Thompsonville
by Mark Peters
Chapter 3
February 2003
- Ben -
The morning after our newcomers had arrived, I woke alongside Samantha in the back of her small station wagon, looking eastward atop a mountain between Macquarie Harbour and Thompsonville, and towards a distant and dark horizon.
The car was an old piece of crap that Sam had picked up cheap sometime last year, just so that she had a vehicle to get around in. In my first few days here she had shown me around the local sights, with yesterday afternoon finding us looking out over the ocean, breathing in the fresh sea air and loving one another. After a night spent together I was now watching the skies and distant seas slowly change from a deep and mysterious blue to fiery red, to pure gold, while Sam continued to sleep beside me.
Yeah sure, it might all sound like romantic twaddle, but hey, it is moments like these that keep her happy! And that's something I like doing and want to continue to do. Just being with her is enough for me, so I can certainly put up with a few nights spent in the back of a clapped out 1976 Mazda station wagon, with the back seat folded down and the pair of us sleeping on a thin mattress, covered only with a couple of old blankets. Right now I was just glad to be spending some quiet, alone time with my girl.
With all the coming and going of the past few days it had actually been something of a whirlwind, and in some respects, it had also been something of a confusing time.
On one hand, Tim and Guy kept telling me I was a nutcase when I moved up here with them just to be with Sam, without any plans for work or study; and who knows, maybe I am, but fuckin' hell, when you are in love, you are in love! And besides, who gives a flying fuck about what the rest of the world thinks!
I know that for the two of them it's also just like that . . . you know, moving to another part of the state just to be with each other, and I think it's fantastic, I honestly do. I have no qualms about them being gay. Or about the fact that they screw each other's brains out in the bedroom right across the hall from mine and Sam's every damn night – well, so far at least – so if it's good enough for them, why isn't it good enough for me and Sam?
Then, on the other hand, they both keep telling me that it's fine to be here with her, but maybe I should have some purpose, I should have something mapped out that I want to do with my life . . . you know, like get a job or something!
Jesus! Now they're both starting to sound like my father!
I suppose I can see their point, though, but for Christ's sake, we've only been here four days! You would think they'd give me a bit of a break, seeing as we've been friends for so long and all. There's plenty of time for everything else. Isn't there?
And as for the two newcomers, well, to be honest, I'm still not quite sure about how to take them. I mean, I only met them yesterday, didn't I?
That guy, Matt, the one who owns the fancy car! Well, he seems a bit up himself to me. To give him some credit, though, he did tell me to fuck off pretty quickly yesterday, so I reckon he might actually prove to be one of those guys who would stand up for himself. I like that in a person, just so long as they're not a real smartarse type. I also think it's pretty unusual for a poofter, but hey, we are who we are! Right?
His boyfriend, Luke, he seems like a quiet sort of guy. He's certainly quite a bit different to Matt. In some ways he kind of reminds me of what Tim was like a couple of years ago, before he met up with Guy and then really came out of his shell. So maybe he'll do the same?
They seem happy together, though. So who am I to judge them?
And that brings me to where I am now.
After helping the newbies unpack their stuff yesterday afternoon, I had excused myself and then driven Sam's little jalopy into Macquarie Harbour to pick her up from her work. Afterwards we went and had some fish and chips down by the jetty, then went for a walk along the beach in the dark, before heading back to the car and then starting for home.
'I bet it's nice up on The Point tonight?' she half-asked, half-suggested, so I took the hint and when I reached the turnoff, I took that road and headed up towards the lookout area.
She was right of course. It was nice. We ended up sitting in the car, watching the lights of the city twinkling below us, then watched the reflection of the moon on the ocean as it came up. Eventually we made love, and I'm fairly certain that you folks wouldn't want to hear all about that , then we fell asleep in each other's arms.
Sure, it's romantic twaddle! I've said that before, haven't I? And I'll probably say it again, but chicks like that sort of stuff. And some guys too, I suppose!
With the new day still promising to arrive, but not quite here yet, Sam rolled over and put her arm across my bare chest, her face just centimetres from mine, with her hair smelling like flowers, even after the night we'd had. I reckon that I could have laid there like this forever. But I knew we couldn't.
Eventually though, she started to stir and when she opened her eyes and focussed on me, she smiled.
'Good morning, lover,' she said to me.
'Good morning yourself,' I replied, before reaching across and kissing her on the forehead.
She had changed a bit since she had first come up here about twelve months ago. She had lost some of her inhibitions. Her hair had gotten that sun-bleached, surfer kind of look about it, which I must admit drove me wild, and her skin had become nicely tanned.
I had given her a seashell necklace when I had run away from home for a weekend about halfway through last year and made a flying visit to see her, and she wore that all the time now. She had even taken to wearing flowers in her hair every now and then and wearing those hand-dyed skirts.
I wouldn't say that she'd gone full hippie or anything like that, but she had certainly changed. And for the better I reckoned. I was just crazy about every little thing about her now. Even more so than when I had first fallen for her.
We lay there for quite a while, with one of the car windows wound down just slightly, allowing the freshness of the new morning to waft inside, listening to the roar of the ocean from somewhere below us, and content to be in each other's arms.
'So, Benji, are you going to take me home and introduce me to our new housemates?' she eventually asked me.
'Eventually,' I replied, before kissing her again.
'Oh. I see. It's like that, then, is it?' she answered.
'Uh, huh. But first though . . .' I replied, before kissing her again, as I let one hand roam down over her smooth body.
Matt and Luke were sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and talking when we arrived back at the house a little while later. I could also hear the sound of water running in the bathroom and figured that Tim or Guy, or both of them, were in the shower.
'Hi, guys,' I said to them as we walked in through the back door.
'Hi, Ben,' Luke answered, while Matt gave a fairly cheerful, 'Good morning.'
'Boys, this is Samantha,' I said. 'Sam, this is Matt and Luke, our new housemates.'
They both got up and came over to greet us. Luke very formally shook Sam's hand, while Matt made to do the same, but ended up bending forward and kissing the back of her hand, in a very gentlemanly manner.
'Man, this dude is smooth,' I thought to myself, as Samantha giggled.
'You'd better watch out,' Sam turned to me and said. 'He might sweep me off my feet.'
'If he's not careful, I'll knock him off his!' I replied, to which I received rather strange looks from both of them.
'You'll have fun trying,' Matt defiantly replied.
Was I imagining it, or did I see him stand a little more upright and puff out his chest when he said that?
'You sure about that, pretty boy?' I asked.
'Yeah, fairly sure,' he replied, with a grin.
Fuck! All of a sudden, I didn't know if I wanted to flatten this guy, or slap him on the back and buy him a beer.
'Oh, you don't have to worry about Matt,' Luke said to us, obviously trying to smooth things over quickly. 'Thankfully he's already given up on the girls.'
'Let's fuckin' hope so,' I replied rather sarcastically, to which I received a sharp elbow in the ribs from Sam, while Matt stood back looking at me, studying me as if he was still trying to figure me out. Luke was looking a little bit shocked.
In the end it was Samantha who stepped in and saved the morning, however, by stepping between us and saying, 'Come on, boys. I'm sure that both of your cocks are about the same size, but if you want to measure them, take it outside will you, while Luke and I go and have a nice cup of coffee!'
Matt and I must have dropped our jaws, because it was Luke that broke the silence first, by starting to giggle. Then when we joined in it was soon laughs all round.
'Okay then, what's so damn funny?' someone suddenly said from behind us, and we turned around to see Tim and Guy both standing at the doorway with their hair still wet and uncombed, with nothing but a towel wrapped around each of them.
'Oh, nothing much, boys,' Samantha said, then quickly grabbed Luke by the arm and led him off to the sink, where they started on the coffee.
'Women!' I heard Guy say, as he and Tim stalked off down the hall, leaving Matt and me just standing there in the middle of the room staring at each other.
'So, you got a tape measure handy?' I asked Matt, rather cheekily.
'Maybe some other time,' he replied with a laugh, then headed off down the hall to his and Luke's room.
I looked across at Luke and noticed him studying me intently, obviously not quite sure of how to take me yet.
'Don't worry about him,' Samantha quietly said to him. 'He's just as big a softie as the rest of you guys, once you get to know him a little.'
I could tell by the look he gave her that he didn't quite believe her.
Things were so much simpler outside in the sunshine. Feeling the warmth of the sun on my body and listening to the distant roar of the surf hitting the beach. Our beach.
Damn! How cool was it that we had our own private beach?
I felt like heading down there right now, just to get away from everyone for a while and clear my head but figured that I should probably hang around. Somehow, I didn't quite trust Matt around Sam.
Yeah, I know. He's G – A – Y, or so rumour has it! But the way he looked at her when they were introduced, well, it . . . it unnerved me. That's what it did.
Outside, where I found a few things to do, things were much simpler. The garden around the old house was a bit of a mess, mostly all overgrown, but also dead looking in a few places, so after rummaging around in the garage and coming up with a few tools that the owner had left there for us, I thought I might attack it.
The back fence and the wall of the garage looked like they were being strangled by the jungle of bushes and vines that a few years of neglect had let get away, while the lawn looked like it hadn't been mowed in about the same time frame.
One thing at a time though, I thought. So the vines and bushes became my first priority.
I pulled off my t-shirt and draped it over the back gate, then set about hacking away at the jungle, quickly building up a sweat, and trying not to think about what Matt might be thinking about Samantha.
'Jesus, now I am getting paranoid!' I thought to myself, but apparently I hadn't only been thinking that at all.
'About what?' I heard someone ask. Startled, I stopped and spun around, only to find Matt standing there with his arms folded across his chest.
'Nothing much,' I replied, to which he just shrugged.
'You want a bit of a hand with this?' he asked me.
I looked around me at the mess I had created, then looked at how far I still had to go.
'Yeah, that'd be good,' I replied. 'Thanks.'
'No problem.'
As I watched him, he pulled off his t-shirt and hung it next to mine, revealing a slim, though firm, and well-defined body, then started dragging some of the cuttings away, out through the back gate and onto some open ground, where he started piling them up.
'We can burn it all,' he said to me as he came back through the gate, upon seeing what must have obviously been a quizzical expression on my face.
'Sure,' I replied, then turned my attention back to the job at hand, happier now that at least he wasn't still inside the house with my girl.
We toiled away in the garden for a while, working side by side and talking to each other about this and that and anything else that came to mind. I slowly came to the conclusion that he wasn't such a bad guy after all, and maybe once I got to know him, I reckoned I might even like him.
And as far as my being worried about him being here to steal my girl . . . well, he already had his own squeeze, didn't he? So really, what did I have to worry about?
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