Jem'n'I
                 Part III
                 By Paul
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   
   "Ben, telephone!" Jay's voice shrieked across the house.  I put down the
book I was reading and grabbed the receiver from next to my bed.

   "Got it!" I shouted.  Then, into the phone, I said, "Hello?"
   
   "Ben?  Hey, this is Erin," came the lovely young voice on the other end.

   "Uhh..  Erin?  Hi," I studdered.  My heart skipped a beat.  What was I
going to tell Erin?  Luckily for me, I'd been spared the trouble.

   "Listen, Ben, Ryan explained it all to me," she said.  She didn't sound
disappointed.  It was more of an "I'm cool just being friends" voice.

   "Then you aren't mad at me?" I asked hopefully.
   
   "Nah, I have lots of gay friends these days.  It was nice to get a date
with you while I still could," she said.

   Before I had a chance to respond, I heard what sounded like the words
"Oh my God" and the click of a phone being hung up.  My brother had heard
the entire conversation.

   "Shit.  Erin, I'll call you later," I said and slammed the phone down. 
I jumped to my feet and walked into the hall.  I had known Jay long enough
to know that I needed to talk to him fast.

   "Jay?" I called loudly.  No response.  I heard the front door slam shut. 
Jay was probably going to his friend Shawn's house.  He told Shawn just
about everything and I didn't have time to stop him.

   I sat down on the nearest chair and rested my head in my hands.  Little
did I know how interesting life was about to get.



   "Hello, class.  Welcome back to school.  My name is Mr. Jacobson," an
elderly man in a distasteful suit greeted on the fresh August morning that
begun a new year of school.  "Did you all have a pleasant summer?"

   A groan resonated through the entire room.  Most of us were looking at
the clock and wondering how it could possibly be 8:00 in the morning.  The
first day of school is always like that.

   I looked to Jem and rolled my eyes.  We were about to spend an entire
year in Mr. Jacobson's English class.  The good news was that he soon
promised we would not be assigned seats.  In high school, that's always
good news.

   The lecture was brief.  We were given an idea of what the year would
cover and a chance to ask questions.  With no students eager to raise their
hands so early in the morning, Mr. Jacobson was content to let us sit and
talk for the half of class that was left.

   "So how's Jay?" Jem asked, trying to start a conversation.  So far all
we'd done was complain about having to be awake before noon.

   "He's fine, I suppose," I answered sarcastically.
   
   "Still not talking to you?"  Jem's voice had a note of concern.  I knew
he cared, but he Jay never really got along.

   "No.  I don't know what he's so upset about, it's been two weeks now," I
said.

   "He's pretty stubborn," Jem offered.  He was trying to comfort me, but
not talking to my only brother for so long was really bugging me.  Jay had
never gone that long without acknowledging me in his life.

   "Maybe he just doesn't like gay people," offered a female voice from my
left.  I spun quickly and found myself facing Rebecca Kain.  I felt my face
turn a shade of red, something that commonly happens when someone mentions
something I'd rather not hear.

   "What?" I asked in the most confused tone I could find.
   
   "Maybe he won't talk to you because you're gay," she replied.  I heard a
small sound from Jem who was on the opposite side of me.  It did not sound
pleased.

   "Where.. where did you hear that?" I studdered.  It simply didn't seem
possible that she could know that.  She didn't hardly know me!

   "Kristen Abbett," Rebecca answered.  Kristen Abbett was Shawn's older
sister.  It all fell into place.  Jay told Shawn and Shawn told his sister. 
If Rebecca knew..  "It's all over school."

   "All over school?  It's only the first day!" I said in a suddenly
angered tone.

   "Yeah, well, news travels fast."

   I turned back to Jem and we exchanged glances.  I wasn't sure what I
wanted at the time, but some decisions had obviously been made for me.  The
only real good news was that nobody knew Jem was gay yet.  I'm sure it made
him feel better, but it was of little comfort to me.



   "How was your first day at school?" Dad asked when I walked in the door. 
I think he could tell by my expression that it wasn't very pleasant.

   "What are you doing home so early?" I asked, trying to change the
subject.

   "I took the afternoon off."
   
   "Where's Jay?"
   
   "I thought he wasn't talking to you."
   
   "He'll talk even if I have to beat the words out of him.  Where is he?"
   
   "He isn't home yet.  Ya know, it'd be a lot easier if he could ride home
with you and Jem."

   "If he can't bother to talk to me, I sure as hell ain't offering him a
ride."

   The door opened behind me.  I turned to find myself face to face with my
little brother.  Face to face may be the wrong choice of words because I
could easily see over his head, but the idea is the same.

   "We need to talk," I said.  Jay looked up at me and then pushed past and
walked toward the hallway.  I was already angry with him and his attitude
wasn't helping much.  "Don't even fucking ignore me!" I shouted.

   "Benjamin," my father warned.  I shot a glance at him and then followed
Jay to his room.  He shut the door before I could enter, but I refused to
let that stop me and as the doors had no locks, opened and walked in.

   Jay was sitting on his bed, knowing I would let myself into his room. 
He was starting to cry, but I wasn't sure why.  He was just sitting there
with tears running down his face.

   "Jay.." I started, about to apologize for shouting.  I stopped and tried
to think of the right thing to say.  Seeing him cry made the anger quickly
subside.

   "Ben, I'm sorry.  I only told Shawn.  I didn't mean for it to get all
over school like that!" he said.  I sat down next to him and put an arm
around him.  My brother has always been hard to comfort when he's in a bad
moon.

   "It's okay.  You could have tried talking to me about it," I said.  Jay
looked up and smiled.

   "I didn't know how.  It's just.." he trailed off.  I felt so much better
being able to talk to him, but all he could do is cry.

   "It's okay.  Really.  Being gay isn't such a bad thing, is it?"  Oh boy,
I was really stretching it.  I was never much for serious discussions and
just flat out saying it like that wasn't easy.

   "No, it's just.. well.. can I tell you something?" he asked.  He wanted
to tell me something?  In his entire life my brother had never wanted to
discuss his life with me.

   "Anything.  I'm your brother, right?"
    
   "Yeah.  But you have to promise not to tell anyone!"
    
   "I promise I won't."
    
   "When I ran to Shawn's house to tell him, it's because Shawn is gay,
too.  And so am I and.. well.. you know..  It's always been so lonely, but
you're gay too and it just made us feel less alone.  Before that, it was
just us."

   "Then why did you ignore me for two weeks?"
   
   "I thought you'd be mad at me!"
   
   "How could I ever be mad at you?" I asked as I hugged Jay.  He looked up
again and wiped a tear from his face.

   "You sure sounded mad when I walked in the door."  Jay smiled slightly. 
It was the beginning of the first real friendship my brother and I ever had
and it really felt good having him actually talk to me about such a serious
subject.

   "Being gay is a huge step, Jay.  You're only thirteen," I said in the
same joking manner.

   "I'll be fourteen next month!  Besides, I'm in high school now," Jay
protested.  And he was right.  I wasn't about to stand in the way of his
life.

   "I need to go talk to Jem," I excused.  As I stood, Jay shot me an
inquisitive glance.  I knew what he wanted to know without him ever asking
and I nodded.



   "What's up?" Jem asked when he answered the door.  He knew very well
what was up, but it was his style to ask anyway.

   "Your parents home?" I asked, walking into the living room.
   
   "No.  Did you talk to Jay?"
   
   "That little bastard.  He says he only told Shawn because they felt like
they were all alone before.  Like when we talked to Ryan and Mike," I
explained.  Jem gave me the same inquisitive glance as Jay had.

   "So he was comparing apples to oranges?" he asked.  I smiled.
   
   "Yeah.  Fruit is fruit, though," I replied.
   
   "I just had a great idea!"
   
   "Oh, do tell."
   
   "Lets call up Ryan and Mike and Jay and Shawn and all go hang out at the
mall.  Just for the hell of it.  One big queer group, to show people we
don't care," Jem suggested.  There was a spark of enthusiasm in his voice
I'd never heard before.  A month earlier he'd never have even used the word
queer in a sentence like that.

   Life was changing all around us and things were getting better.  Jem,
who had been my lover for years but never wanted to even think about it,
was finally accepting who he is.  After rumors were spread at school, I
discovered that my kid brother and his best friend were also gay.  Best of
all, despite the fact that half the school had heard I was gay, not a
single person had made a rude comment about it all day!



   "Are we there yet?" Jay asked from the back seat of the Taurus.  Jem
turned around and glared at him briefly before returning his attention to
the road.  "Well, I just wanted to know."

   "You know where the mall is, we'll get there soon enough," I said.  Jay
was always fidgeting in the back seat.  He couldn't hold still.

   "So who are we meeting there?" Shawn asked in his usual muffled voice. 
Shawn was fourteen, but he was tiny.  He always dismissed as forgetting to
grow one year.

   "Ryan Zimmerman, Mike Roberts, and two of their friends," Jem replied in
his most irritated voice.
   
   "Who are their friends?" Jay asked.  I, too, was irritated.
   
   "You boys ask too many questions.  Chris something-or-other and somebody
else.  I don't know their names!"

   "Geez, just asking," Jay apologized.  The rest of the ride was quiet.  I
later regretted raising my voice, but anyone with a younger brother can
easily agree that they get annoying.

   We pulled into the lot and found a place to park very close to the
entrance to the mall.  The four of us climbed out of the car and strolled
casually into the mall.  Standing there to meet us were Ryan, Mike, and two
guys I'd never seen before.

   We all introduced ourselves as most of us had never met each other.  I
discovered that the tow boys I didn't know were called Chris Morgan and Tom
Nelson.

   "So what do you all want to do?" Ryan asked once the formalities were
complete.

   "It's been such a good day, I felt like getting together with all the
queers I could find and do something fun!" Jem exclaimed.  A few of us
laughed, myself included.

   "You wanted to do something fun but you brought us to the Park Mall. 
Okay," Mike said, looking for a laugh.  He got one from Shawn and Jay.

   "We could all pick out curtains," was Shawn's contribution.  Nobody
laughed so he shut his mouth.

   "Well, whatever we do, lets start with some food," Jay suggested.
   
   "Boy, you never stop eating, do you?" I asked.  Jay shook his head.
   
   "Where do you guys want to eat?" Chris asked.
   
   "Coffee Etc.?" Mike offered.  I look to each person for confirmation. 
The entire group looked enthused, with the exception of Tom who was quite
stoic.

   "Sounds good to me," I said.
   
   We quickly found the Coffee Etc. restaurant and took a seat.  The
unusually large group required a long table, but we found one.  Food was
ordered and we sat to wait.

   "So you guys just wanted a quadruple-date?" Chris asked.
   
   "Nah, I just thought it would be cool to show some team spirit by going
someplace with a group like this," Jem replied.

   "I see.  I heard Ben's gay all over school, but they don't know about
you, do they?" Ryan inquired.

   "No.  That's okay, I'll tell them.  It doesn't matter anyway, does it? 
I'm with Ben and if they know he is, I might as well be," Jem said
valiantly.

   "Something like that happened to me.  The guy who was my boyfriend got
the shit beat out of him at school one day for being gay.  That kinda put
the spotlight on me and I said 'Fuck it,'" Chris related.  His story was
kind of inspiring.  It also sounded familiar.

   "Oh, you're the Chris who was dating Jim Kellogg.  What ever happened to
him?" I asked.

   "After he got out of the hospital we tried to keep things together, but
the relationship just wasn't working.  Shit happens, though," Chris
answered.

   "So Ben, I've been wondering something all day.  How did it get all over
school that you're gay?" Mike asked.  I was about to answer, but my brother
beat me to it.

   "That was my dirty work," he said enthusiastically.  I was about ready
to hit him for the pride he suddenly took in it, but a part of me was
thankful.  He did save me a lot of trouble.

   "How so?" Mike requested.  He seemed very interested in the whole thing. 
I found myself wondering exactly what people were saying about me that
would attract that kind of interest.

   "Well, I sort of overheard a phone conversation between Ben and some
girl," Jay began.

   "'Overheard,' my ass.  The little shit was listening in on the other
phone," I commented.  The group chuckled at the comment and Jay continued.

   "Yeah, so I told Shawn here about it and he told his sister and she
spread the rumors," he finished.

   "It all makes sense now," Mike said.
   
   "It's kind of like a game of telephone.  'Ben MacArthur is gay purple
monkey elevator,'" Ryan said.  "They twist the rumors around and then
nobody is safe."

   "What do you mean?" I asked.  Twisted rumors were news to me.  I hadn't
actually heard the whole thing.
   
   "Well, just this afternoon I heard you were sleeping with Jordan O'Neil. 
I can only imagine how he feels about it, he's straight," Ryan explained.

   "Okay, well, I hadn't heard that one.  So, Tom, you don't say much, do
you?" I quickly changed the subject.  I suddenly realized that Tom hadn't
said or done much of anything.

   "Umm, me?  No, not really," he said softly.
   
   "He's a bit shy around people, give him a few months," Chris explained.
   
   "Oh, I see.  Well, Tom, could you tell us how you and Chris met?" I
asked.  Shy or not shy, I was going to get something out of him.

   "Yeah, I guess.  He wrote 'call me' in my yearbook so I did," Tom
answered.  He was pretty stubborn.

   "So introduce yourself here.  Tell us about your family," I said.  Tom
looked from person to person and then up away from the table.

   "Umm..  Food's here," he mumbled.
   
   The boy was inveterately shy, I'll give him that much, but Jay and Jem
joined me in the persistent questioning and by the end of the meal, we had
Tom talking.  It was a hard-won battle.

   After eating, we walked back into the open mall to find something of
interest.  It was fun to be out with a large group of guys like that
because we could keep the conversations going and check out guys without
worrying about what the rest of the group would think.

   For the first time in my life, I felt like I had a group that wouldn't
judge me.  A group that I could really talk to.  A group of friends.  And
it was the best feeling in the world.



   "What are you thinking about?" Jem asked quietly.  It was two in the
morning and we were both laying there in the dark with our eyes shut.  The
icy chill of the air-conditioned room kept us close together, but activity
had caused us to sweat so we didn't bother with blankets.

   "This week.  It's been incredible," I replied, equally hushed.
   
   "School's not all that fun, Nerd Boy," Jem snickered.
   
   "You know what I meant," I mumbled.
   
   "Yeah, I guess so.  You wanna know what I was thinking?" Jem asked.  He
was already half-asleep, I could hear it in his voice.  He just liked to
talk late into the night.

   "Sure," I answered.  "What's going on in the great mind of Jeremiah
Little?"
   
   "I was thinking we don't sixty-nine enough," he said.  I'm sure that at
hearing such an offer, most people would jump ecstatically; but this is Jem
we're talking about.  I hardly had to ask if I wanted something like that. 
The offer, however, was tempting.

   "You're right," I said.  I wasn't even done with the sentence before Jem
was turned around and on top of me.  We weren't clothed, that was never
required late at night because nobody in my family ever disturbed us in the
morning.

   We were too tired to make much noise.  Other than an occasional erotic
groan, we were totally silent.  Jem's cock slid into my mouth quickly. 
We'd done it before and knew quite well what to expect.

   Once my lips were securely around his firm tool and my teeth were
sufficiently under control, Jem slid forward and a warm, moist mouth
enveloped my own teenage member.

   The feeling of his mouth on my cock, the sensation I cherished above
almost all others, sent fireworks through my exhausted body.  Jem's head
began to bob and his thin hips followed suit quickly.  He was humping my
face quickly and I loved it.  I ran my hands down his smooth sides and
moved my head to match his rhythm.

   Electricity shot across my body as Jem's mouth massaged my cock.  I
could feel it flow in and out at a pace that grew more and more rapid.  In
my own mouth, I was enjoying the flavor of the sweat on Jem's dick and the
scent of his body in general.

   The heated passion continued for several minutes.  Several brief, but
sensual minutes.  And then, as inevitably must happen, I shot a small load
(all that I had left in me after several hours of on-and-off excitement)
into Jem's mouth.  I could feel him slow his pace to give himself time to
swallow.

   Soon afterwards, Jem came in my mouth.  I savored the salty fluid as
long as I could, but was forced to swallow by a mouthful of the delicacy. 
Jem pulled his spent cock from my mouth, but I continued to clean it with
my tongue.

   Exhausted once again, Jem returned to his place next to me and we
kissed.  I knew there was one thing on Earth I liked more than my cock in
Jem's mouth: his warm lips pressed to mine.  And we just laid there.  It
was just Jem and me.  And that was all we needed.

------------------------------------------------------------------
   That's three parts to the story and I'm trying to explore a different
aspect of life in each.  This part deals with friendship (for those of you
who just skipped to the sex, although it occurs to me that if you did that,
you aren't reading this now).  Friends are one of the most important parts
of any teenager's life.  Jem finally seems to have realized that it's okay
to be gay.
   So what's up in part 4?  Only time will tell.  I'm thinking something
like going horseback riding on somebody's farm.  As a writer, I'll have the
pleasure of guessing at what it's like to ride a horse.  I've never
actually tried.
   Well, questions or comments go to GideonVI@aol.com.  Those of you who
have AOL or the instant messenger program may IM me if you'd like to talk,
I'm usually on late at night on the weekends.
   And for those of you who really care about authors, I finally found a
new job!  Yes, that means less time to write, but it's a full-time job with
full-time pay.  Anyone who bothers to e-mail could make me feel special and
say "congratulations."  Thanks for reading my story! -Paul