This is a true story, taking place in the early 1990's. After originally meeting over the phone, Andrew and I decided to meet in person over Memorial Day weekend in 1990. As the year drew to a close, the love affair that started between us during the summer was at a pivotal point. Andrew had just interviewed for a job at the company where I worked, and our relationship hinged upon him getting the job and moving to Rockford.
Please feel free to contact me, Austin T. Charles at austintc@aol.com I appreciate all feedback on my story! Also, please consider donating to Nifty.org! Without their support, aspiring writers like me would not be able to tell our stories! http://donate.nifty.org/donate.html ; Thank you!
Austin and Andrew, Chapter 12
With one week to go until Christmas, almost every moment of every day my thoughts were consumed about whether or not Andrew would get a job offer from the company where I worked. It wasn't easy to think about anything else, since so much of our future together depended on him getting the job. We had both agreed that if he didn't get the job, we were pretty much going to be over as a couple, and the strong love we had for each other would be set adrift. He couldn't continue to make the six hour trip from his parent's home in Minnesota to my home in IL, and traveling to see him would be impossible for me as well, since my work schedule demanded that I worked three out of four Saturdays every month.
We had talked over the weekend in our usual manner -- Andrew traveling to Owatonna, the town closest to his parent's house -- by calling me collect. It had been two weeks since the interview, and the first thing I asked him was if he had received another call yet, to which he replied that he hadn't. Our talk on that Saturday wasn't long. Andrew had Christmas shopping to do, and I had errands to run as well, including Sunday morning church with my friend. Once again, I told him to call me as soon as he got an offer, if he did. He promised that he would.
The week began with a significant snowstorm, which meant that my Monday morning of work started at 3 AM. I hadn't slept well Sunday night, knowing that my phone would ring early, which it did. I went to bed early Monday night, and enjoyed a full night of sleep.
Tuesday was uneventful, as was Wednesday morning. Less than a week to go until Christmas Day. That Wednesday evening, December 19th, 1990, was the day that changed the course of my life.
Andrew got a job offer at the company where I worked.
He would be moving to Illinois, to Rockford.
Our dream of being together would finally come true.
When Andrew gave me the news over the phone that cold December day, I cried tears of joy. Never had a I wanted or yearned to be with another human being as much as I wanted to be with Andrew. Despite seemingly monumental odds, our plans and wishes were finally going to come true.
And just as we had overcome those odds to see our dream come to fruition, the reality of what was yet to come suddenly slapped me in the face harder than the brutal cold December weather that hit the area shortly after Christmas that year. It was now time to uphold my end of the deal: I would have to sell my house so we could get an apartment together. Living together in my little one bedroom house would have been great had both of us been out, but since that was not something either of us was ready to do, the only viable options available were that I was to sell my house, or Andrew get an apartment on his own. I presented that option to Andrew and I was quite surprised by his response.
"No, I am not going to get an apartment on my own. The only reason I'm taking this job in Rockford is so we can live together. We either get an apartment together, or otherwise I'm not going to take the job."
His ultimatum seemed harsh but made sense. It would be a leap of faith on his part as well, so both of us would be making a sacrifice for "us" to work.
So, hand in hand together, we jumped. Although the idea of selling my house caught my parents by surprise, I told my father that the proceeds from the house would go to him, since I owed him money from a failed farming adventure that he had gotten me into. They seemed skeptical, but cautiously bought into the idea. For my dad, it was all about getting the money that I owed him, and he really didn't seem to care, or at least he didn't show that he cared. My mother was ever consumed in my younger sister's life, and since she didn't like the idea of me buying the house in the first place, it didn't seem to bother her in the least bit.
In early January, Andrew and I rented an apartment together. I met his parents when they brought a load of his furniture down from Minnesota to Rockford. They were super nice people, and according to Andrew, liked me from the moment they met me. No assumptions of their oldest son moving in with a strange man -- they accepted me -- which was a huge relief on both of our parts. We sold them on the story that I had posted something at work about looking for a roommate, and since Andrew "asked" about finding an apartment with a roommate, the company gave him my name and number.
Our first night together in the apartment was just as intense as all of the other times we'd been together. We woke up the following morning in each other's arms, still almost in disbelief that we'd pulled off the ultimate plan. That first weekend together was incredible, and we seemingly made up for those nights we had been apart. We both came so many times that we lost track, and almost felt like calling in sick just to rest our aching balls.
It was definitely like a honeymoon. I no longer faced the heartbreak of seeing him drive away not knowing when we'd be together again. The first few weeks went great. He began working at the company, and I continued working a lot of hours and tried to keep up with moving my things to the apartment and kept up my house the best I could. After we moved in the apartment, I never spent another night at my house. I no longer cared about things that were once so important to me. What mattered now was being with Andrew, feeling him next to me every night as we drifted off to sleep after another lovemaking session.
But just as wonderful as that feeling was, as the days turned to weeks and soon, we'd been together close to a month, I felt a nagging shadow of doubt and concern clouding my sunny happiness, as the expenses of paying half of the rent and utilities for the apartment, along with the expenses of my house began to place a serious burden on my financial well-being. It was a burden I hid from Andrew and myself at first, but as time passed, the hole got deeper.
He did ask me on occasion how the house was coming, was it ready to be listed yet and all, and I did tell him that my plan was to sell it myself with the company lawyer handling the paperwork -- a free service the company provide to us. As February turned to March, I was now two months behind on the mortgage payment and had already had the phone and cable shut off. Thankfully, I did manage to get a substantial amount of overtime, but it still wasn't enough. When I finally approached Andrew about maybe helping me cover my part of the rent for the apartment, he vehemently denied my request. I was shocked and almost hurt, but realized I'd gotten myself in the mess and would have to get myself out.
Near the middle of March, I accepted an offer on the house. I was happy to get the process going, and seriously looked forward to giving the entire profits to my dad, to finally pay him off. The closing was quick, and by the end of March, my very first house was no longer mine. All of the hours I had spent working on the house, building a beautiful garage, doing an expert landscaping job, and spending time in the one place I called my own, was now gone. For the first time in my life, I was now living in an apartment. I had to give away my cat. My dog, who I had raised as a puppy and had for 14 years, died alone in the house one day while I was at work. Little did I know then that my world as I knew it was only going to endure more heartaches and pain.
The proceeds from the house were not enough to cover my bills and what I owed my father. So of course, I paid my bills first, and to his dismay, only gave him half of what I owed him. He was okay with it, or so he seemed.
The real kick in the nuts came in the middle of April. My grandmother, whom I adored and loved more than my own mother, succumbed to heart disease. Her enlarged heart was beyond repair, and after a week in the hospital, she died. My world fell apart.
I had somewhat expected Andrew to be a little more sympathetic to my loss, but I really believe that he didn't know how to respond. He hadn't met my grandma, and despite being close to his own grandparents, he didn't give me the emotional support I needed.
As we inched closer to our one year anniversary of meeting over the phone in the middle of May, my grandmother's death, coupled with a hectic work schedule finally caught up with me. I awoke one morning to a high fever, so thinking nothing of it, I called in sick and stayed home. A few days passed and I still was not feeling well. I went to the company doctor who took a blood sample and a day later informed me I had contracted mono. I kept working, but dealt with a sore throat for eight weeks, losing my voice twice over that time. I was constantly fatigued. But despite not feeling well, Andrew's wants and needs which were once all I lusted for, now became more like a pain than pleasure. To make matters worse, our lease was up for the apartment, and we decided to move into a larger apartment with a two car garage and a large yard that was part of a duplex. The landlord was supposed to paint it before we moved in, which he did not. We almost backed out of the lease, but he made us a deal that if we painted it, he would take the cost of the supplies off the first month of rent, which we agreed. He even made me a deal that if I mowed the yard and kept up with it, he would knock off a certain amount each time I mowed. Since he also worked where we both now worked, it seemed like a great deal, and eventually the moved turned out to be a great move. We both enjoyed having a larger apartment, and I enjoyed having a garage where I could actually use my tools.
It had been a very hectic two months. We now found ourselves in early June, settled into the new apartment. I had bought us tickets to see a Cubs game in Chicago. Andrew was a Minnesota Twins fan of course but had always wanted to see a Cubs game. So, on a Tuesday night, we headed to Chicago for the game. I still was not feeling one hundred percent, and tired easily. But it didn't stop us from going to Boystown after the game, which was only a few blocks from the baseball stadium. We found a gay bar -- Roscoe's -- and wound up dancing and drooling over the cute boys there until almost two A.M.! It was what we needed, and since we didn't get back home until four in the morning, we both called in sick and spent the day in bed.
A week or so later, I finally was granted a transfer to the company's new facility, which ironically was only two miles from my old house in South Beloit. After six years, I was finally leaving the grounds department. No longer would I get to work outside with the fourteen and the fifteen year old summer help, but I would no longer have to get up in the middle of the night to plow snow. I was transferring into the shipping and receiving department, and part of my new job was to drive the company van between the two facilities as a courier. I was very excited, as was Andrew. Perhaps things had turned the corner for me personally, and life would get better.
We decided to take our first major vacation together. Since we'd both talked about our love of the outdoors, and a desire to see some of the country's national parks, we settled on driving out to Yellowstone National Park for three days, then up to Glacier National Park for two days before returning home. We camped the entire time in my tent but were ill-equipped with sleeping bags. The first night in Yellowstone we pretty much froze in the tent. Nestled between two mountain ranges, the first come first served campground was beautiful, but we had no idea of how cold it was going to get that night. As we snuggled together on my sleeping that was opened up with blankets from home, our body heat did keep us mildly warm. I had had sex in a tent before, but that night we opted to just hold each other close and try to stay warm. After that first night, the temperatures were warmer at night, and we were warm enough to pleasure each other in our usual manner: me lying on top of Andrew while my copious amounts of precum and saliva slickened our bellies enough to shoot our five day loads all over his belly. It felt so damn good to get some relief, and I was still so damn horny that I licked up most of our loads from his stomach and chest, then shared it with him in a deep, mixed cum kiss.
The trip to both parks was phenomenal. After all I had gone through in our first six months together, this seemed to be the only thing that cured me of mono. It was relaxing for us to get away from home and travel to a place where no one knew us. We eve took a "side trip" on our way to Glacier, spending a night in Spokane, Washington, where we spent the night in a hotel. We cruised around the town for a bit, and found a gay bar, and spent a couple of hours dancing, having a drink or two, and just checked out the crowd for cute guys, for most of the cuties that were there it was unbelievable to us that they were gay. That night in the hotel we had a marathon love-making session that was more reminiscent of our first few times together. We showered together where we took turns blowing each other. Then after moving to the bed, Andrew shot his load deep inside my bowels, then sucked me off, giving me a mind blowing orgasm that deposited my seed deep down his throat.
As much as we loved seeing the beautiful sights in Yellowstone, in both of our minds, Glacier was ten times better. We took a day hike of about two miles up hill to this lake that was dropped in between snow-capped mountains on all four sides. The alpine forest of huge spruce and pine trees that the trail meandered through gave us a hike to remember. I recall stopping at one area where some of the biggest ferns I've ever seen blanketed the entire forest floor for as far as we could see. In the middle of this blanket of ferns ran a crystal clear pristine stream. We both stood on the wooden pedestrian bridge just lost in thought admiring the natural beauty that in no way could man ever recreate.
All too soon our trip came to an end. We vowed that the following year we would go all the way to our so desired destination: Seattle. Both of us talked many times about how cool the area must be, and we had hoped that the following year we would be able to make the trip. Returning home to our duplex apartment, I only had one more week to work on the grounds department. Thankfully, my difficult co-worker was off that week, and I no longer had to deal with his moodiness. I had enjoyed most of our six years together as co-workers, but he had serious marriage issues, and that summer, the ten kids who worked over the summer with me were left to bear the brunt of his anger and frustrations, with most of us wondering what we'd done to piss him off. I was never so glad to get out of a job in my entire life and was anxious to start working as a driver at the new facility.
Job-wise and money-wise, things were better. I liked my new job, and we liked our new apartment. But just as I thought things between Andrew and I were going well, a new disturbing pattern emerged in Andrew's behavior. About an hour before sunset every night during the week, he would up and leave by himself. He did not offer for me to go with. He just left. Some nights he would be gone for two or three hours. Those nights I went to bed alone. When confronted as to where he would go, he just shrugged it off as "I just go drive and listen to the radio." I became highly skeptical that this was the case, but for some reason I never followed him.
I was greatly bothered by this. I began to question my decision of selling my house to move in with him. I needed him there for my emotional well-being, and he chose to leave each night instead. Yes, we had an awesome trip to Wyoming and Montana. One of the best trips I'd ever taken. But in the reality of the day to day living life as a couple, I had become to regret moving in with him.
To help deal with my emotions and the stresses in my life, I turned to alcohol. Almost every night for the remainder of July and early August, I drank to deal with my depression. We stopped having sex, and I was concerned that we were nearing an end in our relationship. The alcohol helped, but deep inside I knew it was not the answer, as I feared I would become an alcoholic like my father, and this was a road I certainly did not want to go down. My father's drinking ruined my life as well as my mother's life, and I did not want to ruin mine -- or Andrew's -- even though I was uncertain as to how long we would be together.
About a week later, I decided to follow him as he left for one of his nightly drives. He had driven to one of the parks in town along the river that had a reputation of being a place to hook up with other guys. He parked his car and began walking south on the bike path, which ran south along the eastern banks of the Rock River. I parked my truck and began to follow him. About a half mile south of the park, he walked to the tree lined riverbank in a secluded area in a different park. I sat about a hundred feet away from him, seeing what was going to happen. Nothing happened and no one approached him, so finally I summoned enough courage to walk up to him and confront him. I startled him, and he got up quickly and began to walk south along the trees. He was quite angry that I'd followed him, but it finally became the key to us talking about the wall that had grown between us. Andrew did realize just how much I was drinking each night, and we had a good talk where he confessed that he missed his home in Minnesota, and only went driving around to find an area where his favorite AM radio station from home came in. He also confessed that all he did when he came to this spot was to think about home and our relationship. I wanted to believe him, and since I didn't see him with anyone, I was fairly confident that he was telling me the truth. We agree to go back to the apartment, where we had an encore of the lovemaking that we had that night at the motel in Spokane. We agreed that maybe joining the YMCA together would help us to not only get in shape but to also find ways to enjoy each other a little more and strengthen our relationship.
The membership at the Y did help. We found ourselves getting in better shape, but also noticed a new trend. We began to both figuratively drool over the cute guys that worked out and played basketball on a nightly basis. There was one guy in particular who we'd nicknamed Duke boy, since he always wore a Duke University tee shirt. With his sandy blonde curly hair, his lean, muscular body was turn on for both of us, and fueled many fantasies as we sucked and fucked to the notion that Duke boy joined us in a three-way, which of course never did happen. But it sure made for some awesome fantasies! We both agreed that we had secretly lusted after cute, eighteen year old guys.
Finally, we settled back into life as a committed gay couple, and tried to put the trials and tribulations of the previous difficult year behind us. Going to the Y together seemed to help a lot, and Andrew ceased leaving home at night for his solo drive alone. Life settled in as we waited for the new year to arrive. Little did we know at that time that the following year would be one of more traveling and confrontations that challenged the mostly solid relationship that we had enjoyed up to this point.