The fires were bad and many awful things happened because of them; but this story is about something good that happened. At least it was good from my perspective, because it lead to my first boyfriend!
I don't watch a lot of news, so when the sky was dark orange in the middle of the day I didn't know why. I had heard kids talking about fires, but didn't really put it together. It was eerie and creepy, like a science fiction far away space planet or something. I soon found out the weirdness was generated by lots of wild fires all around us. They say two teenage boys set a fire and then it went out of control and all over the place. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
So my dad picked me up after school on Friday. Since I got my driving permit recently, he would pick me up, so I could drive home and get practice. I was scheduled to go to my moms this weekend, but my dad said he talked to her and we were going to one of the shelters to help. See, many people had their homes burn down and had no place to go. Others were there because the fire department made them evacuate because the fires were out of control and coming at them.
Along the way we stopped at Wal Mart and bought color crayons and coloring books and tons of little stuffed animals. My dad had been a Red Cross volunteer to help out in disasters and I went with him to help as hell. It was a mad house.
It took us an hour to check in and get organized. There were tons of people everywhere, not really knowing what to do or where to go. A bunch were watching the fire on the tv. My dad and me gave our stuff from Wal Mart to the guy in charge. He asked me to get the crayons and coloring books and get some of the kids starting to color.
I had an area and set everything up, but didn't know how to get started. Then another volunteer, a lady named Erma helped get it all organized. So basically I was a baby sitter. I had never been a baby sitter before and didn't really know what to do. So basically I just went around and told kids that they were doing nice drawings and that it looked real cool. Many of them were drawing fire stuff and houses on fire. I suspected they would be having nightmares.
"Hey Rick." I look up. It's Vickie, one of my friends from High School.
"Hi Vickie. You volunteering here to help?" I ask.
"Yeah. No. Of course, I will help; but we are here becasue we were just all evacuated. The fires are near our house."
"Wow, that's scary."
"Yeah, well we got everything that would fit in the car. That's all we have. I hope our house doesn't burn down." She started to get tears in her eyes.
Vickie and I were pretty good friends. We were both in the same creative writing class last year and in English this year. She almost knows I'm gay, I think. What I mean is, only my best friend, who is a straight guy, actually knows I'm gay; but I think she either suspects or has figured it out. We never talk about it directly. I'm still in the closet.
But her crying starts me to cry (tears are contagious) and I give a hug. It's funny; I never really hugged a girl before. It was more of a family, sister kind of hug. You know, I don't think she likes boys. I mean like for a boyfriend and stuff like that. Maybe she is gay too. I don't know. But in any case, we're pretty good friends.
Anyway after we hug and stop crying she helps me with the little kids and the coloring. When a little boy comes to me and asks me to take him to the bathroom I freak out a little. I don't know how to take a kid to the bathroom. What do you do? Just go with them? Or do you pull their pants down or what? Anyway, Vickie can see I'm stuck and she grabs his hand. "Come on," she says and he follows her.
When she comes back, I explain. "Thanks. I didn't know what I'm supposed to do."
"Well it's obvious you never been a babysitter. Or had little brothers." Well that's true. I do have a half brother, but he's only one year old and wears diapers, so I never have to help him go to the bathroom or anything.
"So what do you do?"
She laughs. "Pull open their pants, pull them down and pick up the kid and sit him on the toilet if they're little. Wait for them to finish and pull their pants back up. That's it."
"Ok. And they don't care if you see their things, their dicks?"
She laughs. "They don't even know they have dicks. Hey, I thought you were an experienced skinny dipper."
"Yeah, but not with little kids."
"Ok." She smiles.
We get back to our serious work of coloring. My dad comes over to check on us and I introduce him to Vickie and briefly explain her situation. "They are here because they have been evacuated." He asks to meet her parents and she takes him off, leaving me with the colorers. It's good that we went to Wal Mart because the Red Cross had stuff, but it was all broken little crayons. No kid likes that. They were all using our new pretty ones.
Vickie comes back without my dad. "Hey roommate."
"What?"
"I said `Hey roommate.'"
"Yeah I heard, I just didn't understand."
"We're living with you. Tonight. Your dad invited all of my family to stay with you."
Roommates? A girl? No way! I like her and everything, but no way am I going to share my room with her.
She starts to tickle my sides. Well, we didn't really have that kind of touching relationship. "STOP." She stops. "Why did you do that?" I ask angrily.
She smiles big. "Because you'll like it." She starts to tickle me again.
"Stop. I'm not into that kind of stuff." Oops. Did I just admit I didn't like girls?
"I know." She knows what? "I also know you will like it." Like what? What is she talking about?
She acts all mysterious and won't discuss it further. As we help the little kids color and go the bathroom and drink apple juice I think about what she had done and said. I couldn't figure it out.
Then we were get ready to go home, I understand. Her brother! For the last two years when she complained about her little brothers, I always pictured guys like we were helping to color. But one of her brothers is pretty. I don't mean cute. I don't mean handsome. He is pretty.
She nudges me. "Jerome, this is my friend Rick." Jerome. His name is Jerome.
He holds out his hand. "Hi Rick, nice to meet you."
She nudges me again, almost bring me out of my entranced stupor. Almost. "Uh, hi." Duh. What happened to my vocabulary? What happened to my throat? It's all dry. My hands are all clammy. I reach out my suddenly sweaty hand. When we shake, electricity goes from his hand, though my hand and my entire body.
She also has another brother Sammy, who looks like he is eight or something. I can't tell you how old Jerome is, because his beauty overwhelms my senses. I later learn his is a sophomore. A sophomore? He's only one grade lower than me? Shit, That's why Vickie was acting funny.
Ok, the pieces are falling into place. She knows I like guys; she knows I'm gay and in the closet. She knew I would like her brother. That's what she was teasing me about. Roommates? We are going to be roommates? Me, Jerome and what's his brothers name? I think I might die; but it will be a happy death. No need to mourn.
As they are getting in their car to follow us, Vickie says, "Why don't you go with them, so we will have more room?" She was talking to Jerome. To go with us. I was going to be with him in our car. Vickie smiled at me; I pretended not to notice.
I sat in the back with Jerome so we could talk. His voice has changed, but he talks real softly. On the car ride home, I fell in love with Jerome.
"I'm going to the store. Put the boys in your room, Vickie in the rollaway in my office. Put Ralph and Jane in my room. I'll sleep on the couch." Then he drove away. I showed everybody where everything was. I invited them swimming, but their mom said no for tonight. Yes for tomorrow.
Well Sammy sits on the bed as I get the sleeping bags and extra blankets. "You can't sleep on the bed," Jerome tells Sammy.
"Yes I can," Sammy declares, rising on the bed to his knees as if he's getting ready for a royal rumble.
"No you can't." Jerome grabs Sammy, picks him up easily and puts him on the floor.
"You just want the bed for yourself."
Trying to be a peace maker I suggest, "Why don't you both share the bed. It's big enough." What I really wanted to do was find a way that I could sleep with Jerome, but I couldn't figure out a way to make that happen.
"Yeah!" yells Sammy, hoping back up on the bed.
"No," insists Jerome. "This is not our bed you can't sleep in it. You have to sleep on the floor."
"That's not fair," pouts Sammy.
"Well maybe if you learned not to wet the bed," challenges Jerome.
Retaliating, Sammy says, "Well you play with yourself all the time."
Ok, first of all, this argument was getting serious. Second, even though I knew that Jerome jacked, of course he jacks, he's 15, it was cool to hear it said out loud.
Jerome looks at me, embarrassed. I decide to help out. "Duh, everybody plays with themselves. But not everybody wets the bed. Ok, I stood up for Jerome. Plus I admitted to jacking off too. Well, sort of admitted it.
After getting the sleeping arrangements sorted out, we went into the living room. My dad was back with groceries and Ruth and him started dinner. We joined Vickie and her dad Ralph in the living room. They were watching TV. Fire stuff. We sat and watched. It was scary, but also fascinating. They were showing all the different fires, all over the place. How two fires were going to merge into one big fire. But what was really mesmerizing was watching the pictures. I'm not a pyro or anything like that; but the flames hypnotized me. And the others too, as no one spoke at all.
I was sitting next to Jerome, the most beautiful boy in the world; who was going to sleep in my house, in my bed, and all I was concentrating on was the TV. What kind of horny gay boy am I anyway? Even after dinner when we were getting undressed and into our boxers, I was still watching the fires in my mind. But as Jerome hurried under the covers of my bed and I thought I saw his boxers tenting out a little, my hormone charged, adolescent mind came back. Yum. I quickly got under my sheet on top of my sleeping bag before my boxer started showing. As we laid there, I figure Sammy was the only one without a boner. I could almost sense Jerome's hard on, five feet away from me. My dick was hard and ready. It finally got to the point where I went quietly to the bathroom to jack off. After sperming and cleaning, still with an unsatisfied boner, I went back to my spot on the floor. I heard Jerome tossing and turning all night. Was it because he had a boner too? Or was it that his house might be burning down? Every time he moved, I tensed to listen in case he was going to jack. He never did. I got no sleep. Sammy slept like a rock.
Jerome pulled his shorts on under his covers; to hide his morning wood I suppose. I watched him as he went out of the room, enjoying the view of his shirtless upper body. When he came back in the room, he plopped on the bed and looked at me. He LOOKED at me. Like maybe he liked what he saw. At least that's what I hoped.
"So how come I never see you at school?" I ask. Even if we didn't have any classes together, I'm in 11th, he's in 10th, I figured I would have noticed him around.
"I don't go to the same school as you and my sister." He named the private high school he went to.
"How come?" I ask.
Long silence. Hmmmmm, sensitive question I guess. "It just wasn't the best place for me." Ok. Why? That was the question.
I decided to make the first move. I got up, pulled on my shorts and let him see a glimpse of my morning wood tent. I was looking to see if he looked. He did! Or at least I thought he did. Maybe I was only seeing what I wanted to see.
When I came back in the room, Sammy was standing there naked, with his hands over his dick. "Can I take a shower?"
"Sure," I say, leading him to the bathroom. I turn it on for him and watch him hop into it. But I wasn't looking or even thinking about him. I was of course thinking about Jerome. I hurried back into the room. He was still laying there, wearing only his shorts. I stood there, looking at his beauty. He didn't mind. In fact, I'm pretty sure he was looking at me. Or was I imagining what I wanted?
His mom knocks on the door, even though it's open. "Come in," I say unnecessarily.
She picks up Sammy's wet stuff and asks us how we slept and stuff like that.
After she leaves and Sammy comes back in the room and dresses, we pull on shirts as well. After breakfast we all huddle and watch TV for any news about the fire; about their house. The fire was getting bigger. The wind was blowing little pieces of fire to start new fires. The firemen were having a hard time keeping up. Hundreds of houses were burning down while the firemen just watched. It was weird. But they said that they were trying to contain the fire; that it was too big to just put out. I don't know how long we watched; but I'm sure it was several hours. Finally Jeromes' mom organizes a shopping trip for cloths.
Vickie and her go to get clothes for them as well as her brothers. Jerome didn't want to go; and so of course Sammy stayed behind as well. We went back to being transfixed to the fires on the TV. I think we eat lunch while watching TV. After they interview a lady who was crying about her house burning down, Sammy started bawling. Jerome also got tears and so did I.
Then my dad turns off the TV. "Enough TV for now. You guys go out and swim."
As we slowly get up, Jerome's dad says, "Rick and his dad usually goes skinny dipping. You guys can go naked if you want. Or wear underwear; whatever you want." Well I guess he had been talking to my dad.
"Naked? We can go swimming naked?" Sammy enthusiastically asks.
Jerome isn't so enthusiastic I can tell, from his squirming and the look on his face.
"I've got an extra bathing suit if you want," I offer.
He smiles. Darn. He wants my bathing suit. We all go to my room. Jerome and I undressing slowly. Sammy is butt naked and we both still have everything on except our shoes and socks.
"What's taking you so long? We're all boys; just change. Come on." Well I know what's taking me so long. I have a boner. Maybe, just maybe, Jerome does too. I turn away to pull down my shorts and get my shorts ready to pull on as fast as possible. I don't have eyes in the back of my head so I can't see what Jerome is doing.
Sammy shouts, "Jerome has a boner, Jerome has a boner." I want to turn to look at Jerome's boner; but before I can, Sammy sneaks a peek at me. "Rick has a boner, Rick has a boner." We manage to get dressed without killing him. We go out to swim.
Jerome is the one I want to see naked, but Sammy is the one dancing around.
After swimming for a long time, Vickie and her mom come back from shopping. Sammy pops out of the pool and gives his mom a naked hug. "I'm skinny dipping."
"Yes, I can see that," his mom says. Vickie looks and sees that both me and Jerome are in shorts. We dry off and go in. She makes Sammy put on some shorts so he's not running around the house naked.
Later in the day Vickie says to me privately, "You don't skinny dip anymore?" See, she knows I usually do; not that she's ever seen me or anything.
"I still do. But Jerome looked like he didn't want to, so I didn't either."
"Rick, trust me, Jerome would like to. He's just a little shy." Really? He would LIKE to? How does she know that? What does she mean by that? Well maybe she doesn't realize he had a boner. Hehehe, so did I. She said that he would like to. Is he gay? I mean that's the real question that I need to know the answer to. And it's not the sort of question you can just ask someone. But I do trust Vickie. And if her brother is gay, she would probably know. I mean she even sort of knows that I'm gay.
Since I can't ask him, I decide to ask her. "Is he gay?" I whisper.
"You need to ask him that; not me," she answers.
"Why?" I plead for help.
"Well, if you were gay, would you want me to tell the world?"
Uh, no. I guess not; I mean, I know not. Oh, I understand. We have to work this out ourselves.
After dinner we were all staring at the fires on TV. It's hard to believe, but they we getting worse and spreading. There was still no word on their house. Again, after we had all gotten lost in what was going on, one of the adults turned it off and said we were going to all play monopoly. So we did.
Every time Jerome's hand brushed against mine when we were exchanging money, it shot a bolt of^Å..something through my body. After Sammy was out of the game he asked if he could go skinny dipping again. His mom said only if someone else goes outside with him. After much begging he talked Vickie into going out to watch him. She was losing anyway.
After the game, I asked Jerome if he wanted to swim before bed. He did. Sammy was already inside, so when we were in my room getting ready to change I asked him the BIG question. "You want to skinny dip? I almost always do; it's a lot more fun. I think you will like it."
"Yeah, probably. It just might be embarrassing. You know."
"Well if it's a boner you might be embarrassed about, don't worry about it. I always get one when I'm naked."
"Yeah, I heard Sammy teasing you when we were changing," he says.
"Well, he said you have one too."
"Yeah."
"So it's ok then. Skinny dipping?"
He pauses long enough to make me think he might say no. "Why not."
Even though we are going to be naked outside together, we turn away, pull down our shorts, and put around our towels. I race ahead, throw off my towel and dive in. By the time I surface, he is already in the pool, so I didn't get to see IT. I don't know about him, but I sure have a boner. But we just swim around and stuff. His mom comes out and turns on the light. He freaks out. "Turn off the light. We're naked!" She turns it off before I get to see anything. I am soooooo horney about HIS. I wonder was he freaked out about him mom seeing him naked? Or me seeing him naked?
"A few more minutes, then come in. It's time for bed." Well school is cancelled, so I don't know why we can't just stay up all night.
"Ok, mom."
All I see when he gets out is his butt. His beautiful butt. He is turned away when I get out, so he doesn't see my dick either. We pull on our boxers under our towels, so once again I don't get to see anything. It's so frustrating.
As I lay on the floor, my dick striving to bust out of boxers, I realize something. What if he is frustrated too? What if he is gay and has been trying to see my dick? What if he is having the same thoughts as me? What if his boner is busting out of his boxers as mine is? Well thinking about his boner sends me to the point of no return. I quickly hop up and go to the bathroom for a less than a minute jack session.
As I come back in the room, he quickly adjusts whatever he was doing. Was he jacking off? I think so! Can I be cool about it? I hope so!
"It's cool with me if you want to finish."
Silence.
"If you were doing in here the same thing as I was doing in the bathroom, it won't bother me if you finish."
Silence.
"Or you can go in the bathroom too, if you want. It's safe there."
He speaks! "Well what were you doing?"
"The same thing I do every night. Except I usually do it in my bed. Where you are."
With this, he quickly runs past me out of the room. So fast, I didn't really get a look at his boner tent. He comes back in less than two minutes!
"That was quick."
"Well so were you."
"Yeah, well you know."
"Yeah."
Ok. We talked about jacking off. Sort of. Now what?
Nothing. Eventually I fall asleep.
Both Sammy and Jerome were already out of the room when I woke up. I put on shorts, went to the bathroom and joined everybody at breakfast. There was still no school, so we were going bowling and to the mall and to a movie today. We saw Good Boy which was about dogs who can talk cause they're really aliens. It was a kid movie, but pretty good. Sammy loved it.
We spent the entire day out and doing stuff. When we got home, they decided just to order pizza for us because nobody wanted to cook or anything. We all went swimming, even the adults. Sammy wore underwear. I didn't show mine or see Jerome's when we changed.
We played keep away and volley ball and I got to jump on Jerome a few times.
It was fun being on him and skin touching skin. Everybody was getting tired and so they all went in except for me, Jerome and Sammy. It was dark by this point.
Sammy turns to me and says, "Can we go naked again. Skinny dipping?"
"Yeah, sure," I reply.
"Are you guys going to?" I look to Jerome. No answer. "Are you guys chicken or what?"
Jerome says, "We're not chicken. We went swimming naked yesterday night."
"So why not now?" Sammy asks again.
"It's cool with me," I tell Jerome.
"If I had dicks as big as your guys, I would be naked showing them off all the time," teases Sammy. Jerome dunks him. While under water, Sammy tries to pull off Jerome's shorts. Jerome retaliates by pulling off Sammy's boxers and throwing them to me.
"I don't want these smelly things near me," I tease, throwing them out of the pool. Sammy, now naked, keeps trying to pull off Jerome's shorts. I decide since we went naked yesterday, he would be cool about it, so I pulled off mine and threw them to the side of the pool. Sammy saw and said to Jerome, "Chicken boy, chicken boy." Jerome dunked him again.
Jerome pulled off his own shorts and put them next to mine. When Sammy comes up for air he says, "Now we are all naked. Now we are all skinny dipping." Yeah now we are. Now what? Will I finally get to see Jerome's? Jerome tells Sammy to turn off the pool light.
"Why. You chicken?" Sammy taunts.
"No. Just do it."
"You want the light off, you do it." While they are arguing, I get brave.
I quickly jump out, run to flip the switch and jump back in. I know he was looking. I know it saw it. It was a semi, at least. Jerome smiles. He liked it? Or just being nice? Shit, this is so complicated. We play catch and swim around. Once when Jerome gets into the Jacuzzi I almost see his dick; but I don't. I wasn't ready. Shit. I want to see it, but I don't want to be obvious and stare or anything.
When he gets out all I see is his butt again. Makes me so horny to want to see all of him. He got to see mine; it's only fair.
Later, in bed, after Sammy is asleep, I ask the question. The big question. "Jerome, is it ok if I just do it here. Instead of going into the bathroom."
"Yeah." Good!
"What about you?"
"Oh, it won't bother me." Shit did he misunderstand, or his he teasing me?
"I mean, are you going to do it?" I don't know why I can't mention jacking off. I don't know why neither one of us can even say it.
It's quiet. He's thinking about it. I'm about to die. I hear the covers rustle; his covers. He's doing it! He's jacking off. I waste no time in doing mine. I can't see him. It's dark, plus he's way up on the bed. I wonder if he can see me, even a little? It once again takes only a few minutes till I hear him come. I shoot mine also. I don't know what he cleans up with. I use a sock as usual. Well I didn't get to see him jack. In fact, I still haven't even seen his dick. But at least I got to hear him jack.
Finally, I fall asleep happy.
Until Sammy starts to scream and cry. He had a nightmare. He is crying about it. Jerome hops out of his bed and sits on the floor next to Sammy. Now all three of us are on the floor, Jerome trying to comfort Sammy. Their mom comes in. I scoot over, making room for her. She hugs and holds Sammy. Jerome puts his hands down Sammy's sleeping bag.
"He's wet," he announces. She escorts him out of the room. He had a bad dream about the fires. That our house was on fire and we were all burning. Kind of freaked me out.
She comes back in the room, with naked Sammy in tow. She speaks to me. "Do you mind sharing the bed with Jerome? So Sammy can have your sleeping bag?" Am I awake? Am I dreaming? She wants me to share my bed with Jerome? Yes, I must be dreaming.
I look to him. He says, "Yeah sure." I quickly hop into bed and pull up the covers before anyone can see my growing boner. While she is getting some clean boxers on Sammy and tucking him into my sleeping bag, Jerome climbs over me to get in bed. He has a semi at least; maybe even a boner. He sees me notice it. He hops under the covers and just smiles.
We lay there, side by side, silent, as she lays with Sammy and talks to him.
He finally falls asleep and she drags out the wet sleeping bag, says goodnight and shuts the door.
"You ever shared a bed before?" he asks.
"Yeah. You?"
"Yeah." Ok cool. "Uh, I roll around in my sleep." Ok. "I just don't want you to freak out if you wake up and I'm on top of you or something." Freak out? I would love it.
"No problem. It won't freak me out or anything. Don't worry about it. I roll around too. You ok with that?"
"Yeah, of course." I can't wait to fall asleep; but sleep is slow in coming. Maybe because my dick is 3 inches harder than usual. Not really, it just feels that way.
I awaken slowly and comfortable. As I barely become conscience, I realize that I am snuggled up tight against Jerome, my morning boner poking him in the butt, my arm around his chest. I lay there, not wanting to wake up all the way; just wanting to enjoy this feeling.
As I become fully awake, I decide to slowly pull away and lay on my own side. As soon as I do, he rolls over and faces me. "Hey."
"Hi. Sorry about that" I say.
"About what?" he asks.
"Snuggling with you. I swear I was asleep."
"I know you were asleep. But it didn't bother me. Even if you were awake it would have been ok." What? Is this it? The moment of truth? "I like snuggling."
Ok, he went first. It's ok for me to go now. "Me too." That's it? That's all the courage I have? What a wimp!
We lay there, on the verge of giggling, or coming out to each other, or^Å.I'm not sure, when my dad knocks on the door.
"Come in," I announce.
He opens the door and sticks his head in; making no notice or mention of the fact that Jerome and I are in the same bed. "If you guys still want to go to Disneyland today, it's time to get moving."
Disneyland is a blast, with me sitting next to or near Jerome on almost every ride. And on the Log Ride, I have my legs around him, my boner touching his butt. He can't tell because I have on jeans, but it sure was fun for me.
We get home pretty late, so we are all going straight to bed. It's the first day we haven't spent time glued to the TV and all the bad things that are happening around us. As we are getting undressed Jerome pops the big question. "If you want, you can have your bed. I mean it's your bed and everything."
"Or we can share," I add. He smiles.
"I want to share too," exclaims Sammy.
"You can't. You know why," his brother tells him.
"Well can I just stay with you guys for a little?"
Jerome looks to me. I nod. He hops up with us. It's too crowed, but it's fun being next to Jerome. After a few minutes, Jerome makes Sammy get off and down on the floor on his sleeping bag.
As we adjust with Sammy gone, Jerome puts his arm across my chest. I turn to him and smile. I put my arm over his arm, and hold him. After a little, I put my other arm around him, bringing him closer. He puts his head on my chest. We lay like this for a long time without speaking; just enjoying each others touch. I love them smell of his hair.
As he snuggles closer, I can feel his boner poking my leg. "You got a boner." He doesn't say anything. "So do I." He doesn't say anything. I slowly push his arm down my chest in the direction of my boner. He doesn't stop me. I lift up his hand and place it on my boxers, on my boner. He squeezes it gently and leaves his hand there. I adjust my hand to feel his boner. I squeeze it gently too.
He kisses my chest, slowly kissing me down to my belly button. His dick is out of reach, so I just lay there enjoying whatever he wants to do to me. He kisses my boner through my boxers. I pull my boxers down, to give him access. He starts my kissing my boner and balls, and suddenly, puts his entire mouth around my dick. He sucks me. It doesn't take long, until I come. I lay there out of breath after my first really gay experience. He starts kissing my pubes, my belly my chest and works his way slowly up to my mouth. We kiss. My first kiss.
I start to thank him, to offer to suck him or jack him or whatever he wants. He shushes me, and we lay there, entwined, until we both fall asleep.
So the scary California fires, lead me to my first boyfriend. If you want to help the people who were made homeless by the fires, please donate money to your local Red Cross.