yeah?” the man asked, bent over the driver’s seat, finding something in back.
“Tonight, I want you to f**k me.”
“Wha—?” Bud hit the back of his head on the roll bar. “s**t,” he said, rubbing at his head.
“Oh, no!” David leaped out of the vehicle and ran to the driver’s side. “You okay?”
“Um, think so. Did I hear you right?”
“Yes. I would like you to make love to me tonight. It’s time.”
“Oh.”
The confidence David had felt moments earlier was rapidly evaporating. “But if you don’t want to, I—”
“No.”
David’s face fell.
“I mean yes I want to, your question was…shit, I’m gonna have a real bruise in the morning, not to say the mother of all headaches.” Seeing the distress on David’s face, Bud continued, “Sorry, babe, it’s just at this exact moment the blow to my head is kind of making it difficult to concentrate. But truly I would feel it an honor to make love to you.”
David brightened. “Let’s get you inside, I’ll find you an aspirin or some Tylenol for your head. Unless you think you need to go to the Emergency Room?”
“No, this ole head of mine is pretty damn strong.”
“You mean you’re thick headed?”
Bud winced. “David, now is not the time for making jokes.” He rubbed his head some more.
“Sorry.”
David’s exuberance was only slightly dimmed. Bud, his Bud, was going to make love to him. He really would be his Bud afterward. Though it dawned on David that the bump to the head might give Bud the chance, when they were in bed together, to say, “Not tonight, dear, I’ve got a headache.” In view of Bud’s last remark, David thought it wise not to share his latest revelation.
“Come on, my brave soldier,” David said, “let’s get you inside.”
“That’s ‘brave Marine.’”
“Sorry, brave Marine,” David corrected.
Although David was concerned at Bud’s injury, he knew it would give him a great opportunity to give something back to the relationship, be the strong, supportive one for a change. Just don’t over-do it, he told himself, leading his brave Marine into the house.
- Writer
