Knots, Book 4

by Elias Scott

Chapter 38

Thomas and Colt

Megan asked, "Are you happy now?" as she and Thomas sat on the sofa just outside theater #8.

"No! You and Zoe are the Sirens we learned about in Greek Mythology."

"Sirens?"

"Yeah, when they sang, they lured the Greek sailors to their island to crash their ships on the rocks of their shores."

Megan nudged Thomas in the ribs with her elbow. "You're not only cute, you're smart. So you think we're Sirens, huh?"

"Yeah! I'm obviously immune, but Colt doesn't seem to be."

"Leave the guy alone. He can think for himself."

"I'm not so sure."

Megan turned toward Thomas and put her knee on the sofa. "I'm going to make you a deal."

"Deal?"

"Well, kind of a deal. I'm going to tell you a secret and then make you an offer."

He turned toward her and put his leg on the sofa too. "I don't trust you, but I'm listening"

"Well, Zoe and I made a bet as to who would get the first date with you and Colt. Obviously, we both won."

Thomas pursed his lips and shook his head. "I guess I've got to give you that one. Was there any sex involved in your bet?"

"What kind of girls do you think we are?"

"You never know nowadays."

"Well, I'm not free to tell you that."

"So does that mean Zoe could be seducing Colt in the theater right now?"

"I doubt it. Relax."

"What's the deal then?"

"I'm going out with Matt tomorrow, and since you're not interested in my charms, I'll leave you alone. That's the deal, but I'd like to be friends. Can you handle that?"

"Depends on what Zoe has in mind for Colt."

Megan put her hand on Thomas' knee. He started to move it, but didn't. "You and I have no control over what goes on between them. Don't you understand that? Either Colt loves you or he doesn't. Either he's committed to you or he isn't. You have no control over any of that. The one thing I've learned is there are no guarantees in this world. My older brother died in a car accident a few years back. He was away at school in California and was hit by a drunk driver when he was driving home for the Christmas holidays."

Thomas put his hand on top of Megan's. "I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"That's why I say there are no guarantees. We don't have any control over what others do. We only have control over what we do. So I'm going to leave you alone. You're a nice guy. I really like you and wish there could be more between us, but I've accepted that it's not going to happen. So I thought we could be friends. Good loyal friends are hard to find, and I see how loyal you are to Colt."

"You need to talk to Zoe about Colt if we're going to be friends."

"Sorry, Thomas. I can't do that. This is between you and Colt. Talk to him." Thomas removed his hand from Megan's. "Okay, I'm not stupid. I know you're right. But Zoe could just not go out with him. Can't you convince her?"

"It's not my place. Yeah, I kinda got this all started, but you need to trust Colt. Don't you trust him?"

Thomas didn't say anything.

"Well, do you trust him or not?"

"It's not that simple, Megan. Colt isn't experienced like I am."

She smiled. "And how did you get that experience?"

He paused again. "I made some big mistakes and tied some knots like Matt always talks about."

"How do you think he's going to get experience?"

"What are you, a psychiatrist?"

"No. But good friends ask the tough questions."

Thomas smiled at her. "Who said you're my good friend?"

"Like I said, we're responsible for our own decisions. We don't really have control over others, even if we think we do. Yeah, I thought I could change you, make you like me and maybe even have sex with me. But unless you are willing, there isn't anything I can do. So it's your decision if we're going to be friends, not mine."

Thomas leaned in and kissed Megan on the cheek. "I'd like to have you as a friend. You make sense even though you are a Siren. How do I know you're not singing this friendship song to make Colt and me crash on the rocks?"

She squeezed his calf. "You'll just have to trust me."

"If you keep putting your hands on me I may run away."

"No you won't. This is a friendly touch. Can't you tell the difference?"

"Yeah, I can."

The doors of the theater swung open, and the crowd filed out, but Zoe and Colt never came out. Thomas and Megan gave each other a surprised look and headed into the theater. They weren't there.

"What the...?" Thomas asked.

"I don't know. Maybe they went out the other exit."

They ran to the other exit and found Zoe and Colt leaning against the wall with their lips locked in a deep kiss.

Thomas cleared his throat. Zoe and Colt looked up.

"Thomas?" Colt said.

"Yeah, Thomas is right. What are you up to?"

"I wanted to see what it's like to kiss a girl."

Thomas put his hands on his hips. "And?"

"Well, I'd rather not say here. Can we talk on the way home?"

Thomas grabbed Megan's hand. "Yeah." He and Megan walked toward the front of the theater. Thomas expected Colt to follow, but instead, he and Zoe just stood there waiting for them to leave.

Megan squeezed Thomas' hand. "See, what did I tell you?"

Thomas let go of her hand and dropped his head. "I guess you're right," he said in a low voice.

"Don't be so down. It's only a kiss. Stay calm. Colt is just experimenting."

"We're boyfriends. There shouldn't be any experimenting."

"Don't be such a control freak. Just talk to him."

Thomas started back to the alley of the theater exit to get Colt. Megan grabbed his arm. "Don't."

Matt

All I could think about that Saturday was what Megan and Thomas were doing at the movies. I knew she really liked Thomas. Who wouldn't? I liked him. We'd had some hot sex together. There was no way to know if he was willing to go both ways. Megan was pretty hot, so who knew?

I spent the day reading Deadline because I didn't know what else to do. The main character, Ben, is 18 and gets a call from his doctor to come to his office. The doctor tells him he only has a year to live. My first thought was why aren't his parents there, and what will keep the doctor from telling them. Ben tells the doctor to tell no one. I figured the doctor's going to tell him he's required to tell his parents. But Ben is one step ahead of him and says, "Insist all you want, my good man…I'm eighteen, an adult in the eyes of the election board and the Selective Service and your people, the American Medical Association. I decide who gets the goods on yours truly." I smiled. Ben was a real smartass and was taking control of his life. That's exactly what I wanted to do.

He ran cross country his first three years in high school, and after he finds out he's going to die, he decides to play football, despite his five-foot-eight height and hundred-forty pound weight. It made me wonder what I would do if I found out I only had a year to live. Would I become Andy's boyfriend and spend my last days with him, or would I just be alone feeling sorry for myself? Or would I eat, drink, and be merry because I knew I didn't have long to live. I didn't have an answer.

Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about it. But I wanted to know how Ben's secret would affect everyone in his life when he was close to death, and they finally found out. How would it affect his brother, his parents, his friends, and Dallas Suzuki, the girl he had his eye on?

Andy

Matt didn't seem too happy about me hooking up with Ashton after our lawn job. It bothered me some, but like Matt's parents would say, "You made your bed, so lie in it." I wasn't going to wait around for him to decide what he was going to do. He was going out with Megan on Sunday, and I was hooking up with Ashton. He had no room to talk.

School was finally out and we were heading into our senior year. It seemed like it would never happen, but we were going to be seniors. We were going to be at the top of the heap. It made me think back on Dillon. Dillon had been a senior when he seduced me into thinking he loved me. At least I wasn't like him. I'd done some stupid things, but nothing like Dillon had. I had no idea where my relationship with Ashton was going, but I hoped it was going to be more than just an occasional hookup. We don't have much control over what others do, so I could just hope. The thing was, I didn't have feelings for Ashton. I just wanted something steady to make my life seem tied down so to speak.

But of course, Ashton was just another knot. I ignored the voice telling me to go easy. Admittedly, Ashton was a better choice than Randy. Last I'd heard, Randy was dealing drugs, or using drugs, or both. He was never around long enough for me to find out exactly what he was up to.

Ashton and I had agreed to meet at the park. Of course, I was thinking he wanted to have sex in public again. It scared me, but I was ready. Instead, I found him sitting at one of the picnic tables next to a nice looking guy with beautiful brown skin. He looked our age.

Ashton pointed at him when I got to the table. "Andy, this is Cole, but he likes to be called Scott." Scott had green eyes, which seemed a contradiction to his dark skin, but made him especially good looking. I couldn't tell how tall he was, but I did notice he was not as thin as Ashton.

I shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Scott. How do you know Ashton?"

He surprised me when he said, "We did porn together."

"Uh..uh. Really?"

"Yeah, it didn't last long, but we had some great sex with a few older guys. Ashton told me you're gay, but I don't know how you feel about us doing porn," Scott said.

"I was ready to do it myself; I thought it would be fun having sex in front of a camera. Although, I have to admit, I was kinda relieved when things didn't work out."

"You might be right. The sex and money were good, but if we'd have been caught, we'd probably be in juvie now."

I wanted to tell them they had Matt and me to thank for saving their ass, but decided that I should just keep my mouth shut.

I sat down across from Ashton and Scott. There was a nice breeze to cool the hot Nevada air. I wanted to get a look at Scott's body, so I took my shirt off, and just like I expected, they did the same. Scott's skin was a beautiful brown. "What nationality are you?" I asked.

"Mexican and Spanish."

I was a bit dumb when it came to nationalities and asked, "Aren't they the same?"

"No, dumbass," Ashton said. "Mexicans are from Mexico, and Spaniards are from Spain. Actually, I didn't know that either until Scott told me."

"I get my green eyes and mellow brown color from the Spanish side," Scott said. "Spaniards are light skinned."

"I always thought they were dark too," I said.

Scott smiled and showed beautiful white teeth. "Most people do."

I'm not sure why I was so curious. "Cole and Scott don't sound Mexican or Spanish."

"My parents were both born here, and they wanted to be different, so they named me Cole Scott Fernandez. But I guess in a way, we're all Americans."

"True," I said. "But still our ancestors came from somewhere else. My mom is French and Italian, and my dad is Irish and English. How about you, Ashton?"

"I'm not sure. My dad hasn't been around since I was a little kid. My mom never told me. I just figured we were white."

Scott punched him the shoulder. "You are a dumb shit. There is no white nationality. You have to be something."

"Fuck you. I might be, but no one ever told me. Does it really make any difference?"

"I suppose not, but it's nice to know something about your history," Scott said.

"Well, when I have my dick in your ass, I don't hear you asking about my history."

Scott laughed. "You're right there."

I wanted to say, speaking of cocks and asses, let's find a place to fuck, but didn't. Instead I said, "What do you guy have planned?"

They looked at each other with big smiles on their faces. Ashton then looked at me. "How 'bout a threesome?"

"I thought you'd never ask," I said.

Thomas and Colt

Megan held onto Thomas' arm.

Thomas stopped. "I gotta know what's going on. Let me go."

"Don't let him know you're jealous."

"Well, I can't just stand here and do nothing."

"Of course you can. Just wait. They'll have to come out sometime. If not, then you can go get him when your dad comes to pick us up."

Thomas let out a long, "Okaaay."

He leaned against the wall and Megan joined him. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks."

"So, are we friends?"

"I guess so. I don't really have any girl friends. I mean friends that are girls."

"How 'bout Emily?"

"Yeah, there are the girls at our lunch table, but we're not very close. It would be nice to have a girl to talk to about things." Thomas smiled and crossed his two index fingers. "No sex though."

"You mean you're not going to be a friend with benefits?"

"Nope. Although it's tempting now that Colt's been back there with Zoe so long."

"Speak of the devil," Megan said when Colt and Zoe came out holding hands.

Thomas started to say something, but Megan nudged him, so he stopped.

"Great movie, wasn't it?" Colt asked nonchalantly.

"Yeah, great," Megan answered.

Zoe looked at Thomas. "How 'bout you? What did you think of it?"

"Yeah, it was great."

"You don't sound too enthusiastic."

"Like I said, it was great."

They heard a horn. "There's my dad."

Thomas, Colt, and the girls jumped in the car. They kissed the girls goodbye when they dropped them off, and then sat in the backseat in silence. Thomas' dad looked into the rearview mirror. "Is there a problem?"

"No, Dad."

"You look angry, Thomas. I know you aren't into girls, so I'm just wondering. They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"You're not funny."

"Sorry," he said with a smile. "How about you, Colt? Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, a great time. Zoe's cool."

"How about Megan, Thomas?"

"She's my new best friend."

Colt gave him a quick glance.

"Glad to hear that."

No one spoke the rest of the way home. They dropped Colt off, and Thomas moved into the front seat with his dad.

"You don't look very happy, Thomas. What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Come on. After everything that's happened, you can talk to me."

Thomas hesitated. "I…I…I caught Colt kissing Zoe."

"Ah, now I understand. You're both still young. You're Colt's first boyfriend. You can't blame him for being a little curious. Aren't you curious?"

Thomas was silent for a few moments. "Yeah, but he's my boyfriend, and I don't feel it's right for either of us to be kissing girls."

"Well, I'm happy Megan's going to be your friend. Every guy needs a girl to talk to. Guys are cool and all, but girls can give a guy a different perspective. Did you kiss Megan?"

"Only to say goodbye. We held hands though."

His dad turned to him and smiled. "That's nice. What did you think?"

"Her hands were soft."

His father nodded silently then said, "Be sure you call Colt when we get home."

"I will, Dad. Thanks."

Matt

It's hard to believe summer had finally come. So much happened during our junior year. We had the last year of high school facing us with the hope of new beginnings and the untying of a few knots in our lives. I had no idea where the next year would take Andy and me and the rest of our gang, but as far as I was concerned, it had to be better than our junior year.

They say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different outcome. I sometimes think Andy and I were a little insane, but as our junior year ended and our senior year began, I wanted to be a little less insane. I had my doubts about Andy. He had hooked up with Ashton, and I was afraid he was going to do the same things all over again while expecting a different result. For me, I hoped and prayed that I could go back to being the "Old Matt" in hopes that it would create a better future for me. But you have to wonder if anyone can ever "go back again." I had no idea, but I was going to try.

Chapter Quotes

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. -- Marcus Aurelius

Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. -- George Bernard Shaw

Life is a dream for the wise, a game for the fool, a comedy for the rich, a tragedy for the poor. -- Sholom Aleichem

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Knots, Book 4

by Elias Scott

Chapter 38

Thomas and Colt

Matt

Andy

Thomas and Colt

Matt

Chapter Quotes