Chapter Twenty-Four
Mikey
Cliff hadn’t seemed to mind Aaron and me skipping out of staying one last night in his mansion.
Although Cliff planned to have a farewell breakfast the next day for everyone who had been involved in the show, he had understood that Aaron and I preferred to spend this time alone.
We had promised that we’d swing by prior to everyone parting, though, to say goodbye.
It wasn’t that I had grown close to the contestants or crew, but I wanted to properly thank Cliff, his mother and James.
After Aaron and I were in his car on the way home, he held my thigh the entire ride. It was an affectionate gesture he hadn’t done before. I never wanted to drive again if I could forever be his passenger with his hand resting on me.
“My parents are probably freaking,” Aaron reasoned, though he wasn’t behaving as though it worried him. As if on cue, his cell phone buzzed—his entertainment console displayed the word ‘Mom.’ Aaron pressed the accept button on his steering wheel. “Hi, Mom.”
“Aaron, was that staged? Are you and Mikey concocting this whole thing for attention so a casting director notices you?” She sounded more curious than upset.
“Pretty sure being bisexual isn’t going to increase my chances of getting acting roles,” Aaron replied.
Aaron’s father was on the line, too. He cleared his throat. “Is that what you are, Aaron? Bisexual? You told us you were just pretending to be into your roommate. Why did we need to learn the truth the same time as thousands of viewers?”
I looked to Aaron and he shrugged. “I guess I never realized it until a few months ago because I haven’t been attracted to other men. Just Mikey. I didn’t see the point of talking about it if Mikey ended up with Cliff.”
“If it’s been such a short while, you might be confused,” his mother suggested.
“I’m not,” Aaron snapped back firmly. “And you’re on speaker. Mikey is in the car with me.”
“Oh.” She whispered something to her husband that I couldn’t make out. “Hello, Mikey. How’s…the job going?”
Aaron rolled his eyes, but I tried to be respectful. “Fine, Ms. Nielsen. And how are you?”
“For Christ’s sake,” Aaron blurted. “Are you guys going to behave like you always have with each other…as if nothing’s changed? Mom, Dad… I have never felt this way about anyone else—woman or man. This isn’t going to be a quick fling. I love Mikey.”
I was concerned his parents might think their son had stronger feelings for me than I did for him. “Mr. and Ms. Nielsen, I love Aaron, too. I never told him because I thought he was straight.”
“Join the club,” his father answered. “I half expected a call one day that you got a girl pregnant, Aaron…not that you swing your bat from both sides of the plate.”
Aaron shook his head. “I’ve always used protection, Dad. And don’t talk about my…bat. It’s disturbing.”
“Well, we were just calling to tell you that we support you and love you,” Ms. Nielsen explained. “Surprised doesn’t mean disappointed. We’re happy as long as you are.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Aaron said. “And I want you both to get to know Mikey better. You’ve never seen him yet.”
“We saw quite a bit of him when he wore those low-slung pajama bottoms,” Mr. Nielsen joked.
It suddenly felt like the air conditioning wasn’t working well.
“That was my idea,” Aaron jumped in. “I can’t believe I almost pimped out my boyfriend to Cliff Walker.”
“We can call each other boyfriends?” I asked.
Aaron took his eyes off the road to glance my way. “Uh, yeah! What other term would you use? Don’t refer to me as something disgusting like your ‘lover.’”
My question had actually been prompted by my continued surprise at the turn of events. It was still sinking in that Aaron was serious about loving me and wanted to be something more than friends with benefits. I smiled.
“Mikey, be patient with him. He’s cute and a sweetheart, but he’s not a piece of cake to live with,” Ms. Nielsen warned.
“Don’t listen to her, Mikey. You’ve been my roommate, so you know living with me is a dream come true,” Aaron said with a grin.
“Then you must not harass him the way you do your sister,” Ms. Nielsen cut in. “I swear, between belching in her ear and messing her hair, I’ve had to retrace my actions to understand how I raised someone so ill-mannered.”
“I do those things to Mikey, too,” Aaron admitted, before shooting an affectionate look my way. “And he loves me anyway.”
“Maybe we should come up to visit before the weather there turns cold,” Aaron’s father suggested. “I think we should get to know Mikey better, like you said. He’s family now.”
“Thank you, Mr. Neilsen,” I jumped in. “That means a lot to me. We’d love for you to visit.” My smile might have been as wide as my face.
“Yeah, we’ll figure out a time,” Aaron cut in. “There’ll be a spare room you can stay in now since I’ll be sleeping with Mikey.”
I blushed.
“Are the walls soundproofed?” Mr. Nielsen razzed.
“Do you think I’d offer otherwise?” Aaron smirked. “I don’t want to be traumatized by listening to you and Mom having sex.”
“Aaron!” Ms. Nielsen chastised.
“We need to go,” Aaron announced. “We’re home. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“All right, Aaron,” his mother responded. “I’m sure you and Mikey have lots to talk about.”
“Love you,” Aaron said.
“Love you, too,” they both returned, though Aaron had disconnected before they could get the word ‘too’ out of their mouths.
“Don’t be rude,” I admonished.
Now that the car was in park, he moved his hand further up my thigh until he cradled my balls through the material of my pants. “They talk too much, and I’m in a hurry.”
“But like your mom said, we have a lot to discuss, too.”
He shook his head. “Do we? I think we’ve said what’s important for now.”
“I’m still surprised that you’re so eager to do…gay stuff,” I shared.
Aaron grinned, pawing at my growing erection. “Not worried based on last night’s preview.” He released me to unfasten his seatbelt. “Come on inside. I’m not having sex in the apartment parking lot. I swear, that show has made you an exhibitionist.”
“What? It has not!” He wasn’t listening.
He had already exited the car and rounded the hood to open the door for me and help me out.
“You know, it’s your fault that I have a boner in the car!
” I shouted at him through the open window as I used my left hand to pop the button on the seatbelt release.
“Exhibitionist!” I continued to rant once I had the belt off me.
“You act like I whipped out my dick and began jerking off!”
From the corner of my eye, I detected movement.
It was our elderly neighbor, Margueritte McAlister, who had just walked up alongside Aaron with her poodle, Ernest. I ducked slightly on the seat, but realized that only made it worse, since she had already seen and heard everything.
She stared my way with dismay. Ernest seemed to, as well.
“Oh. Hi, Mrs. McAlister. Thanks again for taking in our mail this past week.”
“Hello,” she muttered to Aaron, before she and Ernest gave me the evil eye once more, then continued past Aaron on their way to her apartment.
My cheeks burned as I glanced at Aaron. He shook his head.
“For shame, Mikey. For shame.”
Jerk.
* * * *
Once we were inside our apartment, Aaron backed me to a wall so I could ease pressure on my bad leg, then he began kissing me.
I embraced him with my good arm, not feeling any of the pain that I should have been from my fractured bones and sprained ankle.
I was too euphoric to be with Aaron in a way I had never imagined possible.
“Text your parents. Let them know you’ll call them tomorrow,” Aaron instructed. “Otherwise, they’ll interrupt us with a repeat of the conversation I had with mine.”
I grunted. “I doubt my parents will be as easy-going as yours were.”
“They know you’re gay. What’s the big deal?”
I shrugged. “They never had to face the sex part of it. It was as if I was a gay man who lived a celibate life and never created controversy.”
He chuckled. “What do you mean, it was as if?”
“Fuck you,” I replied, though I laughed.
“Quit being a pretender. I know you’re a bottom at heart,” he teased.
I bit my lip to contemplate. “I would like that…with you.” He beamed. “And for you, I’ll refrain from topping, but it’s a sacrifice. Your ass is amazing.”
“I knew you had my ass etched on your brain. Forgettable—bah! And I never said I wouldn’t consider bottoming for you. Some day.”
“You…what?” I sputtered.
“Text your parents. I’m going to get something from my bedroom.”
I assumed from the conversation that he was going to retrieve lubricant and condoms. I would have hoped for more making out before diving right in, but I wasn’t complaining either.
I texted an explanation to my parents. As soon as I hit send, Aaron returned with a notebook in his hand. “Sit. I want to show you something.”
I was curious, but followed his instructions. Like he had done so many times before, he pushed his ass onto the chair, expecting me to lean into the side of the furniture to make room.
“What’s that? A sex instruction manual?” It was a laughable question from me, considering how many women he’d been with.
He ignored the sarcasm. “Not quite. It’s a list I’ve been keeping of the things I want to do with you if we ever got our freak on.”
“Seriously?”
Aaron nodded. “Yeah. I figured if the day ever came, which I didn’t think it would after you met Cliff, I wanted to be able to remember every scenario that had gotten me hard.” He glanced over at me. “There are a couple of pages of notes.”
My mouth opened. “And I’m a closet slut?”
He quirked his head like he was confused. “Yes, and I’m a regular slut. I thought we established that.”
I grabbed the notebook from him and began to review his list. “Mutual masturbation. I guess we did that already.”
“Not really,” he disagreed. “We didn’t jack each other off.”
I gulped, my dick starting to plump again. “Um, fingering me?”
Aaron grinned. “Yeah. Wouldn’t you want to try that before I stick my cock in you?”