Josh moves in and then takes Kyle home to meet his parents
Moving in with your lover might seem a simple thing to accomplish, especially when you are a second semester, college freshman. After all, how many boxes does it take to move out of a cramped dorm room you have shared for a chunk of seven months? You can only accumulate so much 'stuff' that's actually worth keeping that quickly. But this move for Josh was far more than just packing up clothes and CDs and books, and sorting through those goofy things like the 'have-to-keep' first Miller Lite bottle, concert ticket stubs, and other junk that had accumulated in the study desk drawers. Even filing that 'change of address' card Kyle had given him on the cruise was just a blip on the radar screen in the overall scheme of making a life change like this.
The first big thing was telling Ryan they wouldn't be roomies any longer. He surprised Josh by acting like he would truly miss him, and then again when telling him they still had to stay in touch a few sentences later. Josh was really impressed when he gave him a huge bear hug and offered sincere best wishes to him and Kyle, when Josh picked up the last few stray items from the room. Ryan was still as straight as an interstate highway running through the desert, but he had gotten very gay friendly the final month they shared the room. Josh rewarded his growth by gifting Ryan the dusty pot bong he hadn't used in months. They traded smiles and one more jock-style, intense buddy hug before Josh headed out the door for what would be the final time.
Lots of other little stuff was mildly aggravating but necessary, including switching records at the university and making sure the pizza shop knew where he would be living. But the first really big one that was difficult to deal with, came when he made the call home to the farm in Havana.
"Mom?" Josh knew it was her, but he still asked when she answered the phone.
"Ummm...just wanted to say 'Hi' and...ummm...give you the...ummm...new address and another phone number." The tentativeness in his voice was unusual to his mother's ear and he knew it. "Yeah, that's not the guy from the pizza shop though." Another long pause happened. "It's my friend Kyle. The one that loaned me his big truck to come home at Christmas."
Thankfully, the rest of the call he had been almost reluctant to make, was a short one and without the probing questions he had feared having his Mom bring up. It helped when he promised to come over and spend a couple days as soon as he could after finals. He was smiling...very hopefully...when his Mom ended the call with, "And bring your friend along too, if he wants some good southern home cooking instead of all that pizza and fast food garbage you guys probably try to live on." Josh laughed really hard at that one since he had never even told his family the first thing about going on the cruise and all the great food he and Kyle had on it. Plus, with Kyle being a pretty decent amateur chef, they ate far better than his Mom was assuming. But Josh would never tell her that Kyle's fried chicken rivaled hers; nor ever let on to his dear grandmother that his homemade lasagna was lots better than hers.
"He would probably really like that, Mom. And I know how you and grams love to teach those damn Yankees what southern cookin' is really all about too." In the back of his mind, Josh was thinking more along the lines of: 'And that your sweet southern hospitality will be extended to my lover when I tell all of you that he is far more than just my friend.' He had already decided that he could no longer keep his closet door shut with his family and was committed to telling them everything the very next trip home. Now that trip was set!
* * * * *
The guys had also kept their promise to their new cruise friends, Frank and Ron, and went to church with them a few times over the month before the trip home. Both Josh and Kyle felt very renewed at the spirit-filled services and began to plan for them each Sunday as part of their weekly schedule. It was really nice to hear good things from a pulpit for a change, instead of thinly veiled gay bashing mixed amongst other judgementalism, like so many pastors practiced. What they both felt at this church was far different from what each had grown up with. Unconditional love wasn't just talked about there. It was practiced!
They both signed up for the 'What the Bible really DOES say' class that would be offered in mid-summer. Josh had read all of the many pamphlets found in the church social hall, and one book Frank loaned him already. The book...'The Lord is My Sheppard and He Knows I am Gay'...not only gave the boys a history of the MCC denomination, but also a good synopsis of the so-called 'gotchya verses' found in the scriptures. He was certain he could at least handle any 'But what about Sodom and Gomorrah?' comments that may come from his ultra conservative, Southern Baptist, parents. He also knew he and Kyle were starting on more than one type of journey than just living together when they both broke into tears during communion the first time they took it together at the church...on their knees, and arm-in-arm, holding hands. The mysterious mind meld had become so much clearer as they both came to realize it was their souls speaking to each other.
* * * * *
Kyle did everything he could to help Josh make the transition from occasional over night guest, to full-time room and bed mate an easy one.
Their sex and lovemaking was only a little less frequent, but still always as intense, normally. Sometimes it was quicker and less spontaneous; and other times it was still marathon sessions that came with little surprises and new techniques slipped in by one or the other. That was one of the things that kept the physical passion fired between them...constantly discovering things that made each other moan in ecstasy. Josh had already drifted back to a preference for Kyle being on top, but he also knew that his lover would never refuse him when he was in the mood to slap shot the puck into Kyle's net.
After the first ten or twelve days of both doing some minor tiptoeing around each other, they settled in to the married-but-still-honeymooning stage. Being so cautious and actually thinking before speaking was somewhat of a small change for both, but it came with suddenly calling the water front house, 'home' by both of them too. It wasn't 'check out time is 11:00' any longer...this WAS their home. By the end of two weeks of Kyle referring to it as 'their house' and 'their home' constantly, Josh was also.
Kyle decided it wasn't worth mentioning that he really preferred that Josh would hang up the used wash cloth on the rung in the shower, instead of draped over the edge of the step-in tub base. Way too petty of a thing. At least this soon.
Similarly, Josh never brought up that he felt Kyle's anal retentive side about the kitchen and dusting did seem to get a little overboard at times...especially when he would want to run the vacuum every morning before heading for classes.
They shared razors, deodorant, toothpaste and shampoo without care. Kyle had already long ago stopped worrying about occasionally finding his green toothbrush wet, after Josh successfully quit smoking over Christmas. He would just snag Josh's dry, red one those mornings. About the only real 'rules' Kyle made regarding the bathroom was that it stayed clean and that his manscaping electric trimmer was off limits. Josh had only shrugged at that one since he never understood the whole idea of shaping and styling something that; when natural, wild, and thick like Kyle's pubic area would get; usually turned him on more. Kyle laughed when he remembered one comment from Josh of: 'It's your man bush, babe...not the gardens at the Palace of Versailles!'
Kyle simply grinned and rolled his eyes when Josh's closet nudist side appeared more and more and he ran around their home sans anything but maybe white socks. He was pretty sure that Josh rolled his at him, when he would fuss a little about his shirts not being in color order in the giant walk-in closet after Josh had put away their laundry. And Kyle might be a prick with the rest of the world about the Hummer, but he barely raised an eye brow when Josh would occasionally use his own key and take it to the convenience store for something they needed.
What did take some getting used to for both of them was the unsettling silence that would occasionally happen. It wasn't like it had been before when Josh was just spending a night or two or three staying over, and they were all about each other every minute their eyes were open. It wasn't that they drifted from each other or their innermost feelings were changing. It was just that Josh would actually find something else to do during a hockey game Kyle was totally into...or Kyle would chose to call his parents and talk, instead of playing another game on the Wii with Josh. Nah...that was only being comfortable and secure enough with the relationship, that they knew their egos didn't have to be constantly fed with Ivory soap 99.44% attention from the other. It was just...just...just DIFFERENT...and had to be subconsciously accepted.
About the only real things that were a problem; if it could be called that; was one from each.
Kyle did get a little bitchy about the lackadaisical way Josh just dropped his clothes around in the bedroom and master bath. Even though Josh promised to work on that, and did follow through to an extent; Kyle never did get around to telling him, that continuing to find his toes in a pair of dirty tighty whities wasn't the way he liked to do a midnight pee run, though. Every time it still happened, Kyle simply thought to himself: 'One of these days! POW! Straight to the moon, Alice!' and then snickered to himself over how minor the problem really was.
Josh wasn't totally polite when Kyle kept just helping himself to quarters from Josh's tip stash change jar he kept on the dresser in the bedroom. He knew Kyle only snagged three or four at a time for the Coke machine at school, but dammit...that was his 'delivery car needs a new tire or brake job' fund. The little chastising outburst from his lover was easily enough solved when Kyle started dropping a couple singles into Josh's glass jug anytime he raided it for change.
All in all, they both knew after the first thirty days of sharing the bay front house, that the little stuff will always pop up and was no worse than one lone ant at a picnic...and the big stuff was happily taken care of with communication. That was one of the things their mentors; Frank and Ron from church, and Jim and Jeff from the antique mall; had already taught them.
* * * * *
Finals were at long last over. Grades wouldn't be out for a week or longer. The other couple of college guys at the pizza shop that were moving back home for the summer, would still be around and available to work his shifts at least through the middle of the next week. And the weather was really, really nice. Nice the entire way across the top portion of Florida, from where I-10 crossed the Alabama line clear to the Atlantic waves in Jacksonville. The former place Josh called 'home' was almost dead-center between the two, and his Mom had asked every time they talked on the phone, 'When are you and your friend coming over?' Kyle had finally convinced him to take a long weekend and either just make an appearance and enjoy it without saying anything, or 'suck it up and get it all over with' while it was convenient and doable...and he would be there for support if need be.
