Cliff and Scott live only in my imagination, therefore they are able to do things that may not be considered safe in the real world.
4) June, July
Scott looked over his shopping list, before glancing at Cliff, his love, sitting across the table from him. It was late June; they had been together for about two and a half months now, and Cliff's hair was noticeably longer. He could now get the strands from the front into a pony tail at the base of his head, but after a while they would work loose to frame his face. Scott thought his lover looked adorable hunched over his laptop, strands of loose hair framing his face. Every few minutes Cliff would push the strands behind his ears, only to have them work loose.
"Damn, maybe I should just cut it anyway," Cliff muttered as he pushed his hair back one more time, before typing another sentence into the document he was working on.
Scott chuckled, "No way you'd do that, you've wanted to grow it out for too long. Besides, it's damn sexy."
Cliff sighed, "Yeah, I'll be going for job interviews eventually, and maybe I'd have a better shot if my hair were short, like yours." Cliff glanced up to look at his man. Scott hair was short, spiked on top; just as it had been when they met a little over 3 months ago.
"Are you ready for a break from that?" Scott nodded at Cliff's laptop, distracting Cliff from the idea of cutting his hair. "If so, I'd like you to go over my lists, see if we're missing anything or anyone."
Cliff rolled his eyes, "Mr. Organized -- forget something? Not likely." He hit a few buttons to save his work and reached out his hand for the papers lying in front of Scott.
He read through the lists, one of food and decorations, one of people. 'You sure you want to go through with this? It looks like a lot of work."
"Why not? I do it every July 4th, and it's not really all that much. Besides," Scott grinned, "this year I have you to help." He got up, walked around to Cliff's chair and placed his hands on his love's shoulders. Leaning over, he kissed Cliff's neck.
Cliff sighed again, "Of course I'll help. We're having this party in 2 weeks? How do you normally invite people? We'll have to let them know soon."
"Most of my friends will be expecting it. We've done this for several years." Scott pointed to another section of the list, "Your friends, well... that's up to you. What would be the best way to invite them?"
"My...," Cliff looked up at Scott. "We're inviting my friends to your party?"
"Honey, I love you. I plan to be with you for a very long time. That means eventually our friends will have to meet. What better way than at a party?" Scott grinned. As he looked down at the papers now sitting on the keyboard to Cliff's laptop something on the screen caught his attention.
Cliff was working on updating his resume, which Scott knew, but what caught his eye was the name across the top of the document. "I thought your name was short for Clifford," Scott commented as he tapped the screen.
Cliff thought for a moment, "I guess we've never discussed names before, have we? My mother is a big Wuthering Heights fan, and somehow she convinced my father to name me Heathcliff. Heathcliff Earnshaw Andrews, to be exact." Cliff explained the middle initial "E" before Scott could ask.
Scott eyed Cliff critically, "Well, you certainly don't look like Heathcliff. Since we're on the subject, I was named for my grandfather, Prescott Byron Edwards."
Cliff laughed, "Well, it seems neither of us have the normal, common names we appear to have."
---
Two weeks later everything was set. About 10 of Scott's closest friends, his parents and his uncle, 6 of Cliff's friends, and a few guys from The Garage that they both were friendly with were scheduled to invade Scott's house for a BBQ, bonfire, drinking, and fireworks.
Everything was set up and Scott was waiting impatiently for his guests to arrive, pacing the floor and muttering to himself.
"Relax, love, everything will be perfect." Cliff looked up from his laptop. Next to it were a few printed pages he glanced at from time to time. "Are you always this anxious before a party?"
Scott didn't answer he just kept pacing. Cliff glanced at the clock and then eyed Scott. Damn man was going to be exhausted by the time people got here. "Come here love."
Cliff closed his laptop and moved it to the end table, stacking the pages on top of it. He then lay back on the couch and beckoned Scott to lie next to him. With Scott spooned up against him, Cliff pushed his hand under Scott's shirt and gently rubbed his abdomen and chest. "Relax baby, it's going to be great." He whispered into Scott's ear as he gently nibbled on the earlobe.
Scott slowly relaxed under Cliff's hand, and then shifted so he was facing Cliff, lying dangerously on the edge of the couch. "I just want tonight to be perfect," he whispered before leaning in to kiss his lover.
Scott slipped and fell off the couch, landing on his back.
"You okay baby?" Cliff peered over the edge of the couch at him. "You're not hurt are you?"
"Just my pride," Scott groaned as he looked up at Cliff.
Cliff laughed as he lowered himself down, lying on Scott. Holding himself above Scott by bracing his arms on the floor he said, "I love you, and tonight will be perfect no matter what happens, because we're together." He leaned down to kiss his man.
Scott returned the gentle kiss, adding heat as he thrust his tongue into Cliff's mouth and squeezed his ass with one hand and thrusting the other into his hair. Cliff had tied his hair back, so it took some doing for Scott to be able to tangle his hand in it, he so loved the feel of Cliff's long silky hair wrapped around his hand. "I love you too, honey."
Shortly after that, their impromptu make-out session was interrupted by the doorbell. Scott quickly combed his fingers through Cliff's hair, smoothing it out and removing the hair tie, "Leave it down, sexy." He growled as he stood up to let their guests in.
The party went great. People were everywhere, inside and out. Cliff's friend Jo and Scott's friend Diana had each brought their child, and the two women quickly became friends as they talked about the perils of motherhood.
Cliff's friend Jake repeatedly hit on one of the guys from The Garage, until Scott pulled him aside to let him know that the guy was straight. Jake just shrugged and moved on to who he deemed to be the next hottest guy in the room.
Shortly after the sunset, everyone gathered outside to watch the fireworks. As Cliff looked around he could a few couples sitting separate from everyone, snuggled together on chairs or blankets. He laughed as he saw one of those couples sharing a blanket was Jake and Wade, a playboy friend of Scott's who had a love 'em and leave 'em philosophy similar to Jake's. He was also pleased to see that the random groupings of individuals was not split his friends from Scott's friends, they were all mingling.
He leaned closer to Scott and whispered, "I told you it would be good."
The next morning they were cleaning up the mess when Cliff came across his laptop, which he had forgotten on the end table the afternoon before. The papers he'd laid on top of it were missing.
When he asked Scott, the other man had no idea what happened to them. "What were they? I'll keep an eye out as I finish cleaning."
"Just a copy of my resume. I've been looking for places online to apply at. I kept the paper copy close in case I have to fill out an online application -- it has my work and school history listed on it." Cliff shrugged, "It won't be hard to print out another one."
Cliff packed up the rest of his gear and a little while later he was headed back to his little apartment.
Living separately was the one thing Cliff and Scott really fought about. Scott wanted Cliff to move in with him. Cliff wanted to as well, but wouldn't until his future was more settled. He needed to find employment for after his internship was completed, and he was completely sure he wouldn't accept a position at NPS if they offered. It just wasn't challenging enough for him. Even Scott could see the desperation Cliff felt after work, the sheer hopelessness of working a job he didn't like. Cliff was determined to finish the internship, it would look good on his resume and they would give him a good referral.
---
A few weeks after the BBQ the men were lounging in Cliff's living room when he suddenly turned to Scott and said "Why didn't you tell me your birthday is next week?"
"What? How did you find out?" Scott asked as he looked up from the acoustic guitar he had been quietly strumming.
"Your friend Wade texted me the other day, complaining about Jake. He mentioned your birthday as we talked." Cliff answered, frowning as he watched Scott.
"That rat, I just didn't want you feel you needed to throw a party or anything. I want to spend that night alone with you," Scott smirked as he leered at Cliff.
"Well, what do you want for your birthday? I want to get you something." Cliff asked.