The Apprentice
by and © N Fourbois
Chapter 19
Orlando instinctively followed Kieran upstairs. Eric and Julian were left standing in the kitchen, the latter gently checking his left cheek with his fingers.
"I suppose I shouldn't have done that."
"What?" said Eric, still puzzled as to what had occurred.
"I touched up Kieran and felt his balls, none too gently either, and he smacked me one."
"You bloody idiot!"
"You're right. I am."
"Sort yourself out."
Eric dashed up to Kieran's room, knocked the door, entered without awaiting a reply and found Kieran lying face down on his bed, sobbing and being comforted by Orlando. He turned and looked up at his uncle.
"I may be a gayboy, but I'm not some cheap slut who's up for anything with anyone."
"Okay, Kieran. I understand and I'm proud of you." Orlando motioned to Eric to go. This was an intimate moment where a third person was superfluous. He returned to the kitchen to find Julian looking at himself in the mirror. He was already developing what promised to turn into a serious black eye.
"That young nephew of yours is quite a powerful boy." He paused. "Eric, I think I'd better be going. Sorry to ruin your weekend."
"Well, the atmosphere's not going to improve if you stay."
"I'll go and apologise to the boy."
"No, leave him alone. You'll do more harm than good."
"I'll get my things together. I'll make it up to him."
Julian went up to the blue room and packed his overnight bag. He listened at Kieran's door, but heard nothing. He went downstairs.
"Okay, I'm ready." He and Eric walked out to the car together. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I've spoilt your weekend. I do hope this won't spoil our relationship." Eric made no comment. He was not even sure at that moment he wanted their friendship to continue, but this was no time to make a decision like that. They waved goodbye rather weakly without hugging or kissing. The car pulled out of the drive and drove off. Was this au revoir or adieu?
Eric went back inside the house. He finished clearing up the kitchen, then sat down in the living room to think over what had happened. Julian had obviously accepted responsibility. He really was proud of his nephew, not only for the way he had defended his honour, but also, something quite different, for the way he had cooked lunch, and that was the first time he'd done a roast. Eric was definitely suffering from confused emotions.
Upstairs things had calmed down. Kieran had stopped crying. He was sitting on his bed, while Orlando sat in the armchair.
"Go and wash your face, Kieran. I'll just go and see what's happening downstairs." Orlando found Eric alone in the sitting room, just staring into space.
"Hi, Orlando. How's Kieran?"
"He's okay. He's just freshening up."
"Julian's gone now. He realised he'd acted improperly and so he packed his things and drove home. He wanted to see Kieran and apologise, but I wouldn't let him."
"I think we might coax him down in that case."
"We never got round to having that cup of tea, did we? I'll go and make a pot while you bring Kieran down here."
They both went off to carry out their tasks.
"It's all right, Kieran. He's gone now. Come downstairs with me. Eric's brewing a pot of tea."
"I feel better now. It's just that I feel so confused."
"Come down and we'll talk it through. That's if you feel like talking." Kieran nodded. Orlando took his hand, led him to the sitting room and drew him to sit down beside him on the sofa. Eric brought in the tea things on a tray.
"Feeling better now?" Kieran nodded again. Eric poured the tea and handed round the cups.
"I feel so grubby after that monster touched me. And it hurt. I might have expected something like that to happen more with a stranger in the middle of town, but not in my own home, and with someone who's supposed to be a guest. It's not as if he's hard up for sex." Eric blushed at that remark, but refrained from saying anything.
They all sat in silence for a few moments, sipping their tea. Finally Eric broke the silence.
"Unfortunately that incident became part of your apprenticeship. Don't get me wrong. It wasn't planned or anything and if I'd had even the slightest inkling that Julian was going to try a stunt like that, I would never have allowed him anywhere near the house. But all the time we gay people have to live in a twilight world, there are going to be men like him and incidents like that."
"Even in the heterosexual world," added Orlando "things like that can happen and do, but go unnoticed."
"I didn't do anything to lead him on, did I?"
"Before the incident," replied Eric "I would have said no. It's easy to be wise after the event, but the way you're dressed is attractive, provocative even. In an ideal world you would have been safe, but this is far from an ideal world."
"But I should have been safe in my own home. Of course I wouldn't have gone into town dressed like this. I thought twice about it before popping along to the paper shop like this."
"And do you remember the effect you had on those two young kids?" said Orlando. Kieran nodded.
"I'm sorry too, Uncle Eric. I've buggered up your weekend."
"No, you haven't. If anybody ruined it, it was Julian and his not knowing how to behave."
"Was he drunk?" asked Kieran.
"I shouldn't think so. He was driving last night and so he didn't drink very much and while I remembered the wine to marinate the beef, I completely forgot to buy any to drink. And I didn't raid your parents' sherry decanter, either." Eric poured each another cup of tea.
"Okay," he said. "Things have changed and I'm not going to stay around here to play gooseberry on you two. Two's company, three's a crowd, as the saying goes. I'm sure you can manage without me. Also, I've got to walk home, as I came here in Julian's car. Remember, Kieran, we've got the gym tomorrow. We'll have to enrol you as a member this week. Do you want me to pick you up on the way home from work or will you come over to the flat?"
"I'll come over to the flat."
Kieran and Orlando cleared away the tea things while Eric went upstairs to tidy up. He packed his overnight bag, stripped the bed, brought the linen downstairs and started it off in the washing machine. Finally he was ready to go. He said goodbye to Orlando with a hug.
"I hope we meet again. Look after Kieran. He's a bit fragile at the moment." He held Kieran in an even tighter hug. "Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"Sure."
"If there's anything you need, don't hesitate to call me."
"I'll be okay. I've got Orlando to look after me until eleven tomorrow. It'll be practice for next weekend and I'm sure I'll cope for the remaining six hours." He was recovering his sense of humour.
Kieran closed the door behind his uncle and from the front room watched him walking down the road and disappear round the corner. He took Orlando by the hand and led him to the settee.
"Orlando, I need holding." They sat on the settee. Orlando had his arm round Kieran's shoulder and was holding his hand with the other, stroking it with his thumb. It felt so right for both of them; it was not even sexual, but highly emotional. Eventually they both dozed off.
A car horn sounding as it went past woke Kieran and as he moved Orlando stirred too. They looked at each other, still not fully awake, and smiled. They kissed lightly on the lips.
"Let's go for a walk," said Kieran. "I need to get out of here." He went upstairs, slipped a pair of white shorts over his lycras and put his sandals back on. He and Orlando left the house, chastened and determined not to act in a provocative way, and made their way towards the park. The sun had brought out a number of families. Some were walking, some were having picnics on the grass, couples were lying there soaking up the sun's rays. Those walking usually headed for the large pond in the middle. There used to be fish in it until a passing heron discovered it was the source of an easy meal, and returned until he had exhausted the stock. The council couldn't cover the pond as it was home to various wildfowl, mainly mallards, that used the island in the centre as a safe haven to nest. Kieran was beginning to feel at peace with himself. He and Orlando walked on until they spotted a group of lads, some their age, some younger, kicking a football around. They stopped and watched them. They were oblivious to the game, content to watch the players.
"If you could be or do whatever you wanted," said Orlando "what would you do?"
"Lots of things," answered Kieran. "And, oddly enough, being straight isn't one of them."
"I can understand that," said Orlando. "Have you ever read Huxley's Brave New World?" Kieran shook his head. "In his new world humans are divided into classes, conditioned according to their usefulness to society - professional, managerial, workers and so on. The top class, the alphas, have the best life and the most privileges, the betas less so, but the point is that through conditioning, by drugs... soma if I remember correctly... everybody is content, no, more than that, positively happy with their status in life, except the hero who hasn't been conditioned. And so in the way nature has created us gay I think it is up to us to seek out the best of being gay and get on with enjoying ourselves. I don't mean we have to go parading through the streets with pink candy floss type hair and various bits of ironmongery embedded into our bodies, or act like the biggest queen outside Buck House, but if we like other males and find them sexually attractive, let's enjoy it."
"You mean like watching these lads play soccer?"
"Exactly. We aren't causing them any harm or inconvenience and they're giving us a lot of pleasure, though they don't know it. But you didn't answer the question."
"This might sound strange, and I accept that both options are now impossible at my age, but I'd like to have trained to a good, if not top standard ballet dancer or gymnast."
"Why?"
"That's easy. Look at their physiques, look at the kit they get to wear and look at the boys they have to train and compete with. Need I say more? How about you?"
"I'd find it hard to beat that. Top sportsman, yes, much for the same reasons as you. Rugby player for the atmosphere and camaraderie, cricket no, too slow. Soccer certainly not. I don't like the ethos. Athletics, sure, but which discipline? Long distance running? Wrestling? Anything where I could get to wear one of those lycra one-pieces. Australian rules football. Their kit is pretty cool."
"I've got a one-piece on order for gym workouts."
"Wow! You must let me see you in that. Gosh, I'm getting a boner just thinking about it." Orlando re-adjusted himself.
Meanwhile one of the park benches had become vacant and they went and sat on it. "Do you find that seeing a boy in a tight garment can sometimes be sexier than seeing him naked?"
"Mmm, now you come to mention it, yes. I suppose it takes away any sense of anticipation when you can see everything," said Kieran. "Which team are you supporting?"
"Skins of course. And you?"
"Skins, naturally. Just look at their abs, their nipples and their belly buttons. There are one or two hotties among them. Hey, Eric told me that tonight you're my test piece for my apprenticeship and that I can't carry on until you're fully satisfied." Orlando grinned.
"That's going to be quite challenge then, isn't it? Yes, he mentioned that to me. And if I allow you to pass?"
"I go onto what he likes to term in the syllabus as 'coïtus'."
"Oh, a proper shag. Why didn't you say so? And does that mean that if I did pass you, you want to... what shall I say? ... practise next weekend what you'll learn during the coming week?"
"Well, it would be nice if we could."
"But that means I'm being blackmailed."
"How do you mean, Orlando?"
"If I passed you, that might imply I wanted full sex with you even though I might not. Or suppose I wanted sex with you, I might find myself tempted to pass you, when you're in fact rubbish." Kieran drew in a breath of air between his teeth.
"You're between the devil and the deep blue sea there."
"Or is it between a cock and a hard place?" Kieran shoved Orlando's shoulder in appreciation of a bad joke.
"Looks as if I'm going to have to be very good tonight so as not to place you in this serious dilemma." Pause. "And as a matter of interest do you want to make love next weekend... I mean properly?"
"I couldn't possibly comment at this stage."
"And would you prefer to be the top or bottom?"
"As a virgin, I want to try out both before I make up my mind."
"So you do want full sex next weekend!" exclaimed Kieran triumphantly.
"Oops, I must be more careful with my use of tenses," and Orlando roared with laughter.
The casual footballers were packing up. Our boys had no idea who had won. The skins were shifting the goal posts by putting their tops back on.
"The show's over," said Orlando.
"I suppose we'd better make our way home," said Kieran.
"Let's go and see the ducks first. Pity we didn't bring any bread."
"Oh, you shouldn't feed them bread. It's not good for them."
"Phew, I'm glad you said that, Kieran, before we had the animal welfare nutters writing in." The pair laughed at the surreal dimension their conversation had adopted.
Kieran and Orlando had probably done more to bond during that Sunday than they had during both of the nights they had spent together in bed.
They arrived home towards seven o'clock and on going through the front door, immediately discovered the next problem they had to deal with. What to have for tea.
Authors deserve your feedback. It's the only payment they get. If you go to the top of the page you will find the author's name. Click that and you can email the author easily.* Please take a few moments, if you liked the story, to say so.
[For those who use webmail, or whose regular email client opens when they want to use webmail instead: Please right click the author's name. A menu will open in which you can copy the email address (it goes directly to your clipboard without having the courtesy of mentioning that to you) to paste into your webmail system (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo etc). Each browser is subtly different, each Webmail system is different, or we'd give fuller instructions here. We trust you to know how to use your own system. Note: If the email address pastes or arrives with %40 in the middle, replace that weird set of characters with an @ sign.]
* Some browsers may require a right click instead
