Cosmic Charlie
"Hey, Nick." I said as I stood in the doorway. Nick looked like I had woken him up or, more likely, I had woken up his parents' dog and the dog had woken him up. "I told your Dad I'd bring his drill back before he came home on his lunch break. When'd you get home?"
"Uh . . . yesterday. Sorry, man, come in. Its so fucking cold outside." I walked into his parents' living room. I had bought the house next door seven years ago when I was 22. I'm only ten years older than Nick, so while he was growing up I was sort of the cool young uncle or older cousin next door. His dad travelled for work a lot back then, so I would take him to college basketball games and things like that. I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it, but for the last few years he was one of my best friends. When he was younger, there was nothing sexual or unsavory about it, but the man who stood before me now was quite a stud.
He came back into the living room with a cup of coffee for me. He was wearing a pair of gray sweatpants and a darker gray v-neck sweatshirt. His short brown hair was messed up from sleeping. Even though his clothes were loose, I could see that he had gained a lot of muscle mass since he left for college.
Nick shivered. "I'm not used to the cold since I moved to SoCal. Its been fun though. I've met a lot of cool people." He paused and then suddenly remembered that he hadn't emailed me since he left. "I miss a lot of cool people too. Sorry, I didn't email you."
"Hey, its ok. I didn't email you either." Nick had moved to Southern California for college on a baseball scholarship. We'd lost touch after that. For the next twenty minutes we talked about how great college life was for Nick. It reminded me of when I was nineteen, when the whole world was in my hands and I had no mortgage or bills to worry about. As Nick talked about classes and football games and everything else, I was enjoying living vicariously through his memories.
"Hey, Sean." Nick said after the conversation had died down, "You got any weed?"
"Of course. You wanna come over later?"
"Yeah, the Syracuse game comes on at six. Can I come over to watch it?"
"See ya then." I said and then walked back over to my place.
*****
I spent the next few hours doing work in my home office. I was midlevel management at a titling company I had worked for since high-school. I'd recently been allowed to work from home two days a week, which helped to cut down on the tedious monotony of my boring but lucrative job. My one saving grace was the local gym. I worked out obsessively to keep my body fit and toned. While I didn't want have huge amounts of muscle - I wasn't going for the muscle man look - my body fat was low. I was toned and strong and my body showed it.
After work I hit the gym and then the grocery store to get a six pack of beer and some food for the game. Nick wasn't legal, but no one would ever know if as long as he didn't blab about it. I wasn't sure his parents would care if I gave him a beer or two anyway. I got home and stuck the beer in the mini-fridge that I kept in my basement TV room. I jumped in the shower to clean up and then waited around for Nick.
Nick came over promptly at six and made a beeline to the TV in the basement. "You want a beer?" I asked.
"You serious?"
"Yeah, don't tell your dad. The pot is upstairs, by the way. There should be enough to keep you mellow during the two weeks with your parents."
"Thanks." he said. Then he laughed out loud. "I'm all surprised that you're giving me a beer, when you've been supplying me with illegal drugs since I was sixteen."
"You're not turning into a pothead are you?" I asked during the commercial after the opening tip-off.
"Nah, I hardly ever smoke anymore. I can't with baseball and everything."
"Baseball practice is really doing wonders for your body Nick." I said. Was I crossing the line saying this? Am I allowed to compliment his body? I didn't want to make Nick feel uncomfortable.
"I know," He said with a big fucking grin on his face. He took a swig of his beer then said, "You're looking good too. I hope to fuck I have a body like yours when I turn thirty."
"Fuck you, I'm not thirty yet." I said and tossed a box of kleenex at him.
"Close enough." he said, "So, how are things here? Been doing a lot of heavy drilling?"
Nick figured out that I'm gay when he was in high school by observing the company that I brought home on the weekends. It never seemed to bother him at all, and it didn't really change his relationship with me.
I laughed at his double entendre and said, "Some. Not as much as I used to, I'm slowing down a little. What about you, you keeping those legendary California girls happy?"
"One or two," Nick said and took another big swig of his beer. "Actually . . ." he hesitated, "I've been fucking around a lot with guys since I got to college."
"No shit?!" I said. I was stunned. I didn't really know what to say. I just sort of looked at him and my mind went blank. I wanted to say the right thing. If I was the first person Nick came out to, I wanted to say the right thing.
"I'm not sure that I'm gay," he added. "I don't know if I want to date guys, but I'm pretty into having sex with them."
"Well, you've got a lot of time to figure it out. Keep having fun and everything else will make sense eventually."
"Its funny, Sean. When I was in high school I used to tell you about my dates and you'd tell me about yours. You made me feel like such a man when you did that. Since I moved to SoCal, every time I banged a guy, I would think, 'Man, Sean would love to hear about this.'"