Evan’s friends had skated away to various places around the zoo.  Evan smiled at Davey and said, “C’mon, show me that move again.”  Davey demonstrated his over-the-cave move to Evan and Evan began to practice it. With his natural athleticism, he mastered it quickly. The two boys continued skating around the pit, trading tips and showing off a little for each other.
     Being a good skater, Davey didn’t need to concentrate too hard to keep himself upright. This was lucky for him, as he had trouble keeping his eyes off Evan. As time went on, a tingling feeling began to spread through Davey’s body. Davey knew what this feeling meant: he was falling hard for the tall, graceful boy. 
     Evan soon tired of the bear pit and skated over to the empty hippo pit.  After exploring all it had to offer, Evan sat down on a large boulder and Davey sat next to him.  “Where are you from, anyway?  I haven’t seen you around,” Evan asked.
     “Ukiah.”
     “What grade are you in?”
     “Eleventh.”
     “Me too.”
     The conversation was punctuated by a loud growling sound from Evan’s stomach.  The boys looked at each other in mock surprise and amusement.
     “I guess it’s time to eat, Bear Cub!” Evan proclaimed.     
     A secret thrill ran through Davey. Evan must like him. He had given him a nickname.
     Evan and Davey skated around the zoo collecting the rest of Evan’s gang.  Evan wanted to get some pizza, and his friends agreed.
     “Who’s this guy?” one of Evan’s friends said, jerking his thumb toward Davey.
     “Oh, yeah. This is Bear Cub,”   Evan announced.
     “Actually, my name’s David,” Davey corrected. It was one thing for Evan to call him Bear Cub, but he didn’t want the rest of Evan’s cronies calling him the special nickname.
     “Anyway,” Evan continued, pointing at each of his friends, “This is Terrance,  Butch, Andrea, J.B., and Ziggy.”
     Davey tried to take the information in, but within five minutes had forgotten which name belonged with which kid. He was sure he would pick it up soon if they were going to be spending more time together.
     The group of kids skated through the town on their way to a place called Pizza Valley. As they passed a small grocery store with a display of fruit in front, each kid grabbed an apple or orange and skated on. Davey, last in line, didn’t take a piece of fruit. He felt badly for the grocer, who stood there looking so sad and helpless, as the skaters flew by.
     At Pizza Valley, everyone grabbed their slice of pizza and looked for a place to sit. Four extra chairs had to be dragged over to a small round table in order for everyone to squeeze in. After a few moments of silence when everyone was busy eating, Terrance said, “This pizza sucks. Why do we even come here?”
     “Cuz it’s the only place in town, dummy,” said J.B.
     “Is there any good pizza in Ukiah, David?” asked Andrea.
     “Well, Mario’s pizza is decent. And my mother makes pretty good pizza...”
     Terrance pounced.  “Aww, Cubby’s mommy makes good pizza. And I bet she cuts it up into bite-size pieces for you, too,” he teased.
     Davey felt his face grow hot as everyone began laughing.
     “Alright, that’s enough,” Evan said to his friends. Then to Davey, “You’ll invite us all over for homemade pizza someday, won’t you?”
     “Sure,”  agreed Davey, and then immediately steered the conversation to skateboarding, where he knew he was on a surer footing.
     The gang finished their pizza and stood up to leave. Davey spotted a trash can in the corner and threw his plate and soda cup away.  Everyone else left their garbage on the table. Davey heard the disgruntled pizza man mutter something about “rotten kids” as he cleared away the debris.  Davey hurried to catch up with the others, and the man shouted after him, “Tell your friends not to bother coming back!” 
      Davey found the rest of the gang milling around in front of the pizza place. It was after 6:00.  Davey’s mother would expect him home for dinner soon. “I gotta go,” he said.
     “Alright,” said Evan. “See you tomorrow?”
     “Okay,” said Davey.
     The next day Davey hung out after school with his own friends for a bit, then made some excuse to them and skated over to Redwood Valley to hang with Evan and his crew. Davey would spend much of his free time in the next few weeks with his new friends. He seemed to be accepted by the other kids, but the only person he really cared about was Evan. Both he and Davey were excellent skaters and spent hours trying to top each another with one extreme stunt after another. When Evan flashed his green eyes and smile of approval at Davey, Davey felt like his heart had leaped out of his chest. Davey had often wondered if God were real. If he were, Davey thought, and he owned a skateboard, then he must be Evan McKenna.
     Evan had a great deal of charisma, but not much compassion or respect for authority.  Skating around the parking lot of a supermarket that had closed for the night, Evan got the idea to take all the shopping carts to the town’s recycling center.  This seemed like the greatest idea ever to the gang.  The sight of the six kids on skateboards pushing a convoy of shopping carts across town was an amusing one indeed. Further, the giant pile of shopping carts sitting in front of the dumpsters,  waiting to be recycled was even funnier. The supermarket manager, however, did not seem to share the skaters’ sense of humor. He
could never prove who had pulled the prank, but he was pretty sure which “damn kids” were to blame.

* * *

     There was no getting around the fact that Davey had been neglecting his own friends in favor of Evan and the kids from Redwood.  Maggie spotted Davey one Friday after the dismissal bell rang and ran to catch up with him.
     “Hey,” she said.
     “Hey,” said Davey. His smile told Maggie that at least he wasn’t mad at her.
     “We never hang out anymore,” she said.  “Where’ve you been?”
     “Mostly over at Redwood.”
      Maggie had already figured this out.
      “Why do you hang out with those guys?  They have a bad reputation. And besides which, they’re not even nice.”
     Davey looked at his friend. “You wouldn’t understand,” he said.
     “How do you know?”
     Davey considered. Maggie probably would understand.  But he didn’t dare share his feelings with her.  How could he tell her that his heart began to race at the thought of seeing Evan?  That his legs turned to jelly when Evan smiled his bright, wide smile, only for him. That he just needed to be near Evan. Davey didn’t know if Evan felt the same way about him, but he wanted to be there if and when Evan decided to make his move.
     Instead he said to Maggie, “Hey, if you want to hang out next Saturday, Evan’s going away with his parents for the weekend.”
     “How generous of you, Davey,” she said sarcastically. “But I don’t need to be squeezed into your busy schedule.”
     Maggie, her back stiff,  turned off toward her own home.  Davey knew he had hurt her, but there was nothing he could do about it.  Not just now.
     Later that evening, as Davey helped his mother with the dishes, he got a phone call.  “Can you get over here in about half an hour?” asked Evan.
     “Yeah, I guess,” said Davey.
     “Good, this is gonna be epic.”

 ~to be continued~

Thanks for reading, everyone!  Please leave a comment, so I know you were here♥

ps. I wanted to get this up for you tonight because I’m going away tomorrow. I’ll be back next Wednesday.  See you then!

luv...helen...xo

     Davey kissed his mother on the cheek. “Thanks for everything, Mom. You outdid yourself.”
     “D’you want a piece of pumpkin pie for the road?”  Davey’s mother offered.
     “No thanks, Mom.”
     “Then how ‘bout a piece of apple pie?”
     “Really, Mom, I don’t think I’ll be able to eat another bite for at least a week.”
     “Okay, then how about pecan?”
     Davey and his mother giggled together and hugged each other tightly. “Call me,” she said.
     “I will,” he said, and blew her a kiss.
     Another Thanksgiving had ended. Davey enjoyed spending the holidays with his family where he could again feel like the boy he used to be instead of the celebrity he had become. He thrived on the loud, animated dinner table conversation and the teasing from his brother.  He even liked it, somehow, when his mother reminded him to take his elbows off the table.      
     He got in his car and headed for Highway 101, which would take him back to his own home. As he neared the highway, he made a spontaneous  decision to ignore the turn-off and drive up to Lake Mendocino. Two more hours of sitting in the car after a day of sitting didn’t appeal to him. He parked the car near the lake and began to walk toward Coyote Dam. After walking for about half an hour, he rested at an overlook,  admiring the view of the Lake.
     “Davey?”  Someone had called his name. He prepared himself to turn on his charm and sign an autograph or pose for a photo. But when he turned around, he saw a familiar face. A beautiful man walked toward him, smiling. The man was fourteen years older than the last time Davey had seen him.  But Davey could never have forgotten Chris.
     “Chris!”  Davey exclaimed and stood up.  The two men embraced.  “What are you---“ they both started to say and then chuckled at the simultaneous outburst.  There was a pause while they took one another in, noticing small changes in each other and also things that had remained the same. 
     “God, it’s been so long!” Chris exclaimed.  “When was the last time we saw each other?”  Chris waited for Davey’s answer. In the waning light, he thought he saw Davey’s eyes cloud over with a faraway look.  Chris peered straight into Davey’s face and said, “Davey?  You still here?”
     Davey refocused his eyes on Chris. “Yeah, sort of.  Everything we went through just suddenly came back to me in a big wave.”
     “I know.  Me too,” replied Chris.

 SIXTEEN YEARS EARLIER
      “I don’t care; I’m going,”  asserted Davey.
     “But what if Evan and his gang show up?”  worried Maggie.
     “What if. They don’t own the place. There’s nothing they can do.”
     “You wanna bet?”  said Leo.
     “Don’t be a wuss. You coming?” Davey started to skate away.  His friends followed him.
      It was some time before they reached their destination in the next town. It was a small abandoned zoo. The empty pools and cages that were the former homes of seals, polar bears, monkeys and other animals now made the perfect  skate park.  Davey and his friends chose a large pit below ground level that used to house black bears. There were different levels in the pit which made good jumps and various obstacles like logs and boulders to be jumped over or skated on or around.
     Davey skated down the angled inner wall of the pit and up one side of a fake cave that had been built for the bears. He sailed over the top of it, and hanging onto his skateboard, did a perfect 360. Then he landed squarely on a strategically placed log and grinded the entire length of it.
      Maggie, who had seen all this, shook her head and muttered, “Fuckin’ Davey.”
     “Hey!”  a voice boomed at them. 
     Davey, Leo and Maggie looked up to where the zoo patrons would have watched the bears.  The shout had come from a tall, well-built blonde boy who stood looking down at them, along with five of his friends.
     “We skate here,” the leader, Evan, announced. “Run along, kiddies!”
     “Ignore him,” said Davey, under his breath. The three friends continued their tricks in the bear pit.
     Suddenly  Leo screamed “Ow!!”  and put his hand up to his neck. He had been hit in the neck with a sharp stone, and a small trickle of blood was oozing from it. Maggie skated over to him to examine the cut, which was minor.  Nonetheless, Davey and his friends looked at each other in defeat.  They began to make their way out of the bear pit.
     Meanwhile, Evan and his gang were climbing down into the pit. As the two groups came abreast of each other, Evan clamped a hand on Davey’s shoulder and said, “Not you. You stay.”
     Davey looked up and saw that Evan’s green eyes were flickering over his face. After a moment Davey realized he hadn’t been breathing.
     Maggie paused and said, “You coming, Davey?” 
     Still looking into Evan’s eyes, Davey said softly, “I’m gonna stay.”

~to be continued~

Thank you for reading, everyone!

Guys, this will be a gay love story. I've tried to make it beautiful and sensitive, like I do with all my stories. But if the subject matter offends you, don't feel badly if you have to bail out now.

Please leave comments for me, loves!  helen...xo

You know those artists you listen to when no one else is around?  Those artists you wouldn’t admit liking even to your best friend? Well, I’m about to admit it to my 226 best Buzznet friends. And after I go, then it’ll be your turn!

 
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

I don’t really like this genre of music, but I think he’s a very talented musical hyphenate. (singer-dancer-writer-producer-impresario-actor)

Also, I just find him Sexy. There, I’ve said it. He’s not even really that handsome. The shape of his eyes is weird, and they don’t seem to have any discernible color.  I can’t figure out what color his hair is, either. It’s not brown, blonde, black or red.  It’s like taupe.  But when that video for “What Goes Around Comes Around” was in heavy rotation, I would not stir from the couch until the very last frame.

NEIL DIAMOND

If Neil were a pizza, he would definitely come with extra cheese.   This is the man who penned the following lyrics:

“I am, I cried!
To no one there.
And no one heard at all,
Not even the chair.”

Next time you’re in the mood for cheese, have yourself a heaping helping of Neil Diamond. And I dare you not to sing along with “Sweet Caroline.”

btw, have you guys seen the movie, Saving Silverman, starring Jack Black, Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn and Neil Diamond?  Well, if you like zany zaniness, I highly recommend it.

DAUGHTRY

I don’t know why I like this guy; maybe it’s because he reminds me so much of Vin Diesel (another one of my Guilty Pleasures). Maybe because I feel sorry for him having to go through life with his  American Idol stigma. He may as well wear a scarlet “A” on his chest, for pete’s sake.

I haven’t bought a CD of his, but I will admit I  bought the one song from his album that Slash played on.  That has to mean something, doesn’t it?

ABBA

Who can resist these singing Swedes?  Apparently, not many people, judging by the success of the Broadway smash “Mamma Mia,” (now a major motion picture)  based on songs that were huge hits way back in the 1970’s.

Put on “Voulez Vous”  and you’re instantly transported back to Studio 54. Look, there’s Truman Capote!  You just try to sit still.

JAMES TAYLOR

He’s the chamomile tea of singers.  I find him very soothing.  When “Fire and Rain” comes on while I’m pushing my cart down the aisles of the A&P, all the stresses of food shopping instantly melt away.

HOOTIE & THE BLOWFISH

Man, I am so picturing you howling with laughter right about now. No, but I like Hootie’s  voice. That’s not even his name; I don’t know what his name is. I think I like these guys because hearing them takes me back to a time when I was young, free and in love.

Phew, I feel so much better now that that’s out in the open! 

I tag:   hollow1005, crash13, kassady, eyelinersmudge, hidedontseek, drsirdrawsalot, skintight,  ikkyg,  xblanksface, and anyone else with guts.

C’mon, ‘fess up!!