Chapter : 79
Tommy and Tanner
Copyright © 2011, 2017 by David Lee


Published: 11 Jan 2018


 

Susan Moore wasn’t expecting anyone she knew when she went to answer the doorbell. Looking through the peephole, she was taken aback to see Barry on her doorstep.

“Well, Mr. Boswell, to what do I owe this surprise?”

“I’m sorry; I should have called. There’s a lot of things I haven’t done right, but I want to talk to Quentin if it’s okay with you, and if he’ll see me.”

“You’re not here to upset him, I hope. He’s been through quite enough in the past few weeks, and you know you’re responsible for some of it.”

“I know and I want to beg him to forgive me. I’ve had a complete change of heart. I’m a new person and I want to atone for my past if people will let me.”

“Please have a seat in there and I’ll check to see if he’ll talk to you.”

Barry waited in the formal living room for several minutes before Quentin entered it.

“Okay, I guess I’ll try to forgive you if that’s what you want,” Quentin said, looking at the floor. “We really don’t have much to say to each other.”

“Please,” Barry responded falling on his knees in front of the slender teen. “It’s not meaningless words I want to hear. I honestly want you to help me make things right. I’ve been a complete asshole like you called me in the cafeteria, but I’ve changed; really I have. I don’t expect you’ll want to be my friend, but I’d like it if you did.”

Quentin’s eyes widened as he heard those words from the boy who had tormented him to the point of wanting to die. Could he trust that what he was hearing was sincere and not some ruse to gain his confidence and hurt him again? His heart ached with indecision.

Tentatively, he reached out his hand to touch the boy kneeling before him. When he did, Barry’s tears began to fall. In that moment, Quentin’s heart melted too. He put his hand under Barry’s chin and lifted it until their eyes met. Then he offered both hands to help Barry stand.

They looked into each other’s eyes for a long minute as if reading the other’s soul. Then they embraced, both weeping openly.

“I’m not dreaming?” Quentin asked softly.

“No; you’re not.”

“This is so awesome! I can’t believe it! Come, I’ll ask Susan if we can have something to eat and drink. She’s trying to put some meat on my bones, as she calls it, so I’m sure it will be fine. Can you stay awhile?”


On Monday morning, many of the kids standing around in the foyer were shocked at the scene that transpired when a freshman boy named Mark fell down several steps, landing on his head with his backpack bouncing across the floor. No one was surprised that an awkward ninth-grader had taken a spill, but they were stunned at what followed.

Several students started to move in the boy’s direction to help, but Barry Boswell got there first and began to see to him. He practically carried Mark to the nurse’s office as his sidekick, Larry, followed with the boy’s backpack.

“That’s one for the record books!” Ava said, shaking her head. “I think maybe someone’s getting the point to the anti-bullying campaign. Can anyone else believe what we just witnessed?”

Several of the kids in their vicinity shook their heads to indicate their disbelief.

“I can,” Tanner nodded. “I don’t know much about Larry, but Barry is our miracle of the year.”

“He is,” Tommy agreed. “His transformation was caused by a number of things from what he said – meditation, prayer, and just admitting he was going in the wrong direction. I’m sure your organization has played a role too. He said he’s looking forward to working with younger kids, and he wants to set a good example for them to follow.”

“I have a feeling you guys know more about this than you’re telling.” Ava said, cocking one eyebrow.

“Perhaps,” Tommy smiled enigmatically.

About the time the first bell rang, Mark was being taken to the hospital. Although he’d insisted he was okay, the nurse said he needed to be checked for head injuries just the same as kids who got hurt in sports.


Before passing-time at second hour, Dr. Moore came on the intercom to thank everyone who had helped Mark Fritz. His father had called her to report that he was not seriously injured in his tumble and might even be back for afternoon classes.

When young Mark came into the lunchroom with Dr. Moore, no one paid much attention. After she escorted him to the table where Barry and Larry were seated, some did take notice.

“Thanks for your help this morning,” Mark said. “I felt like a total idiot. My pride was hurt more than my hard head. Anyway thanks for telling me it could happen to anyone. It made me feel better.”

“You’re welcome,” Barry smiled. “Wanna sit with us for lunch?”

“That’d be really cool,” the boy said, as he nearly tripped over a chair leg in his haste to get in line so he could eat with them.

“Remember when you tripped on the bleachers in the gym our freshman year and fell several rows?” Barry said to Larry.

“Don’t remind me! Bart Johnson wouldn’t let me live it down.”

“Yeah, he was such an asshole. I’m glad we’re not turning out like him.”

Larry nodded.


In most respects, Barry was pleased with the way his life was going now. Back when he’d challenged Tanner, he’d been interested in studying martial arts so he could become invincible and kick anyone’s ass. But now that he’d started at Shogun’s, his attitude was far different. The more he learned, the more he became in touch with his inner being and found that the cocky, unhappy kid he had been was becoming a confident young man who cared about other people, not just himself.

About once a week, he hung out with Quentin playing video games or talking about things they loved. Both had been hesitant to admit their interest in poetry until Barry had used a line from Milton in response to Quentin’s frustration about not being able to be as active as he could be in a volunteer group he had recently joined as part of his probation agreement. He’d rather be involved instead of standing around with his “thumb up his ass.”

Barry had quipped, “‘They also serve who only stand and wait’ – thumb or not.” And Quentin had begun to recite the poem from the beginning.

“When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide…”

Barry had continued it.

“And that one talent which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker and present
My true account lest He returning chide.”

Barry had stopped then to express his amazement that both of them knew it by heart. He confessed to keeping his recent interest in poetry and a lot of other things secret, knowing how his father would react. Quentin had said he could empathize because his father had called him a fairy when he discovered a book of poetry in Quentin’s room years ago. Had it been a Play Boy, his old man would have grinned.

They spent the next hour reading aloud to each other from a book of poetry that Susan had in her library.


Kempo had done another positive thing for Barry’s psyche. He no longer worried about how his father judged him in regard to his friends or interests. Their relationship was on a new footing since a recent incident. His father had made fun of him as he was practicing defensive moves in the basement. Barry didn’t let him get to him, and ignored his father’s jibes which seemed to anger the man. Darwin Boswell took his son’s reaction as a sign of disrespect and physically attacked him to teach him a lesson. Well, he tried to at least. Barry didn’t put him on the floor as neatly as the better-trained Tanner had done to him, but he got the job done. His father was shaken to the core, but didn’t let on. He said he’d allowed Barry to do it in order to give him confidence and make a man out of him, but both knew it wasn’t true. Barry was no longer afraid of his father; if anything, it was the other way around.


There was one area in Barry’s life that didn’t seem to be going as he would like it to. For whatever reason, Larry seemed distant ever since the day they’d helped the freshman boy, Mark, after his fall on the stairs. At first, Barry thought Larry might have been jealous because Barry was getting the greater amount of attention for their good deed. However, when the tense atmosphere persisted, Barry figured it must be something more serious. For the life of him, he couldn’t come up with the answer. Larry wasn’t responding to his texts or emails.

It all came to a head on a Saturday around noon at the mall. He’d run into Tommy and Tanner and they’d invited him to eat lunch with them. The three were having a lively conversation when Larry came by their table with a couple of cocky junior boys in tow.

Larry started trying to get under Barry’s skin by making remarks he was bound to react to.

“Well, if it isn’t a whole tableful of fags!”

“Nah, it’s not quite complete; there’s room for you.” Barry joked, assuming that Larry was teasing him.

“I’m not a fag; you’re the queer hanging out with other queers.” Larry retorted angrily.

“Larry, what the hell’s gotten into you? We’ve been buddies for years.”

“That’s before you tried to get into my pants in the hotel room last spring.”

“We need to have a little talk about that,” Barry said seriously.

“I don’t want to talk to you, asshole-breath!”

“We ARE going to talk whether you like it or not,” Barry responded as he moved in a flash to force Larry onto a chair beside him with one arm twisted in an uncomfortable position. Then Barry moved his mouth very close to Larry’s left ear and spoke so quietly that only Tommy and Tanner could hear.

“Listen carefully because I’m going to say this just once. I have evidence that YOU’RE the one who begged to suck MY cock. I saw you add extra booze to my drink to get me stinko, so I turned on the video function of my phone when you went to the bathroom. It didn’t stay propped up to film what went on in our bed so the ceiling of the room is all you can see, but you can hear the conversation quite well. If you don’t lay off me and my friends, I’ll post it on every site I can think of. I’ll tell Lisa Gordon about it and she’ll probably call everyone in the school.”

“Please don’t,” Larry whispered back, looking like he’d seen the angel of death. “I’ll do anything you want.”

“Hmm… Does that include making good on your offer? I might need some head.”

“Yeah, I can do that.”

“First thing you need to do is to apologize to Tommy and Tanner and me when I let go of you. Then you need to tell your goon-squad that you’re having lunch with us.”

“Okay….

“Tommy and Tanner, I’m sorry I talked like that to you guys. I meant it as a joke. Barry and I have been best buds forever.” Larry said in a more audible tone.

Then he turned toward the two juniors, “See you later guys.”

Larry’s companions waited a minute to make sure what he was going to do. When he stayed seated and made no move to join them, they walked away looking perplexed.

A mall security guard came over to the table to check on them. Evidently someone had alerted him to the possibility of a fight in the making.

“Everything okay here?” he asked.

“Yeah, we were just goofing around,” Larry assured him. “My bud and I always tease like that.”

“Okay. Please don’t do it at the mall. If you so much as look like you’re spoiling for trouble, you’ll be thrown out and banned from coming back. We don’t want any roughhousing here! It scares the customers away.”

“Yes, Sir!” Larry responded. “We’re not rowdies; we just got carried away.”

“Now let’s get to our little talk,” Barry demanded when the mall cop was out of hearing range. “You’ve always been my friend and suddenly you’ve turned against me. What the fuck is going on?”

“I’m scared,” Larry confessed. “I’ve been staying away from you because someone told my dad we were naked in bed together. I figured if I acted real macho and said you came on to me that the word would get around and I’d be in the clear. I told him you were a fag and he said I should avoid you so you wouldn’t turn me into one too.”

“Some friend you turned out to be. You’d throw me under the bus to save your sorry ass?”

“Please don’t be mad at me. I only did what I had to.”

“And where did it get you? Those boys you were trying to impress today are certainly going to be impressed, but not the way you’d planned. This is only going to make your life worse, unless some of the rest of us protect you.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll be your slave….”

“I think you might like that too much,” Barry said, cocking an eyebrow.


As surely as the leaves turn shades of red, orange, and gold, the homecoming dance makes its yearly appearance in October. Tucker took Tara to the event. Tommy took Tanner or vice versa. They weren’t the only males to arrive in pairs; Devin and Andy, Michael and Lance were together and some of the younger boys came as a herd. There were plenty of girls who had come stag too, so it wasn’t a big deal. Barry arrived with a girl on his arm, double-dating with Larry and another girl. Since some of the kids assumed they were gay, the rumor mill immediately began to churn out the suggestion that they’d ask a couple of lesbians and they were all covering for each other.

The truth was that Barry and Larry spent the night together after dropping their dates off around 11:00. When they got to Barry’s house, he told Larry he was ready to collect on the offer he’d made.

Larry wasn’t hesitant until Barry insisted he wanted to keep the lights on and make a video of the performance. However, once they got naked and he feasted his eyes on Barry’s big, dripping tool, he threw caution to the wind and began to kiss and lick the object of his desire.

Barry could barely hold back because Larry’s technique was awesome – far better than the couple of blow jobs he’d had from girls. Without being consciously aware of his actions, he was stroking Larry’s head tenderly.

“Oh fuck you’re good!” he gasped.

If Larry could have done so around the thick meat in his mouth, he would have grinned broadly. It pleased him very much to be able to pleasure the buddy he’d looked up to for most of his life. He was in heaven!

Barry was heading skyward too. With a muffled cry of ecstasy, he spewed a large load of jizz into Larry’s mouth. Larry wasn’t sure what to do. He swallowed most of it, but he really wanted to plant a sticky kiss on Barry’s lips. He didn’t know if it would be welcome or if he’d find himself on the floor bruised. Again, he took a chance.

Caught up in the emotion of the moment, Barry kissed him back open-mouthed. As their tongues danced, Barry reached for Larry’s stiff prick and stroked it lightly. Larry lasted about 30 seconds before blasting all over Barry’s abs.

“I’m sorry, Larry. I kinda forced you into this.”

“It’s okay; I’ve dreamed about it for years. You don’t know how many loads of cum I’ve spilled fantasizing over a scene like this. My dreams were great, but this was awesome!!!!

“But, you’re gonna end up getting hurt because I’m really not gay.”

“I know that, and I’m not gonna let myself fall in love with you,” Larry fibbed. “I’ll be content if I can make you feel good sometimes.”

“Thanks! I do enjoy sex with you, but I don’t want to give you false hopes. Let’s turn out the lights and get some sleep. We can look at the video sometime to get us in the mood again.”

Having said that, Barry turned on his side and fell asleep almost immediately. Larry lay awake shedding silent tears.


My only reward for writing these stories are your emails. Please drop me a note if you like the story. David at CastleRoland dot Net