Author's note:
This story involves oral sex between two men. For those of you who subsequently believe it should go in the gay category: I believe the relationship of the two characters in question trumps their gender.
"Hey, Aaron, how's it goin'?"
"Not bad: just one day after another, you know?"
"Yeah, know what you mean. Well, hey, the reason I called..."
'Here it comes,' I thought, Sean never calls unless he wants something. He's a good enough kid, but not exactly all that self-reliant. He's my mom's youngest sister's boy, and his dad left them when he was three, so I've been more-or-less the father figure in his life, even though we live three hours away. The real kicker here is that, even though he's my cousin, he's young enough to be my own son. Just the way it worked out in his family. They'd given up hope of having kids, after trying for years (granted, they had a lot of fun trying), but when Aunt Iris and Gordon came to the conclusion that it was never going to happen, within a month, they came back with, "We're pregnant!"
Even though Aunt Iris' age was a concern, she was determined that she was going to see the pregnancy through. Although it was rough on her, Sean was hale and hearty, to the relief of everyone involved. It was about the time they moved for Gordon's job that he decided he wanted something else and just up and left his wife and child behind.
I don't remember how Sean and I became so close, but suffice it to say we did. The whole family urged Aunt Iris to move back so we'd all be closer, but she'd found work where they'd moved, and didn't have any prospects back home, so she stayed where she was. Sean and I phoned at least twice a week, and when email came along, we kept in touch that way. When cell phones started taking over, I became more and more suspicious. I liked the ability to disappear every once in a while, so I hesitated joining the modern world. Sean was okay with keeping things simple, tech-wise, so we kept Ma Bell in business, and looked forward to the ability to see each other at holidays and maybe once or twice during the course of the year.
As I've said, Sean and I were close. Some of what he wrote in his emails were the kinds of things you only tell your closest friend, and sometimes not even then. So, I knew he trusted me implicitly, probably more than if I'd been his real dad. It was a good - if sometimes daunting - feeling.
"I've signed up for classes at ________ College starting next term, and wondered if you could put me up for orientation weekend?" The college he mentioned was the one in the town near which we'd lived, the one his mom and the rest of our family had attended. Even the family members who moved hundreds of miles away sent their kids back to go to school there. It was like a family tradition, one that no one had the nerve to break.
It was a relief. Sometimes, the things he asked for were a tall order to fill, but we'd managed over the years. He wasn't a bad kid, so it hadn't been necessary to bail him out of jail, and he never announced that he'd gotten anybody pregnant or anything, but sometimes you hear words come out of people's mouths and your first response is: "You what?"
Without getting my wife's permission, I immediately told him, "Absolutely. Drew's room's still empty, and if your mom wants to come along, we've got room for her, too." My son, Andrew, was married with kids of his own. Sean had just graduated high school.
"Great," he responded. "Thanks." He then went on to give me the details about when he'd be coming, and invited me to tour the campus with him. I told him that sounded like a great idea, and we hung up.
When my wife came home, I gave her the news. Fortunately, she liked Sean, so my invitation for him to stay with us wasn't a problem. We then got to work cleaning the room I'd offered, since I'd been lying when I told him our son's old room was open. We'd been storing stuff in there almost since the day Drew moved out, and he left almost as soon as he graduated high school.
Anyhow, we got our own lives in order, and waited for my cousin, Sean, to arrive.
The day finally came, and when the doorbell rang, it was with great joy that we invited Sean into our home. He'd been off on some kind of tour with school last family holiday, so it'd been a while since we'd seen him.
I had to admit, although Gordon turned out to be an asshole, he and my aunt did good work. Sean was a handsome young man: tall, with short, dark hair, and an athletic build, even if he wasn't really an athlete: it was just the result of possessing a youthful metabolism. Chances were, when he got older, he'd suffer the same battles with health the rest of us were experiencing. At the moment, though, he displayed all the vibrancy his age afforded.
We hugged, my wife gave him a peck on the cheek and a hug, and the dog gave him a sniff and a bark, too. We invited him into the house, and as we made with a little small-talk, I found I was surprised at how good-looking a guy I thought he was.
I'm not gay. I love my wife and adore sex with her, but I've sown some wild oats in my day - some of them, mighty wild - so I generally come at life, and sexual situations, a little differently than many people might. I'm an open-minded sort of person, I guess I'm trying to say. Don't attempt to impose your philosophy on me, and I won't try to influence you, either.
"So, Sean, you want to put your stuff up?" I offered. He hadn't brought a lot, but he was only going to be with us a couple days, so I hadn't really expected him to have packed a ton.
"Sure," he said, "sounds good."
I left my wife to go back to whatever she was doing in the kitchen, and showed Sean to his room. It was kind of freaky for me, as I stood in the doorway. The last time a young man had been the occupant of this room, it had been my son. If I didn't look at Sean directly, my mind could still see Andrew standing there. It was a wistful and rather weird thing to realize. I shook my head to clear the vision from it.
"Hey, we were thinking of going to Luigi's tonight. You interested, or do you want some time to yourself?" I wasn't sure how he'd feel after the drive. It wasn't that long, but depending on weather, traffic, and road conditions, three hours on the road can beat the hell out of you.
"Yeah, that sounds cool." He glanced at the clock. "Have I got time to catch a shower?"
"No problem. Make yourself at home. Just come on down when you're ready." I stepped in and hugged him once more. "It's good to see you, as always." I then went downstairs to see what my wife was doing as we waited for our guest to emerge.
Luigi's is, as you might have guessed, an Italian restaurant. It's only a fifteen minute drive from where we live. It was an institution when my folks were first going out. Dad admitted to me once that the first time he kissed Mom was after three slices of sausage and mushroom and a cherry Coke. To be more precise, Mom kissed him. He had a mouthful of pizza and was chewing away, when she suddenly leaned in and planted a quick peck on his lips. They were eighteen at the time, and had been going out for a couple months, but she'd held back anything more than holding hands. Of course, Dad told me he was shocked. He gulped down his half-chewed mouthful of food and looked at her, surprised and delighted. It wasn't that he was expecting to fly into bed with her or anything, that wasn't how they did things in their day, and certainly not the kind of thing "good kids" did, anyhow. Just that quick little kiss, though, was the equivalent of her standing up, opening her shirt and exposing her breasts to him. It was the pinnacle of his life to that point. After that, one thing eventually led to another, and after they both graduated college and got married, I came along, as well as my little sister.
Anyhow, if you talked with any number of people from where we lived, you'd find that Luigi's plays large in a lot of people's stories.
After a little while, Sean came down, looking much more refreshed. Everybody was ready, so we loaded up and headed for the restaurant.
The evening was great. It was nice to be able to talk with Sean without his mother present. It isn't that she isn't a good mom, she just tends to still think of him as her "little boy" and likes to speak for him. It was good to find out what a different person he was without her around. Still good, but just different, when he knew he was going to get to say his piece without interruption.
By the time we left the restaurant, two hours had passed. There'd been a lot of laughing and pleasant conversation, as well as good food. The combination to a majority of fantastic evenings.
Back home, Sean went to his room, citing weariness from his trip. My wife and I gave him one more hug and let him go.
In bed that night, my wife turned to me and said, "Sean's turned into a really great guy, hasn't he?"
I said, "Yeah, it's good to know that it's still possible to get positive results from a broken home. Aunt Iris has done a good job."
"But he really turns to you for a lot." I'd told my wife about a lot of the things Sean had said over the years. Some had remained secrets, but through my descriptions of some of our conversations, I think she knew Sean almost as well as I did. "You've helped turn him into who he is. I'm proud of you."
There were times where it had been easier to deal with Sean's problems than it had been my own son's. The distance helped there, I think. Still, I'd managed to make my own boy into a good man, while helping my aunt's do the same. It was a good feeling.
The next morning was the orientation tour. Sean reiterated the offer for me to come with him. He even invited my wife, but she said, "You go ahead and make it a boys' day out. I'll be fine."
The campus was a little over a half hour away. Still, it wasn't a bad drive, and we got there in plenty of time. I'd attended different events at the college over the years, but those were mostly evening affairs, and while there were always students of some kind running around, it wasn't the same kind of energy as you got when the place was teeming with young life. The last time I'd been there for an orientation was with my own boy. The older I get, the younger the kids on campus look. I thought they'd looked young when I'd last been there with Drew, they looked positively babies now. The one thing I've noticed as I've gotten older, though, is: I not only appreciate the hot young bodies (mainly women) in these situations, but also their mothers. In fact, I've gotten to the point where I appreciate the hot moms as well as I do their daughters. There are occasions where I even deem the moms more attractive than their younger counterparts.
So, anyhow, with all the eye candy running around, this old guy was having a tough time staying focused. I could tell Sean was in the same boat. We just stood there for a while, taking in the view, but eventually, we gathered our wits and headed toward the building where orientation was being held.
The pitch hadn't changed significantly since I'd gone there, so I didn't hear a whole lot I found new. Still, we weren't there for me, so Sean paid close attention. They then teamed us with a student from Sean's major's department to show us around. Our guide was a cute redhead named Heather. I could tell Sean was interested. Hell, for that matter, so was I.
Sean's major wasn't anything like mine had been, so we were shown a part of the campus I hadn't spent much time in. I found it interesting, since it was foreign territory. There were times I thought Heather was flirting with Sean, and it appeared he was eating it up, and giving as good as he got. I hoped he wouldn't lose focus chasing skirts and screw himself up. It wasn't likely, but you never know how big an impact a woman can have on a man.
When the tour was over, I knew more about my alma mater than I had before, and Sean was excited. I thought he'd swoon when Heather handed him a slip of paper and told him to give her a call if he had any questions, or if he wanted to see anything again. It didn't take a lot of imagination to figure out one thing he certainly wanted to see again, but I wasn't going to get into that.
On the way back to the car, I asked, "So, what did you think?"
Sean beamed, "I think I'm going to like it here."
