Is it really a new beginning for everyone?
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Derek and Lacy were only a few weeks into wedded bliss, when the first of several traditions with the three of us would begin. I had been invited...no, more like ordered...by Lacy to come over for a home cooked meal on a Wednesday night. At both their urgings, that soon became an almost standing thing every Wednesday. I enjoyed the socializing but also needed the time away from Derek also. Being around him at the grocery store was more than enough tugs at my memories, and I didn't need to add to the struggle at accepting that things would never again be the same. Between work and a heavy school load, I usually had a reasonable excuse to give them to ensure they had plenty of privacy the first six months. Over the cold winter months, I did join them on an occasional weekend night to play cards or watch a movie, but never felt all that comfortable being a third wheel despite their declarations to the contrary. As time wore on through the summer and towards that first year anniversary, I became closer and closer to Lacy; mainly because she seemed to be making Derek very happy. She had become like a sister to me.
As I continued to heal from what I had once been convinced was an irreparable broken heart, I ventured out a little more. I still had no real desire to find anyone to replace Derek, but I also needed contact with my own kind too. I was still completely in the closet with everyone I knew, but had finally buried all possibilities that I was anything approaching straight. I would stop by the gay bar just off campus every so often, just to grab a beer and mingle. With school back in session for the fall semester, the bar was usually crowded. I regularly had offers made to go home with someone, but always rebuffed the proposals. No matter how much I would have loved to spend a night of passion with another guy instead of surfing gay porn with one hand and working myself to orgasm with the other, I just wasn't the type to get into one night stands. That self-imposed dogma was to be soon tested however.
* * * * *
The Friday evening that marked twelve full months since Derek and I had last been together was spent at their place. Lacy had cajoled me into helping them start off their one year celebration weekend by having dinner with them. It was almost total deja vu as Derek and I played Nintendo while Lacy finished cleaning up after the meal. The erotic memories of an almost identical night starting like this one year earlier were enhanced by the fact that Derek was wearing nothing more than a pair of running shorts. Marriage had done nothing to quash the sexuality he oozed when he was nearly naked. The longer we sat on the living room floor and played, the more I mentally chastised myself for the thoughts I was having. It had been a fucking year and I still wanted him!
Derek had just destroyed me at Mario once again, when Lacy sat down on the couch. He leaned back to give her a kiss and then shot me a big grin. "Want to see the latest addition to the library, Brad?" came with the devilish smirk. I knew that meant that he had yet another new porno he wanted me to see. His fascination with smut had constantly intensified since they got married, and surprisingly, Lacy seemed to enjoy it also. Even before I had answered him, Derek was up inserting a disk into the DVD player. I leaned back against the front of the couch as he hit the play button, assuming that it would be worth watching since he tended to record movies that also included nice beefcake for Lacy. I snickered to myself as I accepted that this was a form of foreplay for them and in a way, I enjoyed it too.
Derek had planted himself back on the floor too, and Lacy stretched out on the couch. The movie was a good one that had enough of a plot to follow, but quickly got down to serious business also. Derek's eyes were welded to the screen when the female jerked down the stud's jeans and took him in her mouth. My peripheral vision caught Derek's hand slide into his right leg opening at the same time I saw Lacy slip her hand over his shoulder to caress his bare chest. Between Lacy's fingers and the vivid close ups of the movie, Derek was so preoccupied he didn't realize the soft moans he was making. There was no way to miss the bulge that had formed in my best friend's shorts, and soon the head of his dick was peeking out from under the loose leg fabric. Derek began teasing himself with his own hand as if I wasn't even there, much less just inches away. Lacy was peppering the back of his neck with kisses and running her fingers through his thick brown locks. Much more and I would be getting as good a live show as the one on the screen. I quickly shifted my eyes back to the TV trying to deal best I could with the erection I now had also. By the time the third scene of the porno flick had played halfway through, I took the unstated cue that it was time for me to leave them alone to finish what was started. I stole one last glance at my friend's hard cock snaking down his thigh in the dark as I pulled myself to my feet, and after thanking Lacy for dinner, headed out the door for my truck. I was only one block away when I decided to not go straight home.
* * * * *
The bar wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be for a Friday night. There were plenty of guys packing the place, but finding a table off to the back after getting a beer wasn't a problem. I didn't want to be alone at home, but really wasn't looking for company either. I slowly nursed my beer as I let my eyes survey the wide selection of young males that made up 95% of the partiers. If I had wanted to play the meat market game, this was definitely smorgasbord night. I tried my best to avoid staring at one tall, dark-haired stud in particular that reminded me far too much of Derek. I was just giving him the once over again for about the fourth time, when a single word question entered my ears.
"Brad?"
My head snapped to the left in shock as I heard my name and my eyes ricocheted off a very familiar face. Jeremy was a hunky 20 year old Kent State junior that had just started working at the store a month earlier. He was all of maybe a couple inches taller than me, sported a head full of bushy dark brown hair, had deep blue eyes, a decent build, and resembled me enough that several people at work had asked if we were related. Before my mind could process any kind of comment, he sat down on the other chair and very matter-of-factly stated "Imagine finding you here!" The grin on his cherubic face said there was no way I would get away with denying I knew it was a gay bar.
"No one at works knows, Jeremy," was all I managed to sputter out.
"Not even Derek?" was the totally unexpected question that came back. "I thought you guys were really close."
As my brain processed a dozen different ways to answer that one, I went with the safest: "Pretty sure he has a clue, but we've never talked about it." I quickly shifted the conversation to work, school, and then broached the topic of where we both were in the coming out process. Jeremy had been out since his junior year of high school but said he had nothing serious going at this point in his life. From other things he said it was obvious that he had many more notches on his belt than I did. I had managed to get away with only generically talking about still fighting the small town closet attitude and a very quiet, single high school fling that lasted longer than it should, but avoided saying anything that might connect Derek and me. He was married now and I had to protect him. Thankfully, Jeremy didn't push for details.
By the time I was sucking down the last drops of my beer, his hand had found it's way to my thigh. Whether it was the earlier stimulation created at Derek and Lacy's; or the complete lack of any physical contact for an entire year; neither my body, nor my brain resisted him. Quite the contrary in fact, as I placed my arm behind him on the chair back and rubbed his shoulders. We were silently staring into each other's eyes when Jeremy leaned into me and brushed his lips over mine. I shuttered my eye lids as his tongue forced its way between my lips at the same time his hand crept up and found my engorged crotch. I held him in an embrace as our tongues battled inside my mouth and he massaged the erection I couldn't have hidden with a steel jock strap. The very kisses I had wanted from Derek all this time, were coming so easily with Jeremy, and I didn't want them to stop. The only reason they did, was he suddenly broke off and licked the ridges of my ear before throatily whispering, "Let's find someplace a lot more private, Brad."
I had been so captivated by the attention, that all I could do was nod my head and mumble "Yeah...let's," before getting up and heading for the parking lot with Jeremy. At that point I didn't care whether this was a good idea or not...and getting involved with someone from work probably wasn't...but I knew I what I wanted tonight. More importantly, I knew what I needed: someone and something to help me smother the torch that was still burning far too brightly for Derek.
* * * * *
Since he lived in a dorm and had a roommate, we decided that Jeremy would follow me to my apartment at the lake. As we stood in the shadowy entry way, he had his arms around me, lustfully pinned up against my ass and undoing my pants from behind as I unlocked the door. I promised myself that this was just going to be a physical thing, but at the same time hoping it would be a release of everything I had held back for nearly five years. Maybe some passion-filled, one night flings were exactly what I needed to clear my head I thought as we entered the living room and Jeremy's tongue invaded my mouth again. As I held him tight to my quivering body and returned the kiss, the grinding of our hips began. Whatever he had in his jeans was fully erect and pressing against me with ever increasing eagerness. As we navigated towards the bedroom, lustfully stripping off each other's shirts along the way, I said a silent prayer that he understood just how much of a virgin I really was in so many respects. I also added to that request, that whatever was to come, would be a learning experience and not something to be regretted.