Same Time Tomorrow
by The Scholar
Part 5: Reflections
Carl didn't know whether or not he had dreamt about Tom. He didn't remember dreaming about anything before he woke up, but then again, maybe he hadn't had time. His bedside clock read 2:08 am and Carl desperately needed to visit the lavatory.
Still feeling light-headed from the effects of the alcohol he had drunk earlier, he walked back into his room and sat on the chair facing his computer screen. A deep breath and he turned on the machine. It whirred into life, made a few beeps and Carl watched as the screens went through their start up procedures. Typing his password into the box when it appeared, he hit the enter key for the computer to finish its job and he stared at his desktop.
Another deep breath and he clicked the icon that would take him to his Instant Message service and, at the same time, connect him to the Internet. Once connected, he guessed he would have just under an hour, but he knew that he would not be online that long. He still felt dizzy from the alcohol and he still hadn't had a dream about Tom.
Tom. He closed his eyes and smiled as he pictured the young man in his head, laughing and joking with him in the pub like they'd been the best of friends for years. Tom looking so sexy in his yellow polo shirt and red shorts, his brown eyes and dark hair, beautiful nose and sensuous lips that he seemed to unconsciously lick after every drink he had taken from his glass and then, just as unconsciously, wiped the back of his hand across to dry them afterwards. Carl took a deep breath and opened his eyes as the sound programmed into his computer to inform him that he had received an Instant Message broke into his thoughts.
"I'm guessing that you got disconnected. I'll keep checking to see if you manage to get back online. Send me your e-mail address and I'll send the program you need to download. Allan."
Carl read the offline message that had popped up on his screen and smiled. He wondered if Allan still checked back to see if he was online. It had, after all, been a week since they'd had their chat. Carl decided that he had nothing to lose and clicked the reply button and typed in his e-mail address along with the message: "Thanks, I really appreciate your help. Will check back again later today. Carl."
That sent, he disconnected from the Internet and went back to bed, he was naked and hard and Tom was still on his mind.
Five minutes later and Carl would not have needed to reply to the offline message he had received.
Allan connected to the Internet and almost immediately Carl's message came through. Judging by the time it had been sent, he had just missed him. He smiled to himself. At least the English boy was still requiring his help.
Allan didn't have to search too much to find the file he needed and, attaching it to an e-mail he typed the address Carl had given him into the "to" line and wrote a brief message: 'Here are some files we need to fix the problem. Put them in a new folder.' Allan clicked on send and waited until confirmation that his e-mail had started its journey through cyberspace was received.
Hopefully, Carl would turn on his computer sometime in the near future and get that e-mail. Allan knew what it was like to have a virus on your computer, he'd had one himself a while ago and it had completely destroyed his hard drive. Fortunately, he had backed up his most used files onto disk, but he had still spent three-months re-typing the information he had stored that hadn't been backed up. He wasn't about to let that happen again and if he could stop it from happening to someone else, then he would certainly try.
Work was challenging, but Allan knew that there had to be more to life than constant work. His social life in this Godforsaken town was none existent and he desperately needed something else and, until he figured out what that was, he would sit at his computer looking for something to entertain him.
For Allan that regularly meant visiting the Internet porn sites. He had book-marked a number of those and searched them methodically for images that both excited and stimulated him as well as for those that interested him.
Not for him the cheap and tacky, legs stretched wide, shaved pussy shots of some pouting female, as she practically squinted into the lens of a camera whilst thrusting her over-sized upper body forward in an attempt to make the viewer cream his pants. No, for Allan, it was the naked form of a smooth young twink with long eyelashes and bedroom eyes and a healthy slab of meat between his legs that made him stand to attention.
At the age of 32, Allan had kept his sexuality a secret from family, friends and work colleagues for as long as he could remember. Not that he hadn't ever had a same sex relationship, just that he hadn't had that many and, as a result, had never felt the need to 'come out'.
The first had been Michael.
Allan had been 18 and in college. Michael was a year older. It had been a complete accident that Allan had walked headlong into Michael as the latter walked from a classroom without checking the corridor first. Michael had dropped his books and as an apologetic Allan bent down to help pick them up something between them just clicked. Michael's eyes had drawn him in and for Michael it was the nervousness of the younger student that was the attraction. A quick blowjob in the lavatory and they never spoke again.
At the age of 21, Allan had his first sexual intercourse with another man. His cousin. Leo was 18 and the family wedding at their uncle's farm that they were both attending was, as far as they were concerned, a drag. Leo couldn't wait to get out of the tux he'd been forced to wear and, at the earliest opportunity, had slipped upstairs to change. Allan, having the same idea, had unintentionally walked in on his younger cousin, as he stood naked and hard his hand firmly gripped around his penis, masturbating for all he was worth. Allan's offer of help had been accepted and the two had, that night, sneaked into the barn for, quite literally, a roll in the hay. As with Michael, it was never spoken of again.
That was the sum total of Allan's sexual relationships. He had masturbated often with images of Leo and Michael in his mind, but those were now distant memories and the images were fading, so he turned to the Internet where the images would always be fresh.
Tonight he couldn't concentrate. Work had been particularly exhausting and he was starting to feel angry with himself for having that second piece of pie, the reason he had logged on to the Internet later than usual and the reason he had just missed being able to chat with Carl.
He wondered what he was like, this English boy with the unusual ID of 'Oddsox'. Did he have brown eyes that smiled independently of his mouth? Eyelashes so long that he looked almost pretty? Dark hair - he preferred dark hair - not too long, not too short. Was he athletic? Did he keep himself fit in any way. Maybe one day he would find out. Maybe one day pigs might fly!
Allan returned his attention to the image of the young man on the screen and then, just as he was about to save it to his special folder on his desktop, a window opened with an instant message.
Carl: Hi.
So stunned, Allan instantly forgot the image, closed down the website and turned his full attention to the window.
Allan: Hi.
Carl: 
Carl: I got your e-mail. Thanks.
Allan: You're welcome. You're up late.
Carl: Late?
Allan: Aren't you?
Carl: Err, no. It's 7 am in the UK.
Allan: What? Jesus, I didn't notice the time.
Carl: What time is it there?
Allan: 2 am.
Carl: You should be in bed.
Allan: Yes, I should. I didn't know I'd been online so long.
Carl: Must have been pretty engrossed in whatever you were doing.
Allan: Just research.
Carl: Okay.
Allan shook his head. Research! What the hell made him say that?
Carl: What kind of research?
Allan so desperately wanted to say 'Gay internet Pornography', but bit his tongue.
Allan: Just stuff about viruses.
Carl: Cool.
Allan: Boring, really.
Carl: Well, I think it sounds cool.
Allan: LOL!
Carl:
There was that smile again. Did this boy smile in reality, or was that just his favorite from the choices available?
Allan: Did you save those programs?
Carl: Yeah, but the instructions that came with it are long-winded. I just finished printing them off.
Allan: LOL! Don't worry about that, we can go through it together.
Carl: Yeah?
Allan: Yeah.
Carl: Thanks. Maybe later, huh? You should get to bed and I gotta take a shower.
Allan: You haven't had a shower, yet?
Carl: No, I just got up 15-minutes ago, logged on to the computer and there you were.
Allan: Oh, still in your PJs, then? LOL!
Carl: No, I don't wear PJs.
Allan: I thought it was cold in the UK.
Carl: Mostly, but I can't sleep with clothes of any kind on.
Allan: Me neither.
Carl: Then you better get undressed and crawl into bed. We can chat later.
Allan: Okay. Bye, Carl.
Carl: Later, Allan.
At that Carl was shown as having logged off and Allan shut down his computer.
So, the English boy slept naked. Allan smiled.
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