Jamie

Should I stay or should I go? That was the question. Jordan ran off as he so often did. Why did I have to go and hold him like that? Because I liked him. I really, really liked him. He wasn't a little kid, as he pointed out so often, so why did I feel like a pedophile?

Should I apologize? Yes, I decided that was the right thing to do and went looking for him, despite the nice, little teeth marks he left on my shoulder. It actually stung. As expected, I found him in that gross, disgusting pond. As I approached it, he merely glanced at me, subtly acknowledging my presence. While standing in the pond, he held yet another frog in his hand.

"Do you think frogs give you warts?" he asked, looking down at the frog.

"I don't know," I said. "I think it's an old wive's tale."

"You mean you think someone just made it up?"

"Yes," I said, not really interested in talking about frogs or warts.

"Tim used to say frogs give you warts," he said. Tim said. Tim said. Jordan was always referring to what "Tim said."

"You need to stop listening to Tim."

"I did," he said.

"Look, Jordan, I just want to say I'm sorry." Focusing on the frog, he didn't say anything and if he were someone other than Jordan, I would have assumed he wasn't listening, but this was Jordan and I was sure he was listening.

"Don't tell Tim," he finally said as if he should be embarrassed or ashamed for what happened to him in the pool. He always worried about what Tim thought.

"I won't," I said.

"Sorry," he said.

"What are you sorry for?"

"Because I did it on you," he said, avoiding my eyes, his eyes down on the frog. "I didn't mean to." Interesting that he didn't apologize for biting me.

"Don't worry about it," I said, ashamed for letting things get carried away. Who was I kidding? I knew what I was doing.

"I don't know why it happened," he said, pacing through the pond, stroking the head of the frog. He was so cute, I could barely stand it. Why did I have to like him so much? I was too old for him. "I don't know..."

"What do you mean you don't know? It happens to all guys."

"I know," he said in his annoyed voice. "I'm not stupid." Holding the frog, he got out of the pond and sat on a log not far from where I stood. He seemed genuinely perplexed and confused and I couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for his confusion. That sounded just like me. I was great at confusing people, mostly people I cared about. He was silent for a minute, which was something I was used to by now, but I could tell he was thinking of what to say, but he just couldn't get the words out.

"You seem confused," I said, approaching him on the log. I wanted to find out what he was so confused about. He only shook his head. While he sat on the log, I stood behind him, running my fingers through his head of dark wet curls, making them stick up everywhere. Just a short while ago, he freaked out when I went to ruffle his hair. I was only teasing him, but he didn't like to be teased and he didn't like to be touched. He let me touch him all the time now.

"I've never been on a date," he said. "I've never done a lot of things."

"Are you saying you want to go on a date?" I asked. He looked up and over his shoulder at me with a slight roll of his eyes. "Hey, what was that for?" I asked, tugging his hair.

"I never said I wanted to go on a date," he said. "I've just never been on one. I've never done a lot of things." He held the frog with one hand and held his other hand on his lap, moving his hand discretely over his crotch. "It keeps happening whenever you touch me," he said, not as discrete as I assumed he was trying to be. Yeah, I knew I turned him on and kept touching him, anyway. In my sick, twisted way, I liked that I had that effect on him. He had that effect on me, too, except I could hide it better. I so wanted him to turn around and yank my trunks down again. My waist was practically level with his head. Thinking about it, my cock started to twitch again. The fingers of my left hand were entwined in his hair, my other fingers trailing down his neck.

"We should probably go back. It's dinner time," I said, not breaking away from him.

"Yeah," he sighed. Neither one of us moved. "What's your favorite Clash song?" he asked.

"The Clash? You mean like London Calling?"

"Is that your favorite Clash song?"

"No. It's Clampdown. What's yours?"

"Hmm," he said, looking up at me. "Interesting. It's my favorite, too."

"Come with me tomorrow," I said, unable to bear the thought of being away from him for most of the day. Even I couldn't believe I asked him to come with me to my parents.' He hated doing anything different, beyond his routine, anyway. "We'll be back in time for the fireworks." Not responding, he leaned back and into me, his head pushed against my groin, just at the perfect height so he could feel what was happening inside my trunks. Turn around, Jordan...do it...please... God, I was so ashamed of myself.

"Okay," he said. "I'll come."

"Cool," I said, afraid I was about to take things too far again. "We better head back before Tim comes looking for you."

"I guess," he said and abruptly spun around on the log. For a brief second, he rested his head against my waist. His hand brushed over my crotch as he stood up. Oh shit...

"Come on," I squeaked out. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" he asked, clearly distracted, looking down my body.

"To dinner," I said. "If we don't go back now, Tim's going to send out a search party."

"No he won't," he said, taking me at my word.

"Come on, let's go," I said, pulling away from him.

We walked side by side back to the house while Jordan held the frog. As we walked, his hand purposely brushed against mine. He had turned out to be quite the flirt although I wasn't entirely sure he was aware he was flirting.

"Are you keeping him for a pet?" I asked, referring to the frog.

"No," he said, bending down to let the frog go. "They all die on me."

Tim was at the grill, drinking a beer when we returned. "Go wash your hands," he said to Jordan as he was about to sit down. Sighing and rolling his eyes, he headed reluctantly into the house. "I know you've been touching all kinds of things in the woods," Tim added. I was just about to go inside, too, to wash my hands and get a beer, when I decided to tell Tim our plans for tomorrow.

"You're having people over tomorrow, right?" I said.

"Yeah, just a few people from work," he said. "Why?"

"Because I thought I'd take Jordan to my parents' house for the day," I said.

"Oh really?" Tim said, almost as surprised as I was when I asked him to come with me. "And why would you do that?"

"I thought it'd be a nice change for him," I said.

"He doesn't do change well," he said. "There's a reason he doesn't go anywhere. I doubt he'll even go with you."

"No, he wants to come."

"Really?" he said. "Hmm...he likes you and I have no idea why."

"Why? You don't think I'm likable?" I tried to make a joke, not letting on that maybe Jordan liked me a little more than a friend.

"Jordan doesn't like anyone," he said, which I knew for a fact wasn't true. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."

"He's not so bad," I said.

"Fine," he laughed. "Fine. Good luck to you. He's your problem if he acts up."

"He's not a problem," I said.

"We'll only be gone for a couple of hours. He doesn't want to miss the fireworks." Tim looked at me hard for a few seconds.

"What do you guys do all day when I'm working, anyway?" Hmm...let's see...we flirt all day and I made your little brother come earlier.

"Swim," I said as Jordan re-emerged, hoping Tim didn't notice me blush. What was wrong with me? I was too old to blush.

"Tell me again why you're not staying with your parents?" Tim said as Jordan's eyes met mine.

"Because they live in a one bedroom townhouse," I said. As Tim turned back around to face the grill, I squeezed Jordan's narrow shoulder before going inside to wash my hands and get a beer.

Jordan sat in front of Tim who always seemed to have an eye on him. They both needed to get some lives. There was no question Jordan was odd, but he wasn't nearly as bad as Tim made him out to be.

Jordan munched on his carrots while Tim and I reminisced about childhood summers. As kids, Tim would most often come to my house and he'd be home by dusk to take Jordan to the fireworks. Rarely, if ever, did he have friends over his house. Maybe a few times a year. As we talked, every now and again, my eyes turned to Jordan. I'd never seen anyone like carrots as much as Jordan did. He must have eaten 20 baby carrots while Tim and I finished our steaks (that Tim over cooked).

"The only vegetables Jordan eats are carrots and green beans," Tim said. "Sometimes corn on the cob."

"That's not bad," I said as Jordan crunched another carrot, staring to the side and out into the quiet landscape. Less than three weeks ago, Gina kicked me out. Less than three weeks ago, I fucked Brendan in our bed. It all seemed so long ago. Now all I thought about was this nineteen year old boy sitting diagonal to me.

"Can we go out for ice-cream?" Jordan asked.

"You haven't even eaten your dinner," Tim said. Jordan moved on to his half-cooked/half-raw green beans.

"I want ice-cream," he said between mouthfuls.

"After you eat," Tim said. "Hey, I thought you were going to make brownies today."

"Special brownies?" he said. "I guess I forgot."

"I can't believe you forgot," Tim said. "You never forget about brownies."

"I forgot," he said. "I'll make them tonight. Jamie can help me." I nearly choked on my beer. Jamie can help me?

"Jamie will help you?" Tim said, as equally surprised as I was.

"Yeah, Jamie told me he always wanted to make special brownies," he said. "I'll show him how...after ice-cream."

Jordan got what he wanted and the three of us went for ice-cream after dinner. In his bare feet, Jordan led the way. He had a nice ass. I hoped Tim didn't notice me admiring his body.

"Listen, Jamie," Tim whispered to me as if he were about to tell me some big secret. "If you're taking him to the fireworks tomorrow night, then...if you don't mind...I'd like to take Kelly out."

"Kelly? Who's Kelly?"

"Sort of someone I've been seeing."

"Why do you have to be so secretive about it?"

"Jordan doesn't deal with change well." He must have told me that a hundred times.

"You've got to give him a little credit. He's not a little kid. He'll understand if you had a date."

"You don't know him like I do." I started to think that maybe I knew him better. Jordan looked over his shoulder to make sure we were coming.

"Jordan spends most of his time alone," I said. "He doesn't need a babysitter."

"The point is I'm not going to the fireworks and I really like this girl. I might stay over her place...if you don't mind."

"Sure. No problem," I said, excited about the idea of being completely alone with Jordan for the night.