If Dennis thought that The Nutcracker would be a major production problem then he would soon discover he was wrong. The community theatre couldn't afford to buy materials for scenery that huge, they would rent it. He felt it was a good omen, a great way to kick off his junior year at Cabot.

Their first production meeting of the semester was held that afternoon and brought together a well known crew of people. Marsha, Matty, Jimmy, Brad and Ben all rolled into the greenroom and took seats that would allow them a clear view of the newbies. Dennis was already there with Brandon beside him and he introduced the boy to his friends.

"Guys, this is Brandon…he's Corky's brother and my HDI for the community show," Dennis said.

"What's an HDI?" Brandon asked.

"When I screw up I get to point to you and tell Brady…he did it…HDI."

"No way, that's a lie."

"Good, you don't scare easily," Dennis said and they all laughed.

By now they all knew the year's lineup of productions, and it came as a relief. There were no huge R and J type shows. The lead off was a drama based on the life of the blind girl Helen Keller, The Miracle Worker. Matty knew the show and said it was a unit set, inside and outside of a house. Two points went to Brady when he walked in with the drawings.

It was a two level set, the upstairs held a bedroom for several of the scenes. An exterior wall would fly in to close off the living and dining room, giving them the yard and porch needed for the other scenes. Vince looked relieved, his first test as master carpenter for the scene shop.

Brady talked a little about The Nutcracker, disclosing that the set would be rented and consist of backdrops and props, little else. The ballet was the thing in this show and that was squarely on the shoulders of the choreographer. The lighting design was supposed to be Brady's task, he rarely got involved. Last year Neil lit the community shows, this year it would be Dennis' chore.

After the Christmas break there would be a dance production followed by William Inge's Bus Stop. Dennis had never read the play and knew nothing about it. But it was the final production of the year that caught his attention.

"OK, some of you may have heard of Taffy Borden…or maybe not. She's a wonderful comedienne and has some directing credits; she'll be our guest director for The Mousetrap. Vince…I see you tensing up over there," Brady said. "Relax people, this will be a year to fine tune your skills."

He looked around the room and gazed at the fifteen new students. "To those of you just starting out with us I'll say that you are fortunate to have the chance to work with our returning students. Last year we made some major accomplishments and you will reap the benefit of their experience.

"I see this as a year for the actors to polish their skills; we will do our best to make them look good." Brady looked at his watch. "OK, we still have forty-five minutes of lab time left. I'm going to leave you all here to get acquainted and share your experiences."

After Brady left there was a moment of silence. "Fine, I'm Dennis King. I guess we should go around the room an introduce ourselves."

"We all want to know what the hell really happened at The Grove this summer," Vince said.

Dennis rolled his eyes, but then laughed. "I took on the job of assistant crew chief and it went downhill from there…" And then he gave them a brief outline of the Steve Milner events.

The new students were a mixed lot from all over the area. Many had some basic stagecraft skills, some had none. Vince described the shop work, Marsha put in her two cents about the costuming. But they all emphasized the time it would require to mount these productions. When lab time was up they all left for the afternoon, tomorrow was another day.

Brandon stuck to Dennis like glue as they walked down the hall from the meeting, something was up.

"I wonder if you would do me a favor," Brandon finally said. "If I screw up will you tell me?"

"Why do you say that?" Dennis asked.

"I know Corky had quite a reputation here, I don't want anyone thinking I can accomplish what he did."

Dennis stopped in the lobby and smiled at the boy. "You do what is asked of you and no one will ever think that. By the end of this semester you'll know what's expected of you, we all will. This is a team effort, no one is left out. Corky did a fine job here, you will too. Do you need a ride?"

"No, my Mom is coming to pick me up. Thanks, Dennis…this is all a bit intimidating, ya know?"

"Yes it is, but it's a whole lot of fun too. Just hang on tight and enjoy the ride, your brother used to say that all the time. But you're not him and no one expects you to be. You'll earn your own reputation here, or die trying."

They shook hands and Dennis left the boy on the front steps. Yeah, he remembered those feelings from last year. Wondering if he would be good enough, smart enough to run with the pack. But it was all so well organized, failure was not an option.

He drove over to see Ted and have a swim. He would have stayed for dinner except he knew his parents would want to hear about his first day back. Ted had signed up for the school paper and met Mr. Brown the faculty sponsor, it looked good and he had been given the go ahead to write up his summer story.

Ted had homework, Dennis did not. Cabot would bring it on slowly, allowing the students to adjust. Public schools like Fremont just shoveled the knowledge out and hoped some of it would stick. But Ted was good academically, he had no real concerns.

They kissed in the pool house, and then thought better of doing anything else.

"We don't have the same amount of time for things like we did this summer," Ted said.

"Quality is better than quantity," Dennis agreed.

"When do you start working weekends for a production?" Ted asked.

"Hmm, six weeks, maybe."

"Cool, that's a lot of quality time."

Dennis smiled. "I agree, so think of someplace to go on Saturday."

He went home in time for dinner and then went online to see if he could find a performance of The Nutcracker on one of the websites. He looked at a few clips and decided this was a ballet with a lot of frosting on the scenery. Backdrops and props, plenty of room for lighting in the wings of the stage…piece of cake.

Brady's set for Miracle Worker was clever and workable. Someone suggested he'd stolen the ideas, someone who would remain nameless. The Romeo and Juliet set had been wonderful, but otherwise Brady's designs lacked beauty in any form of the word. So Vince ordered materials and the shop went to work.

Besides the scenery, Dennis made his way into the costume shop, figuring he'd better get some of that required time in before things got tight. Marsha let him cut cloth from patterns and showed him how to sew a straight line on the machines. It was careful, time consuming work, not something Dennis would ever consider as part of his career path.

September flowed into October and in the middle of the month Dennis received his invitation to the Tahoe gathering from Mike Stone. His mother thought the name sounded familiar but Dennis didn't illuminate her, it would be better if she didn't know. He mentioned that Bobby was going to be back in town after Christmas even though he hoped it wasn't true.

Taking Ted to Tahoe for a few days seemed like a good idea, Dennis didn't want to be there alone. It seems Mike had done what he promised; the invitation said they would all meet at the Brown Bear Lodge, rooms were reserved. It seems that during the peak ski season the man had taken over the whole lodge. Power and money could do that.

But that was still months off, first they had to perform The Miracle Worker. The set was loaded in ten days before the show opened and it looked good. Vince was happy and so was Margaret Perkins who played Helen Keller. It was difficult to act blind when there was nothing to touch.

Over in Twinkle Toes Hall the rehearsals for Nutcracker had begun. Mr. Casey, who was directing the show, taped out the confines of the set and the choreographer went to work. Dennis dropped in several times that week and took Brandon with him.

Is he or isn't he? Dennis couldn't decide what the boy's preferences were. He was handsome enough to attract the girls and yet he didn't make any moves in that direction. There were young men in the ballet who might find the boy interesting, but he paid them no mind. Maybe he was just too young, and that was all right. By now Dennis had the scene breakdown for the show and he had asked for some elevations of the scenery.

Renting a show from a stock company was one way to cut costs, and this set was coming in from St. Louis by truck. There were six performances planned, a Tuesday through Sunday run all in one week. The set would arrive five days ahead of opening; Dennis needed to know what it looked like now.

The set had been constructed and painted five years before by a Baltimore company; it was those pictures Dennis finally received. The first act took place in the large living room of a splendid home, the stage dominated by a Christmas tree. The next photo showed a scene of clouds and snow. Act Two was a series of backdrops for the different dances to be performed and then it all went back to the living room.

Pretty pictures, now Dennis needed a script of some kind. He already had the electrical layout for the theatre, a blank drawing with all the lighting positions on it. Since it was all his to figure out Dennis could move all two hundred and fifty lights if he wanted, but that wouldn't be necessary.

Modern dance called for lighting 'the box,' the open space of the stage. Ballet was more like lighting a play, a musical or an opera. The script would give him scene breakdowns and thus his general area lighting. The director would tell him where there should be specials, individual areas of light for a particular reason such as a solo performer.

Shows with so many backdrops meant they had to be lit, he could imagine a scene with ice and snow would look different than the Christmas interiors. Dennis sat down during his lab time with a small template of the proper scale and began to draw in little lighting instruments on the blank plan.

About half of what he drew was the lighting instruments already in position, the general flood of light that was always hanging. A three color wash of light was about all he could manage, they would select the colors later on. As Dennis expected, Brandon found him sitting there.

"Oh, you got the pictures," Brandon said.

Dennis handed them over. "They barely tell me what I need to know," He said. "Casey will have to give me the rest."

"It…it looks boring," Brandon said.

"Ballet…I don't get it either. Ancient art forms are rarely interesting, just historical," Dennis said. "Skinny little girls all standing on their toes, guys in tights with bulging crotches, it's all kind of perverse."

Brandon laughed. "OK, that's a different perspective. To me it's just crazy French dancing."

"Actually, it's an Italian invention, fifteenth century. They're crazy too," Dennis said.

Miracle Worker had a great final dress rehearsal and Dennis sat through it with most of the technical students in attendance. Tomorrow the audience would come and a new season would begin. There wasn't the big hoopla for this show that Romeo and Juliet had garnered, but that was just as well. As Brady had said, this was a season for acting…and Dennis was waiting his turn.

A performing arts school gave the students an exposure to all sides of the equation. Actors and singers were expected to become involved in something technical along the way. But that also meant that the techies had to perform at some point, it was expected. Dennis had no acting ambitions, but after that initial stagecraft class he had taken the Acting I class.

Like most of the technical students he'd done the assignments and listened to the lectures. It was a good class mainly because there was no homework. But having finished that Dennis knew he had to audition for something in the next few semesters. The sooner the better.

He would be moving up the ladder of technical responsibility, performing in a production would get in the way as he climbed. By the time Nutcracker opened, the script for Taffy Borden's play would be available. The Mousetrap was an old play, a classic English comedy. Dennis was sure there was a minor role in it he could handle.

Miracle Worker played to a half-filled theatre for most of the week. It was an older play, a serious drama which didn't attract customers at the best of times. But Dennis was there for the Sunday night strike and take down of the set after the last evening's performance. He saw that Vince had all the help he needed and so he wandered back to see Marsha.

"I love shows like this, two dozen costumes and that's it. How's the ballet coming?" Marsha asked.

"It's all on paper at this point, I won't see the set for a month," Dennis said.

"We're loaning them every tutu we have, especially the smaller stuff for the kids."

Dennis nodded. "Little kids running around backstage, my worst nightmare. All my side lighting is going to hang, nothing on the floor."

"Oh? That's probably a smart move," Marsha said. "So how's Ted doing?"

"Pretty damn good considering he doesn't get as much of me as he wants," Dennis laughed. He was proud of his relationship with Ted and he had shared that feeling with Marsha.

"Your piece of the work around here will be pretty well finished by the time Nutcracker opens. Bus Stop will be a great show to dump on the newbies."

"I think I'm going to audition for Mousetrap and get that acting business out of the way," Dennis said.

It was Marsha's turn to laugh. "No way…me too. Hey, we might get cast together as…well, who knows, we'll find out. I mean it's so cool to have a guest director; I just wish we knew what she's like."

"Ditto. You can always wear a wig," Dennis said.

That got them both laughing. Marsha had just had all her hair cut off until there was only a one inch bristle on her head, and that was dyed purple. She didn't think it odd, none of the theatre students would.

Dennis helped her examine the costumes for spots or stains and they made a rack of clothes for the cleaners. Marsha threw some stuff in the washer and turned it on. Her job for the night was pretty well done. They walked out to the wings of the stage to watch the strike crew. He would be home in bed by two in the morning.

Ted left him a message along with the morning expression of love. "Come see me after school," It said. "I'll feed you."

Ted's housekeeper was quite used to Dennis by now and didn't bat an eyelash when he showed up for dinner. Ted wanted to show him the article he'd written for the school paper.

"It's all in there," Ted said, handing over two typed sheets. "I just went with the facts; I'm not laying blame on anyone."

"I understand, the facts alone make everyone look foolish. Do you want me to read it now?" Dennis asked.

"Yeah, I have to submit it tomorrow."

Ted studied his history book while Dennis read the article. Ted was right, it was all there. The facts boiled down to Spring Grove hosting a band that was too popular for the size of the theatre. The addition of a second show to handle that popularity was a grave error, the timing set up the disaster.

Milner's own lackadaisical attitude about performing on time assured there would be chaos, Ted even suggested that the band's organization treated the whole performance as a chance to party, but the word drugs was not used. The meat of Ted's article began on page two.

"With thousands of fans on the inside enjoying a close up look at their favorite band, the exterior scene was gravely different. Although the majority of those outside were ticketholders who just wanted to enter the theatre and see Milner, there were hundreds who did everything to disrupt that effort.

"The traffic problems on the highways around Spring Grove attracted the attention of county enforcement. It seems no one had notified them of the unusual event, and when they finally reached the parking lots of the theatre things were already out of hand.

"The images that played on the television news that night, and over the course of the following week, showed nothing less than a full scale riot. As the police arrived in force they were attacked by the mob, a police car was overturned and set on fire. Angry fans could hear the music inside and began looking for ways into the building by breaking windows and battering doors.

"By ten-thirty, long after the second show was to have begun, the police served notice to the management that the theatre was to close by order of the county commissioner's office. The first show ended; there would be no second performance. In fact, Spring Grove will no longer be allowed to hold rock performances.

"In the past forty-one years, Spring Grove has presented the finest entertainment from across the nation. They will continue to present Broadway touring shows, night club acts and comedians. Rock and roll may never die, but it has at Spring Grove."

"That's good, real good," Dennis said. "And sad all at the same time."

Ted smiled. "Yeah, it felt like an obituary."

"The Grove isn't dead yet, they still have an audience."

Dinner was nice, and they took a walk around the cart track afterwards. Dennis had discovered that time spent together was the most important thing he could do for Ted. It gave them a chance to share thoughts and feelings as they were both still trying to work out the complexities of life.

"I have to go see mom tomorrow, it's her birthday," Ted said.

"What's she doing, you never talk about her."

"She's working in an office; she was a property manager before all this lesbian business came up. The house she's in was one of her investment properties; at least she had a place to go. Kathy is still home every night, she's not working yet and community college only takes up half her day. I am so glad I'm not there."

Dennis smiled. "I'm glad too, but I can't wait for this semester to end."

"I'm looking forward to our Tahoe trip," Ted said.

"Yeah, the only thing in the way is this ballet. I have a lot of help, and Brandon is turning out to be a really good assistant."

It came as a pleasant surprise when Dennis walked into the control booth of Twinkle Toes Hall and discovered Brandon had already put together a program with all the dimmer assignments. Like most good theatres the lighting systems were computerized.

With foresight, the technical designers for Cabot's performance spaces had seen the need for maximum flexibility so they had included one dimmer for each circuit. A circuit could handle two or three lighting fixtures which gave Dennis great potential in his design.

The mundane task of entering the program in the control board was now done; Dennis thought he ought to give Brandon a hug…but that probably wasn't a good idea.

"Did you cut all your classes today just to do this?" Dennis asked.

Brandon laughed. "No, it only took a couple of hours. I wrote the charts on my laptop at home last night, all I had to do was copy them in. You know, they really ought to give us a program we can use to set it all up at home."

Dennis shook his head. "Too much data, it would crash your laptop. Neil told me he figured each block of data for the board takes about a gig of memory…times two hundred and you see what I mean."

"Oh…that's huge, it doesn't need all that."

"Brandon…the board is eight years old, I'm just glad it works. You can design one that fits in the palm of your hand after you graduate," Dennis said.

"You know, I just might," Brandon replied.

The mechanics of lighting a show involved a lot of grunt work. The truckload of scenery would be there in a few days but Dennis couldn't wait for it, they had to hang the lights. Tearing a copy of the lighting design in strips, Dennis handed out the pieces and they went to work.

The fly system in Twinkle Toes Hall was a duplicate of the main stage next door except this one was completely manual. There were forty-eight counterweighted pipes the width of the proscenium all hung in neat rows running towards the backstage wall. Pipes were flown in, loaded with lighting instruments and counterbalanced with weights. Heavy rubber covered cables providing the electrical connections were strung out and plugged in, and then everything was tied in place.

For this show, four of the six lighting pipes were hung with vertical battens off each end. This was in keeping with Dennis' concerns about having kids and poles filled with lights on the same stage. With nothing on the floor to get knocked over it would be safer for the cast and crew backstage. If anything it made their setup look like a rock concert, Dennis had created a bubble of light in which the ballet could be performed.

The hang took them six hours and then it was all whisked away into the rafters. The following day they would begin to watch the rehearsals and write down the starts and stops of each scene. It would also be an introduction to the music as the first orchestra rehearsal was due. The elements were coming together; now all Dennis wanted was scenery.

The tractor trailer that sat idling in the loading dock on Wednesday morning was full; Dennis could tell by the way it sat low on the concrete slab. His idea of backdrops and a few props turned out to be an entire trailer full of scenery. Vince and the unloading crew looked intimidated.

"What the hell did you guys latch on to?" Vince asked.

"Mr. Casey said this was the smaller rental version…I have no idea what all this is for," Dennis replied, but he soon found out.

There were twenty backdrops, six of them just for the interior Act One set. The magical Christmas tree was a large round platform that hid a hydraulically operated lift. The tree was supposed to grow as the toys came alive, and there were layers of branches hidden in the platform to pop out as the telescoping trunk pushed upwards.

"Wow, that is so cool," Vince said as they studied the mechanism. "Bet it's a bitch to repack all those branches."

There was a battery powered sled for the Prince, two huge fireplaces and a staircase which led nowhere. Now they knew why the specification sheets had suggested a stage crew of eight, there was a lot of damn stuff to push around. The front of the truck held laundry hampers, those big roll around units with casters that never seemed to coordinate, or facilitate movement.

Dennis opened one and found himself looking at a giant mouse head.

"Wow, neat costumes," Vince said, and he was right.

They had fifteen hampers of costumes, another six of props and two large fog machines. Casey was due in at three that afternoon, all this would make for a very long day. Dennis was determined to have the lighting done by Friday, which meant the scenery had to be in place. He had plans with Ted on Saturday.

Throughout the semester Ted had been patient with Dennis' busy schedule. At first he had tagged along to some of the rehearsals but been relegated to sitting in the house as Dennis worked on stage, that soon grew tiresome. Dennis figured the boy had spent a lot of quiet evenings at home and knew that had to be frustrating.

This had been a wet fall in the valley and that curtailed any thoughts of time on the boat or picnics by the lake. Dennis was indoors most of the day but knew Ted missed their time together. Nothing could hurt their relationship more than time apart, something had to be done.

By now Brandon was aware that something was up between Dennis and Ted and so he had suggested that Dennis take the day off, nothing big was going to happen on Saturday. Vince would handle the scenery during rehearsal that evening and there would be nothing to do until Sunday afternoon.

"Are you sure?" Dennis said. "I mean we could start to run cues with that Casey kid…"

"No, you get out of here, let me deal with him," Brandon replied.

Mr. Casey had brought in his son to act as stage manager. Dennis was sure the young man didn't have a clue what that job entailed. Fortunately Vince was on top of things, Casey Jr. would be delegated the task of babysitting the cast. Brandon had taken on the role of surrogate stage manager.

With Vince backstage and Jimmy running the ropes overhead, Dennis and Brandon would run the lights and sound between them. They would be like an orchestra without a conductor, but with all four of them in communication the show would run itself.

Brandon was assertive and self confident, but with good reason. Dennis had watched him at work and knew the boy would become another Tommy Dean. It was the highest compliment he could pay anyone; Brandon was going to rise to the top at Cabot very quickly…Dennis would make sure of that.

The spring semester held out the promise of directing scenes and all the directing students would be vying for technical support. Dennis was one of the three lighting students with the most experience, they would come to him. But if he was cast in Mousetrap there wouldn't be any free time, he would pass the work off to Brandon.

Brady knew the names of his students and little else. For the technical director of a student theatre that was a pretty poor way to operate. The production meetings always dissolved into the crew heads trying to pry information out of the man, and then they would end up having to develop their own answers.

It was one way to run a program, provided there was enough student talent in control. Dennis felt lucky to have Brandon and he would only grudgingly give the boy up to other departments. He could influence the tasks Brandon was assigned and he knew the boy had to learn all sides of production. It had to be fair and balanced, for very soon Brandon would be able to reach out and grab what he wanted. At Cabot the cream always rose to the top.

Ted was the competitive type; their sessions on the go cart track had proven that. On Saturday morning they went out for breakfast and then Dennis drove Ted into Sacramento and the Smash warehouse. He got a funny look from the boy as they pulled into the parking lot.

"Paintball…I didn't know you liked paintball?" Ted said.

"My first time," Dennis said.

"You know this hurts, don't you?" Ted said.

"It's raining, what other indoor activity do you propose we do?"

What a loaded question, and Dennis got back a sincerely evil leer. "I'm good at this," Ted said.

"You're good at a lot of things, I'm just catching up," Dennis laughed.

Each of them was outfitted in a faded camo jumpsuit, helmet and face shield. They were made to sign off on a safety instruction sheet, and then given a floor plan of the battlefield. The warehouse was huge, lined with mazes, tunnels and protective walls. The paintball guns held a hundred shots; they could buy more for ten dollars a load.

Ted was green, Dennis was yellow, and at first they chose solo competition. Later on they could join a battle group since there were already a good number of players in the field. A marshal stood at the entrance to the maze, allowing pairs to go in ten minutes apart. Dennis would walk down a hallway and enter the maze at one point; Ted would come in at the entrance and seek him out.

Dennis entered the maze and quickly moved across the open space to a barrier wall. He crawled through a tunnel and came out closer to the entrance where he saw Ted creeping around the corner. He'd never fired a paint gun before so his first shots went wide giving Ted a warning. Green spatters bounced off the wall over his head and Dennis knew Ted was being generous.

Dennis crawled back through the tunnel and turned right behind a wall where he waited. Fortunately he looked back at the other entrance just in time to see Ted slide around the corner. Dennis fired off two shots, missing again but getting much closer this time. Shoot and move, shoot and move. Dennis began to feel like Ted was herding him towards the center, but still neither of them had been hit.

Dennis crouched behind a wall and waited…and waited. Now he felt like Ted was lying in wait somewhere, the change of tactics threw him. He couldn't sit there all day so Dennis looked at the opening to another tunnel and decided he had to go for it, Ted was waiting. No sooner had he moved then Dennis felt two hard slaps to his arm and the camo blossomed in green paint. Score one kill for Ted.

Dennis ran through the tunnel and turned back when he saw it was a dead end. He dropped to the floor and aimed back through the tunnel just as Ted rounded the corner. Dennis tapped out two shots and Ted's right leg blossomed in yellow paint, the score was even.

"Oww," Ted yelped. "A little higher and your day would be ruined, Mister."

Dennis stood up and they walked out the exit together. There were five mazes and they ran through them all, splattering one another with paint. Ted was right, getting shot by a liquid filled ball hurt, there would be bruises tomorrow. They decided to forego the team battles since they had been in the warehouse for three hours already.

It was raining hard when they decided to leave so they made a dash for Dennis' car.

"Well I guess that kills our hope for a round of golf," Dennis laughed.

"I never played golf before," Ted said.

"Oh? You mean there's something you can't do?"

He got a punch in the arm for that comment, followed by a quick kiss.

"I don't care what we do, this is part of the quality time we keep talking about," Ted said.

"What we need is something we can do indoors," Dennis said. "It's going to rain all damn day."

"I don't think so; the sun will come out later. No one is home at my house," Ted said. "Mamasita is off today."

"What will do we do about lunch?"

"We'll think of something."

The stream down the road from the house was swollen, but the channel didn't look backed up. They ran from the car to the house and ducked inside where Ted led the way up to his room.

Their damp clothing lay in a jumble on the floor; their naked bodies lay on the bed. Dennis could swear that in the six months they had been together that Ted's body had not changed one bit. The texture of his bronzed skin still felt soft and smooth to the touch. The only thing he'd noticed were the little blonde hairs growing on Ted's cheeks, the boy still wouldn't shave for a long time. Even the fuzz on his upper lip seemed unchanged.

Dennis enjoyed running his fingers around Ted's nipples, caressing his neck and chest, trailing his way down across the boy's stomach. It was sure torture, and yet Ted endured. He enjoyed it, the stiffness of his erection seemed to scream his desires, and yet Dennis demurred.

"I love it when you touch me," Ted whispered.

Dennis smiled, slid himself over and lay down on Ted's body so they could embrace…and they kissed. Ted gently ran his fingers down Dennis' spine and grasped his butt, pulling them together, pressing their straining desires between them.

It had been a week since they had been like this. They were both primed and ready.

"I want you," Ted said.

"I want you too," Dennis said.

"Hmm, I won't last long enough to do you justice," Ted groaned.

"Then this will be fine until later."

Dennis rubbed their bodies together and kissed Ted's neck just below the ear. In return he received a mighty groan; this had always been Ted's most sensitive spot. Ted's fingers clutched tighter, the rubbing became frenzied. Dennis felt a flood gush out between them, and he joined the release.

If their history together had taught him anything, Dennis knew Ted would be ready to go again very quickly. The rain spattered against the windows over the bed and they lay back listening to the sound and feeling the essence of their loins drying on their skin.

"I think my father is beginning to wonder about me…about us," Ted said.

"You want to tell him?" Dennis asked.

"I want to be honest with him…I really do, but I have no idea how to tell him."

"I wouldn't know what to say to my parents either. You think he'll ever ask you?"

"No…not straight out. He's proud of me, I'm a good student and I don't cause him any trouble. He won't want to ruin a good thing. You're a good thing, Dennis, he knows that."

"Then we can't give him any reason to think otherwise," Dennis said. "Your happiness is more important to me than anything. I'm betting he feels the same way."

They made love with Dennis staring up at the beautiful boy between his legs. Ted was past the stage of seeking his own pleasure. He'd learned to derive a greater passion in the enjoyment Dennis felt. And again they lay back, listening to the rain batter the glass in the window.

"This ballet thing is going to keep you busy for two weeks, I'll be lucky to get my quality time," Ted said.

"You can sit with me in the control booth," Dennis said.

"What will Brandon think?"

"He'll think I'm the luckiest guy he knows. Most of the department knows about us by now," Dennis said.

Ted smiled. "You just want to show off your lover, is that it?"

"No, I just want to squeeze my Teddy Bear whenever I can."

Ted shook his head. "I'm sorry my father ever told you that, but it's different when you say it. Kathy used to tease me all the time with that until I was about ten."

"What happened when you were ten?" Dennis asked.

"She'd just turned thirteen and Jason Miller kissed her behind the school. One of my friends saw it and told me. Of course I said something about it in front of my parents."

"Oh no, you didn't?" Dennis laughed.

"Hell yeah, she was such a fuckin' tease, it was payback time," Ted said, and then he grinned. "We were at the dinner table, and as usual Mom asked us what we had done in school that day. Kathy said she did her math homework in class, I asked her if they gave extra credit for kissing boys.

"So she yelled at me and dropped the F word into her sentence. I said that I'd been told about her kissing Jason, but that no one had mentioned intercourse, was it any fun? That's when she slapped me and Mom dragged her out of the room."

"She hit you in front of your parents?"

"Yeah, that was a first…but well worth it. Mom took Kathy to the gynecologist for an exam to make sure she hadn't been hurt during the intercourse, which of course never happened. It was worth the embarrassment factor and Mom kept a close eye on her for months after that. I wouldn't let it go and asked Jason if he thought she would get pregnant.

"So he freaks out and right in front of a whole bunch of kids says that he didn't fuck her, he just stuck his finger in her. Well it must have been a big finger because she wasn't a virgin anymore, and Jason wouldn't go near her after that."

"Ted…that was a terrible thing to do."

"Not at the time, I figure I kept her from getting pregnant by that asshole. Kathy had a scare last year, thought she was pregnant, but she wasn't. Lots of drama, I think it's slowed her down. But hey, my being gay isn't as risky as her being a slut."

Dennis shook his head. He was so much older than his little sisters; he would be out of the house before anything like this happened. They finally got out of bed and showered. Dennis' clothes were damp so they wandered the house wrapped in towels and threw the damp items in the dryer.

Ted found some leftover chicken in the refrigerator and they ate most of it before Dennis' clothes were dry. They played in the game room for two hours but Ted could tell Dennis was distracted.

"You want to go to the theatre?" Ted asked.

Dennis grinned. "Can't keep anything from you, can I?"

"This ballet is your baby; you can't take your mind off of it. We've had a good day, your duty is done."

"It's never a duty, it's a pleasure," Dennis said.

"Go on, go see what Brandon is doing…come take me to breakfast in the morning," Ted said.

"OK, I'll go…thank you."

"I have to compete with your love for theatre, I always will."

Dennis slid his arms around Ted's waist and pulled him in for a kiss. "There is no competition, you'll always win."

Ted walked him to the door and they were both surprised by the beams of sunlight flowing under the dark clouds overhead. Beyond the clouds the sky was bold and blue, the day would end perfectly.

"See, no more rain," Ted said.

"I should listen to you more often," Dennis said. "I love you."

"I love you too."

"What are you going to do all evening?" Dennis asked.

"Maybe I'll write a story, I have so many interesting things to write about and I never get the time."

"I'd like to read it when you're done," Dennis said.

"You will…now go on before Brandon steals all the glory," Ted laughed.

Dennis looked deep into Ted's eyes and saw the same passion for life that he'd seen that very first day they met. It's what kept him rooted to the spot.

"What?" Ted said.

"Brandon will never have what you do. He'll never know what love feels like, not our kind of love. But he's a smart boy; he'll figure it out for himself someday. If he should turn out to be gay then we'll be there to help him, we have so much to give."

Ted placed a hand on Dennis' cheek. "That's really sweet; he'd make a good friend."

Dennis took the hand in his and kissed it. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Ted smiled. "The one and only. Now go on before I change my mind and drag you back upstairs."

Dennis got in his car and looked up at Ted standing by the door. The late afternoon sun chose that moment to light up the driveway and the boy was lit by its golden rays. Ted squinted at the bright light and waved good bye as the car pulled away. Dennis turned onto the road and looked back, Ted was still standing there, still golden…he always would be.


On to Chapter Eleven

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Exit Stage Left is © 2010 by Chris James.
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