The Apprentice
by and © N Fourbois
Chapter 46
Kieran and William arrived back safely at Kieran's place. They put the cycles away and went indoors where it was nice and warm.
"I'm going to make a cup of tea," said Kieran, "a proper cup with tea leaves. We can then plan what we're going to do this evening."
"I'm just going to put my stuff upstairs and I'll be down," said William. He was soon back again.
"For supper tonight I suggest good old fashioned bangers and mash. What do you think of that, William?" He smiled and nodded.
"Great."
"I'll grill some tomatoes, mushrooms and bacon and heat some baked beans."
"Do you think that's wise having baked beans, if we're going to have some fun tonight?" asked William with a grin.
"You're quite safe. They don't have any effect on me," laughed Kieran.
They washed their hands, put on aprons and got everything ready for cooking. The first thing was to get the potatoes on the boil.
"They'll take at least twenty minutes," said Kieran. "A little longer maybe, if we're going to mash them." He fetched the sausages out of the fridge, looked at the back of the pack for the instructions and burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked William. He showed him the pack. "No, I can't see it."
"Well, there's a picture of that famous TV chef on it, the little one with the funny voice, and what does it say underneath?" William looked at it again and the penny dropped.
"Oh. Prick with a fork," and he just couldn't stop giggling.
When the boys finally got down to eating, they could discuss their plans for the evening.
"You've got your enema to come," said William with a smile.
"Yes, I'm looking forward to that," replied Kieran without conviction, "but a man's got to do what a man's got to do. How are we going to make love then?"
"Missionary position," said William without hesitation.
"Do you think you'll be able to reach?" teased Kieran.
"Huh! You reached and mine's longer than yours."
"It's not length, it's cubic capacity that counts."
"I'll soon fill your tight little butthole."
"You and who else?" At that moment the telephone rang. Kieran went to answer it.
"Hi, Eric, how's it going?"
«I'm fine, thanks. Look, I've got a bit of a blank weekend. Would you and thingy...»
"His name is William," asserted Kieran.
«Would you and William like to come round for a meal on Saturday evening?»
"Hey, William," Kieran shouted without taking the receiver away from his mouth. Eric was deafened. "Would you like to meet my wicked gay uncle on Saturday?" A yes came from the kitchen. "Yeah, that'll be great. What's the trouble? The story of you and Vivian getting around?"
«Don't even mention that name to me. I still haven't got over it. I'll pick you up at six on Saturday and take you home afterwards.»
"Not too late, I hope. I'm on a promise."
«Who with? Madam Palm and her five sons?»
"No, that's Sunday after Thingy has gone home."
"I heard that. I've got a name," came the shout from the kitchen.
"See ya Saturday then, Eric. Thanks a lot. Take care." With that Kieran put the phone down and returned to his meal.
"Won't that be a bit boring going out to dinner with your uncle? That's what grown ups do."
"Not with Uncle Eric. He'll keep us entertained. By the way, I'll warn you now. He likes to spend his free time at home without any clothes on."
"Not even underpants?"
"Not even underpants."
"Oooh, it won't be boring."
"Fruit for pudding, okay?"
"Fine."
"You have a choice. You can have an apple, orange, banana, kiwi fruit, grapes. Would you like a nice pear?"
"No thanks, I've already got one, thanks."
"I already know that, but this one's spelt p-e-a-r." Neither boy could stop the giggling.
When they had finished, they cleared away and Kieran started up the dishwasher. At that moment William's mobile buzzed.
"I didn't expect Mum to ring until tomorrow." He looked at the caller ID. "Oh, it's my father. I wonder what he wants." He walked into the front room so that he could hear above the noise of the dishwasher.
After the call finished, he came back into the kitchen.
"Hmm, guilty conscience. He's just received the College's newsletter and asked if I'd like to go on the ski trip during the holidays as a Christmas present."
"You said yes, of course?"
"No, don't be silly. I said I'd think about it and see what other options come up. I'm going to say yes, naturally, but I don't want him to think he can wind me around his little finger."
"But you're winding him round your little finger."
"Of course I am, but that's okay. Look at the opportunity. I go away. That means I don't have to visit him and his odious partner. It'll give Mum a rest, and... what you probably don't know, Toby Cholmondeley's already put his name down for it, and it's being led and organised by Mr Bridgeman."
"So you fancy Toby now?"
"What do you mean 'now'? And Mr Bridgeman too since the shower incident."
"So you don't fancy me?"
"Of course I do. Remember we talked about it. I just can't do commitment. You can't do commitment." As if to prove the point William put his arms round Kieran and kissed him, forcing his tongue between his teeth. They ground crotches.
"We'd better stop this and save it for later," panted Kieran. William looked up at him with his big, brown, doe-like eyes. Kieran knew the score and couldn't be angry with him. The lad might be manipulative - there was no 'might' about it - but dishonest he certainly was not. "So what's this thing about Toby?"
"Well, I thought, I'm your apprentice. So when I've passed out, I shall need an apprentice of my own and who better than Toby Cholmondeley? And what better chance of sharing a room alone with him than on a school trip? And then this fell into my lap. To change the subject, what are we going to do this evening until fun time?... I mean bedtime... doesn't matter. Same thing really."
"I thought we'd deal with the photographs. Okay, we can't print them until we get some proper paper tomorrow, but we can get the stuff ready."
They went upstairs and into Kieran's room. He switched on his computer, scanner and printer. He could do some test runs on ordinary paper. William went to his room to retrieve something. When he came back, he said
"Kieran, I meant to show you this," and he handed him a small bundle of white material. Kieran unfolded it and said, puzzled,
"It's a jock."
"It's not any old jock."
"It's your first one?... your favourite one?..."
"Kieran! Use your eyes. Look at the name tab." Kieran looked. It was sewn across the top outside of the pouch: 'A S A Pennington'.
"Oh, it's Ashley's."
"When we parted, we swapped. Most people swap rugby shirts. We swapped jockstraps. I still wear it and it always makes me hard when I first put it on. In fact it's making me hard now."
"Mmm, so it is," said Kieran, gently putting his hand up between William's legs.
"Tut tut. Save it for later," said William, shaking his head and wagging his finger.
Kieran took the sacred photograph of William and Ashley from him, reverently placed it in the scanner and closed the lid. He scanned the front and then the back.
"The photo of me and Orlando is roughly A4. I can't print any bigger than that." He took it out of the frame and checked the measurements.
"Look at your e-mails, Kieran, and you'll find that one of me and Toby."
"Can I print that one out? I'll put it on my pinboard. And the one of you in your gym kit. That'll give Madam Palm something to think about during those lonely nights."
"Oh, Kieran Williams, you are so mucky at times."
"And, William McLarney, you love it." Then the house phone rang.
Kieran went downstairs to answer it.
"Hallo, Mum. How are things?"
«Hallo, darling. Great. We've done it. We've clinched the second deal and so that's a few years' work guaranteed. Not that we're going to rest on our laurels, but that's it for this trip. Your dad and I are going to have a few days' real holiday and we'll see you next week. What sort of week have you had so far?»
"Fantastic. William is a little livewire. He keeps me on my mettle all the time. Never a dull moment. We're going to have supper with Eric on Saturday. Is Dad there?"
«Hi, Kieran. Your mother says you're not having such a bad time.»
"No, great in fact. It would have been pretty miserable without my house guest. Hey, Dad, Mum says its congratulations."
«That's right. And I won my golf match I'll have you know. They don't like losers out here. Entirely different attitude. I expect you've noticed it with their cricket and rugby.»
"Yeah, it's just like that at College too."
«We'll see you next week, son. Be good.»
"I'm not being good. This week I'm being excellent."
«I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.»
"Oh yes it does. Every minute of the day," said Kieran. "And night," he added chancing his arm.
«I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Love you, Kieran.»
"Love you too, Dad, and Mum. Bye." He put the phone down and noticed the time. "We've things to do, William," he said when he got back to his room "if we're going to have some fun tonight."
The following morning, Friday, Kieran and William had to be sharp getting up as Mrs Crater would be in right after eight and sod's law wouldn't let her miss her bus when they wanted to spend a bit longer in bed together. Over muesli, toast and marmalade they discussed the previous night's adventures.
"Hey, Kieran, you're dead easy to penetrate, even the second time when we did it on our sides. The way you were talking I thought I'd break it off trying to get it in."
"I've had lots of practice," he boasted. "But you won't find others so easy. So that apart, was I a good bottom?"
"Not bad, considering I had to do all the work."
"Cheek!"
"I liked the bit where my balls were swinging against your arse every time I pushed in."
"I'll give you your due. Not everyone will find the P-spot and give his bottom an orgasm on his first time."
"There you go. So I've passed?" At that moment they heard the bell, key in the latch and 'Cooee, good morning'.
"I'm just nipping upstairs to ruffle up my bed and to make sure your photos are safely locked away. Good morning, Mrs Crater. I'm just going up to tidy my room before you see it."
After exchanging routine politenesses with her the boys left Mrs Crater to it and walked into the centre of town. The first thing they did was to buy the photo paper for the printer. That done they went into the department store to see if they could find a frame for the William-Ashley photo. The next job was to go to the local butcher. Kieran picked out a nice joint of pork. The butcher scored the skin as he tied it up.
"All you have to do now, young man, is to get your mother to rub salt in for your crackling."
"We're cooking it," replied Kieran with confidence.
"I like to hear that. You'll make someone a little treasure one day."
"I hope so, but I'm not worrying about that at the moment. Too many fish in the sea, as they say." They went back out into the high street.
"I'm just going to pop into the newsagent's," said Kieran. They went through the door. "I want to see if they've got the November edition in yet. Ah, yes, they have." He stretched up to the top shelf and fetched down, sealed in its opaque grey plastic wrapper, showing just the letters in a window at the top left hand side, and the date and price printed on the envelope, November's copy of GY mag. Eric had forgotten his promise of a year's subscription for Kieran's birthday. 'I must remind him about that for Christmas,' he thought. He took it to the counter where the spotty youth behind the till said
"You'll like the centre piece this month?"
"Why? Who is it?"
"It's a model called Oliver, but as a special offer there's a promotional code which will let you see pictures of him on his website for free until the end of November."
"I can't wait to get home," said Kieran in such a deadpan voice that one couldn't tell whether he meant it or was being sarky.
"What's next?" asked William.
"I suggest a little bit of boywatching, then Burger Star, followed by home and an afternoon's bike ride while we've got the sunny weather."
"Sounds good to me. We can do the photos this evening. We still need some pics of us together."
"I'd forgotten that," said Kieran. "I've got an idea. Let's get Eric to take them tomorrow - unless you don't want to strip off in front of him?"
"You know me. Since the Bridgeman incident I don't care who I strip in front of - providing he's male."
They chose a seat in the sun since the air was a little cool in the shade. They enjoyed watching the skateboarders showing off to the girls, but apart from their feats with the skateboards there was little for them to view. The autumn air had brought out the anoraks, jeans, thick sweatpants and hoodies. Not a pair of shorts in view and just the odd glimpse of a muffled face.
"I'm looking forward to the spring," said William glumly.
"Let's move on then," said Kieran beginning to feel the chill. "It doesn't matter if we get lunch a bit early. It'll make for a longer afternoon."
It was noticeably warmer in Burger Star. Both of our boys looked around to see if there was anybody they knew. There wasn't. They looked at the servers. A passing interest. The best they had seen all day. They looked at each other. A fire was lit in William's heart and Kieran's loins. They gave in their orders, took them and filled the burgers with their favourite relishes, carried their trays to an empty table and tucked in.
* * *
Over supper that night Kieran and William were chatting.
"You realise," said William. "that apart from buying those bits and pieces in town, today has been a complete and utter waste of space."
"Yeah, I don't feel that we've achieved very much. We'll sort these photos out when we've finished here and then we'll have an early night and I'll promise I'll make it up to you. And whatever happens, I don't think you'll be bored when we go round to Eric's tomorrow evening." William's eyes lit up.
"Yes, we've only got two nights and two mornings left, then back to school."
"Tomorrow we've got to get organised if we're going to entertain your mother on Sunday."
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