Entwined Confessions - 2/? Slash Romance

Author’s Notes: Entwined is a story about two young men who find a mutual love, longing, and understanding. Love is nothing like it is taught. Sometimes all we need is a willing ear to hear what we have to say and we glow with a new light. ake watched as the car pulled away. He was not sure how he had known about Loren. Maybe it was all the looks that he had given him that day in the gym. They were short and quick, almost shy. Jake smiled to himself. He was glad that he had been right in any case. Loren was a pretty young man. Jake was sure that he would enjoy his company tonight. Now if there was only a way to make tonight come faster. Walking across the lot, he climbed in to his BMW and pulled off. He still had algebra to go over. He was sure that his teacher was going to drop a pop quiz in their laps on Monday. * * * ake had been thirteen when he had known that women were not his thing. He had walked into his first class as a freshman at Mount Holyoke High and noticed Timothy Wheaton before he noticed Kimberly Clark, the most sought after girl in school. The problem was that Wheaton was straight and would not even look at Jake twice, even as a friend. On top of that, Clark had seen him and would not leave him alone. She chased him all year and did not give up until she saw him kissing his first boyfriend, Trent, in the park one night. Jake had been sure that she would have hated him and run to tell everyone. Instead she sat below them on the steps to on of the fountains and asked a bunch of questions. He had avoided the questions about sex. He was still a virgin, of any kind. But even with the answers that he and Trent were willing to give, she became a fast friend. She agreed to pretend to be his girlfriend to help hide him and keep his secret. If she had violated that promise, he had not heard of it. Then Trent cheated on him. As cute as he was, Jake could not tolerate that. The fight was a nasty one and in the end the two walked away not talking to each other. Jake looked back on Trent a lot, but never thought of trying to rekindle the relationship. Jake spent the next moth or so alone. He did not even try to look for another person. Then Justin found him at a school football game. Jake had taken his seat on the bench and was waiting for the sound of the kickoff whistle when another whistle came from his left side. He turned and almost drowned in the purple eyes that were staring back into his. They started talking and Jake was asked out after the game for coffee. Justin was his from the fourth day into his freshman year until the end of it. Justin was a senior. Then in the beginning of the summer before Jake's sophomore, Justin left for California to start his summer program at UCLA. Justin had not tried once to contact him. Jake had been left single for a college, and all the boys that he knew were there. Now he was in the middle of the third quarter of his sophomore year and had met Loren. He was not sure what had made him look up into the bleachers that day, but he was glad that he had. The dark haired boy had had his head down but Jake could see that he was a looker even still. Jake had even missed a ball trying to get a look at the boy's face. "What are you doing Jake?" One of his teammates asked him from the other side of the net. Another followed his eyes and spotted Loren and Looked back to Jake. "Jake's eye is caught again guys." He said to the rest of the team. Then to Jake he added, "Do you think that he is... you know?" "I don't know but I hope so." Jake said. "Hey! Is that the kid that is always drawing things?" The first said. "Yeah," said yet another. "His name is Loren MacCalf. He's in my comp-sci class." "Girlfriend, Harry?" Jake asked without taking his eyes off the boy. Loren. He let himself savor the name for a moment. "Naw. Not that he talks about." Harry said. "He broke up with Tanya Killgo last year. But that is supposed to be a secret," he added quickly. "MacCalf is only seen with her these days around school and I have always seen her with another guy outside of school since about last year and asked her about it. She told me to keep it quite. You guys too, ok?" It happened as the others nodded. His head came up and their eyes locked. Jake's mouth went dry and he began to breathe hard. Harder then the practice would have caused him to. By all the Greek gods, the boy was beautiful! Jake had the irrational want to run up to him and ask him to be his forever. The boy had seemed to just search his face for a moment then look back down at his work. Jake watched as the boy pulled things out of his bag and did things with it, then put all of it back except one thing and headed for the recycling side of the gym. When he looked to heading for the exit Jake turned to Kelly, who always carried pen and paper on him just in case a girl wanted his number or he wanted a hers. "Hey, Kelly, give me something to write on and with." Jake said. Kelly dug it out of his pockets and handed pen and a small tablet of paper over to him. Jake scribbled a note on the small tablet and, tearing it out, handed the paper and pen back. He looked up to see the boy was heading out the door. Jake shouted and made him stop. Not even looking back at his teammates, Jake jogged over to the boy. He did not have to say anything to them. He had been playing with them for two years now and they knew what he was doing. They were only glad that this time it was at a practice, rather than at a game like the last time. As Jake drew near he saw that the distances had lied again. Only, this time in opposite. The boy in front of him was the most beautiful creature on the planet, not just pretty. He talked to him and the whole time his knees wanted fall out from under him. The boy was just too beautiful. Desperately seeking a way that he could give the boy the note or tell him what was on in, Jake looked down. The small pocket in the boy's bag was open. Jake bent to pretend to tie his shoe and, while the boy was looking over the gym, he dropped it into the bag. The boy's name was Loren and he left shortly after Jake had to return to practice. Jake played as best as he could but he could not keep his mind off of Loren. The boy needed to be gay. He just had to be. Jake's teammates noticed his withdrawal from the practice. Knowing the cause as well, they call an end to the practice. If the captain of the team could not focus and lead them then they were all damned if they were going to bother his thinking. "So?" Harry asked as they entered the locker room. Harry was like all the others on the team. They all knew about and accepted Jake. Jake knew this and knew that he was the only open one on the team. He was not sure if there were any other gay members so he never pushed anything with the few that he had his guesses about. "What?" Jake asked, even though he knew what it was that Harry was talking about. "Oh, come on, Jake." Another teammate said. Terry. Jake had thought that the red-head was gay, but the boy had spent so much time assuring Jake that he was not that Jake had stopped second guessing him and started second guessing his own gaydar. Still, he could not shake the feeling. "Nothing," Jake said. "I am not sure that he even is." "Really?" Terry asked, head knocked to the side. "I thought that he was and I was just watching. I did not talk to him." "Nope, not sure." Jake said, casting Terry a wondering look from beneath his eyelashes. Harry and the others shrugged and headed for the showers. Terry hung back only long enough to tell Jake that he wanted to talk to him after practice. Jake nodded and then headed in to the showers. He was still amazed that the other boys allowed him in the showers with them. Most of them knew that Jake thought they were some of the most beautiful boys in the school. He guessed that he had been doing it for so long before he came out to them and had to hide it that, now that he was out, there was no need to worry about it now. He had been showering with these boys for almost two years now and they were just as comfortable with him as he was with them. After the showers, he made plans to meet Terry and went home. * * * ven as Jake listened to Terry he could not stop his mind from straying to the gorgeous Loren. Terry was cute but not someone that Jake saw himself with. Not that he had anything against the junior. He was just too… too… something. Jake had his date with Loren that night. He had not meant to meet Terry today. The boy had been waiting for him in his parking lot at home, looking anxious. Jake steered the boy down the street away from his house. "I need to ask you something." Terry said after a time of idle conversation and a length of silence. Jake nodded. He had guessed as much. Now if he could only figure out what it was. He had already thought of a number of things, and dismissed them over the last few days. So he held quiet and waited. The boy would tell him when he was ready. The wait seemed like an eternity to Jake, but he knew that it must have been longer for Terry. "I am seeing this person." Terry said suddenly, after Jake had thought that he never would. "And I am not sure what to do about it." "What do you mean by 'do about it' ?" Jake asked, looking at him. Terry was silent again for a while. Jake noticed that Terry had turned them into a park. Not as big as the one on the other side of town, but large by far. They wondered over near the stream and Terry stopped to look into the water. Jake knew from a long time of listening to his problems that what Terry needed was time. So he waited. He knew that the boy would tell him and he had all afternoon. He really did not want to hang out with the gang anyway. He was tried of lying to them and to himself when he was with them. "I just don't know what to do." Terry said, almost to himself. Jake started in spite of himself. "Are you thinking about breaking up with her?" Jake asked quietly. "Gods, no!" Terry exclaimed, just as quietly. "And… and…" He took a deep breath. "And it's not a 'her'." Jake nodded again, calmly. He was shocked though he made sure that none of it was shown on his face. This was not one of those things that he thought that Terry wanted to talk about. He smiled at Terry. "So what are you thinking about doing?" He asked the junior. "I am not sure that I can hide it any longer. Atton is out to, like, everyone and I am not sure that I can hide me from anyone any longer. But then again, I am afraid that I will loose the friends that I have had as long as I remember. People who are dear to me." The boy look miserable. Jake was silent for a moment. How could he tell someone to do something that he himself could not do? He thought fast and came to a decision. "I am not so sure that I can tell you what to do here. I am not even out myself." "But I thought…" The junior started then stopped. "Only to you guys on the team." Jake told him. "I see. What are you going to do?" Terry asked him. "I am not sure." Jake looked thoughtful. "You remember that kid, Loren, right?" Terry nodded. "Well, I am sort of seeing him now." "Gods! You are lucky. That boy is gorgeous." "I know." Jake smiled. "So what is this boy's name?" "Atton." Terry looked down at his feet. "Atton Iccus?" Jake looked at him astonished. Terry blushed and nodded. "That beautiful thing that sits behind you in our algebra class? Wow, man! I did not know that he was gay." "Yeah he is. He is my first and I am so happy." Terry blushed again. "That's great man." Jake reached out and grabbed him into a hug. "Yeah, but, what about the whole 'coming out' thing?" Terry looked at him, worry in the boy's eyes. "I will make a deal with you, if I can. Let me talk to Loren and I will call you tomorrow or I will see you at practice. At least come out to the guys. They will understand. Trust me on that one." Terry nodded and they started back to Jake's house. Talking about how cute their teammates were and the up coming game was enough to make the walk a quick one. Terry seemed to have the need to talk about other men with someone. It seemed to lift a weight off his shoulders. Jake looked at him as they reached his front door and smiled. The boy looked like he was glowing. Jake pulled him into another hug and told him that he will see him the next day. Jake opened the door as Terry walked away and dropped his keys on the table by the door. Walking down the hall he walked into the kitchen. He pushed through the kitchen door as his mother turned from the cutting board on the center isle. "So how was you day, dear?" She asked him. "The same, I guess." Jake said. "I am going out tonight if it is ok." "I don't see why not, honey. Have you done all your homework?" "Finished it yesterday." "When will you be back?" "I am not sure. I am taking someone into the City for a tour. They have never been there." "Ok, honey. Just don't make it too late." "I won't Mom." He grabbed a bite to eat and ran up to his room. The clock on his desk said it was only five o'clock. He had time to do that algebra studying that he had been trying to do all day. Settling down at his desk with the open algebra book he poured himself, with much diffculity, into the work. He would pass that quiz, when ever it came. Even if his thoughts did stray to Loren every few seconds. ^_^ TBC ^_^