Day Time Talks and Night Time Walks
#8 of New Kid
Part Eight: Day Time Talks and Night Time Walks
Chapter notes: Two chapters in less than a week? No it's not a sign of the apocalypse coming get the women and children out of the cellar already. Just had some free time so thought I'd go ahead and post this. Please enjoy it while I get everything else caught up, and remember: comments, critiques, and faves spur me on faster *wink*.
The day went fairly well from that point on, as well as high school can go that is. Jarrod left me alone, Matt and I turned in our poems, took our quiz in anatomy and pretty much spent the rest of the day shooting the breeze and taking it easy. Before lunch it seemed like it was going to be a pretty good weekend, no homework, not much to study for, and so it looked like we'd have a lot of free time this weekend to enjoy.
Matt and I sat in the gazebo again during lunch as it was starting to become 'our spot' as somewhere for us to eat. We talked a bit on our classes and what was going on this weekend with the both of us. I told Matt that I likely had nothing to do, my dad was going to be working around and trying to unpack his stuff and I was free to my own devices. He smiled at this and got a smile on his maw at hearing my lack of social activities this weekend.
"So... Since you don't have any real plans this weekend do you think maybe that we can... hang out and I can show you more around town, maybe take you to the mall and show you around?"
I looked over at him and smiled, "Why Mr. Jordon, are you asking me out on a date?" He blushed and looked away, but I sat beside him and nosed his shoulder to get his attention.
"Hey I was just playing, sounds like a plan. I could stand to look around for places and a few things."
I nuzzled his shoulder for a moment before we went back to talking about tonight's movie. I told him to call me with a time sometime before he picked me up and gave him my cell number for that and he gave me his. I smiled as we spent the remainder of our lunch together before setting off for the rest of out classes.
I spent art working on my sketch of the scene Matt had showed me, and by the end of the period I had it almost all the way planned out. With some more hard work and a few minor alterations I would be ready to start on it for real.
During psych class we watched a movie about the studies of sociology and how it could be applied to every day circumstances. That took pretty much the whole period, and with the sounding of the tone they used as a bell we all packed up our things and headed out.
I went to my locker and put most of my books that I thankfully wouldn't need into it. Before I shut it I felt a tap on my shoulder, and when I looked behind me I saw Jarrod looking around. When he felt it was safe he leaned in and asked if he could talk to me about his "thing" at my place today. I nodded and after making sure he knew where my place was he said he'd be by around 4. He then left with a slight nod looking serious and went to join a few of the other jocks that I could see down the hall.
When I turned around and closed my locker I saw that Matt was rushing over to me with a look of panic on his face. "Was that Jarrod again? Did he threaten you? Are you ok? What did he say? Is he planning on doing something again? Cause if he is I swear..."
I had to chuckle at Matt's attempt to be brave for my sake but I shook my furry head and told him to relax. I told him that he and I were cool now and he just wanted to know if he could come and talk to me about something. After watching him try to form a sentence for a few moments I explained to him that I had found out something we have in common and I was going to help him with it.
He was shocked that we were both on good terms now, but I simply told him that's how things went with me. I patted him on the back and told him I'd be alright and that I'd see him tonight. We went our separate ways at that and I just walked along by myself again. I just looked around solemnly and admired the scenery. I was not one to often smile but I was still happy with how cool the weather still was and all the plants that were blooming.
When I got home my dad was home already (he worked random weird hours so knowing his schedule was not easy) so I just went in and went to my room after telling him I was home. I took off my shoes and socks and went back downstairs and waited. It was a quarter to four so Jarrod would be here soon and I waited by watching some T.V.
At about five after I heard a knocking at the door and got up to answer it and found the puma I'd been expecting.
"Hey, uh...," He scratched the back of his head thinking for a moment before he went on, "So can I talk to you about this?"
I nodded and let him in as my dad was coming in through the kitchen drinking a beer. He noticed us and came over, "Hey there, pup, who's this now?"
I was thankful that my dad didn't make any kind of joke about me having another guy over, so explained honestly, "This is Jarrod, the puma I fought and beat up yesterday who I told you about remember?"
Jarrod looked at me and gave me a 'what the hell' look as my dad put down his drink and came over to us and looked at him with an intimidating look and pooped his knuckles, "So... you're the bad-ass punk who tried to hurt mah boy the other day?" Jarrod gulped and nodded, my dad had a few inches and a few pounds on him so it's easy to understand why he might be intimidated, especially being in our home. "You know what I say to punks like you, boy?" My dad stood right in front of Jarrod and looked down at him angrily as he shook his head and looked like he was about to bolt. "I say... Hello." At the last word my dad said cheerfully and reached out to shake the young feline's paw.
Jarrod shook his paw a little confused but nodded politely before my dad went to sit down on our sofa and started flipping through channels.
I got Jarrod's attention and motioned for him to follow me, "We can talk in my room; follow me." When we got into my room Jarrod sat down in a chair and I sat down on the edge of my bed.
He looked around my room for a moment before looking at me, "Is your dad always so..."
"Annoying, weird, crazy, friendly, stop me if I guess it" I crossed my arms and he nodded, "Yeah he's always like that he trusts me though so if I don't see you as a threat neither will he, but if memory serves me I believe we are here to talk about you?"
Jarrod looked away and nodded, "Yeah... Just how are you going to help me though, you're a wolf, how would you know what it's like to be like this?"
I couldn't help giving a small chuckle at this, "Because...," I got up and took off my shirt and turned around to show him my back and then extended my claws for him to see, "I'm a hybrid too, just like you ain't that right?"
He looked at me with shock as he looked over my body. I sat back down without my shirt on and fluffed out a bit as he got his wits together.
"You're a hybrid?"
"Yeah I am, my pop's a wolf, obviously, and my mom's a tiger. That makes me a wiger for classification purposes. I got tiger like stripes on my back and arms, which is why I wear a jacket so much in case you didn't notice, shorter and rounder ears that are like half wolf and tiger in shape, claws, and a few other things, but that's about it."
"Wow..." I tilted my head and looked at him as he looked around the room before he went on, "Well I guess you know that I'm a cougar, puma, whatever you want to call us, same as my dad.... But my mom was a beautiful golden retriever." He moved about and got out his wallet and took out a picture and showed it to me. In the picture were a male cougar and a beautiful female golden retriever who was huge in the stomach region. It was obvious she was pregnant with Jarrod here, but she had long golden fur bright blue eyes and she and her husband were standing beside each other and they looked so happy I couldn't help but smile.
"She looks very lovely...," I said to him as I handed back the picture, "I think you got her eyes at the very least."
"Yeah..., she died from complications while giving birth to me... my dad didn't blame me though and raised me pretty much by himself. When I was born they could tell by my whimpers and fur and tail that I was a hybrid but with some practice I could appear feline. But when I was about 7 years old I lost control one day and started wagging my tail because I was happy about something, I don't remember what now, but some people saw and they made things real bad, treating me like dirt, tagging our home, all the classic things. We moved here to start over again and I've developed a barrier to keep people away and to be tough so people won't mess with me." I nodded as he finished telling his story, "You know what's even worse is that I can't even have sex because of... something I inherited from my grandfather..."
I raised an eye and thought for a moment and then chuckled, "You've got a canine rod huh?" He looked away mumbling and I just laughed. "HA you think you got problems? I got something from each side with me." He looked at me in amazement and I just nodded and told him about my hybrid equipment.
We talked and laughed and shared various stories about typical stupid guy stuff and about our families. I showed him pictures of mine and we told various stories about how we'd kept our secrets from others in the past. I soon realized that he was indeed just a young fur that needed a real friend, just like I was. By the time it was 5:30 you would have thought we'd been friends for years, and as we walked down the stairs to the front door (I had put my shirt back on long ago by this point) we laughed about a joke I had heard about a fox on shore leave and you couldn't have known that we were once near mortal enemies.
"Well bro, thanks for talking about all that stuff with me it was great to finally talk to someone who understands things and that I can talk openly about with."
I shook his paw firmly and patted him on the shoulder smiling warmly at him, "Anytime you need someone to talk to I'm your guy, Dogwood." I winked at him and he looked confused for a minute before it sunk in and he blushed.
"Yeah well... if anybody gives you any more shit then you come to me and I'll help ya out... Stripes."
We both laughed at the other's nickname and said our goodbyes. I was still laughing as I made my way up to my room and laid back on my bed smiling when I heard my cell ring. I looked at it and saw that it was Matt calling before I answered it.
"Hey slick, what's up?"
"Slick huh? Well I just wanted to let you know that the movies start at 7:15 so I'll be there around 6:30 for our...," He took a moment and gulped audibly for a moment before saying, "Date?"
I smiled and said that was good before I went downstairs and told my dad I was going out to the movies with Matt. Of course he had some stupid witty thing to say and I just retorted with a classic pop to the back of his fat head. He did tell me though to have fun and not get home to late and I told him I would before heading back upstairs and getting ready.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
By 6 o'clock I had showered, dried, and groomed myself and was looking around in a pair of boxers for some clothes to wear. This would be my first actual date but I wasn't really all that nervous. I slipped on a pair of baggy casual shorts, put on a tank top and a t-shirt before slipping on a nice blue button up shirt which I kept unbuttoned. It was getting dark and so I didn't see much of a reason to worry that much about hiding my upper-arms from view. Making sure my fur was groomed and aired out I put on a pair of sandals and looked at myself. Deciding I looked pretty good I grabbed my wallet and phone and walked downstairs.
"Lookin' snazzy there pup, gonna bag ya a rich one huh?" My dad clicked his tongue and I rolled my eyes looking at my phone and seeing that Matt would be here any time now.
As if right on cue the doorbell rang and I went to the door to reveal a sharp looking otter wearing long slacks, tennis shoes, a collard shirt, and a light jacket. Matt was fairly nicely dressed and looking pretty formal. I could even smell a light musk of the cologne he must have been wearing this evening.
"Hmm, I feel a little underdressed...," I looked down at myself and my really casual clothing before looking up at Matt.
"Well uh... I don't think that..." Matt looked away, "I think you look just perfect..." I could tell he was blushing even through that light creamy brown fur on his cheeks and just smiled.
I grabbed my house key and said bye to my dad before he could make some stupid joke. As we got into Matt's car I couldn't help but smile at what this evening might hold for me. I dismissed those thoughts for the moment though, as we drove off into the darkening town and headed towards the theater.
When we got there it was pretty deserted and Matt and I were just about the only furs there. Matt explained to me that not many people went to the movies on Friday nights. This would be even better since we could be more intimate than we could be if we had to be "just friends" for all the people that would be around.
"Uh... So how about I get the tickets and you can get the snacks, or vice versa? Or I can afford to buy both the tickets and stuff if you want..." I chuckled and told him that that was actually a pretty good idea for us to go Dutch, and he just kinda smiled and told me that he thought that that would have been the safest idea on our first date.
We got out of the car and Matt went up to buy the tickets to the comedy we had agreed to go see and when we got in I bought a medium pop-corn and large soda before we headed into the dark theater. We took our seats towards the back and in the middle where we'd be less likely to be noticed and settled in to watch the movie.
When the lights dimmed we messed around some, tossing bits of popcorn in the air and catching it in our maws. After the previews started up though we calmed down and just nibbled at our snack. We commented on some upcoming features that we thought would be nice to see together and before long the movie started and we just sat back to enjoy it.
As the movie played out I saw that it wasn't as great a movie as the commercials and things had said, as usual. So instead of watching the movie I kept taking short glances over at Matt sitting there watching the movie and occasionally taking bites of popcorn and sips of our soda. I smiled and scooted a bit closer to him and slowly reached out and held his right paw with my left. He glanced down at my paw and smiled at the affection and scooted closer to me and offered me a few pieces of pop corn which I took and ate smiling.
Eventually we got into the position where I was leaning against him and I had my arm around him holding him close to me and he did the same to me. We were huddled up together and just watched the movie in silence, making few comments and chuckling when it was appropriate. I was really enjoying this date so far, Matt was a little shaky at first from my sudden affection, but he quickly calmed down and was now relaxing as we sat together. It was nice to have his strong arm around my shoulder and lean against his firm body, it made me feel at peace with the world.
We continued to watch the movie in relative silence, eating the rest of our popcorn and sipping on our drink in the process. We remained as we were together and like that through the rest of the movie. As the movie ended and the credits started to roll, we straightened up and separated, much to my chagrin. Call me a romantic or whatever, but I liked small showings of affection between two furs. Holding paws, nuzzling, hugging, cuddling, walking together, I enjoyed all of that stuff, call me sentimental but I always thought that it was sometimes the simplest things that bring so much joy.
We exited through the doors of the theater and stepped back out into the still cool spring night. I stretched my arms above my head and groaned from not having moved much in the last two hours, "Well that was disappointing. I thought it would have been much funnier than that." I walked along beside Matt to his car and got in the passenger side once he had unlocked the doors.
"Eh... it wasn't that bad. Besides, I'm just glad we got to do this when there weren't many furs around and that we got to do what we did." Matt had a smile on his face that didn't look like it was ever going to leave as he started up the car and we buckled up.
I let out a happy sigh and leaned back in my seat, my tail softly wagging behind me as I replayed our time in the theater inside my head. "Yeah... It's nice to be able to hold onto someone and nuzzle like that. I like that sort of thing, makes me feel warm inside..." I sighed again and looked over at Matt smiling softly as he started to drive us along the darkened roads.
I looked around the streets and realized that I had no idea where we were or where we were going. I wasn't worried, as I was sure Matt wouldn't try anything stupid but still I didn't like to be kept in the dark about things, no pun intended. "Hey, Matt, where are we going? I don't recognize any of this at all."
Matt smiled and kept on driving, "I want to take you someplace where we can be alone and watch the stars. And maybe even howl if you're up to it." He chuckled and I shoved at his arm playfully before settling down and watching the dark scene pass us by. After driving for about 10 minutes I felt the car slow down and turn into an empty parking lot.
We got out and I looked around, there were some trees growing up along the road and up to this small drop that lead into sand. There were small dunes all around and some dune grass growing all around them. The parking lot was right next to the sand which lead out about 50 yards or so to where the tide was crashing softly on the shore. I took a deep breath and inhaled the salty humid air of the area around me and shivered in pure joy at all of the peaceful sensations that were coming to me.
I looked over at Matt and saw that he was taking off his shoes and rolling up his slacks, "I thought we'd take a walk along the beach, maybe sit and watch the stars for awhile. I like coming here and thought maybe you'd enjoy it too." I smiled and took off my sandals and put them into the car before Matt locked the doors and we headed onto the sandy shore.
We walked along the sand and started to move down the beach. We walked side-by-side for several moments just enjoying the serene nature around us. I was enjoying the peaceful walk and the sand between my toes when I heard Matt sigh. I looked over at him and saw that he was smiling blissfully to himself. He looked over to notice me looking at him and let out a soft chuckle.
"I've always wanted to do this, you know?" I chuckled at Matt's comment and got a bit closer to him as we continued to walk along the shore.
"Do what? Walk along the beach at night? I thought you living here and being an otter, you'd have done this more times than I'd care to count?"
He chuckled again and rolled his eyes looking at me sweetly, "Not that... I've always wanted to come to the beach at night with someone I cared about and walk along with them; feeling the waves, listening to the wind blow, and just enjoying a starry moonlit walk with them by my side. Though, up until recently I had always thought about it being a female who'd be here with me." He sighed and stopped walking and I looked over at him with concern.
"Do you regret doing this? Do you want to just be friends and nothing more? Are you ashamed of yourself, or of me?" I looked straight into his eyes and held his gaze with mine, "Talk to me, Matthew, what's going on in there?"
He let out a deep breath and he moved over towards a dune motioning me to follow. When he got to a place he sat down on the sand and I followed suit. I sat on the sand and moved about to sit next to him. I crossed my legs and leaned back on my arms as Matt sat in such a way that he could change his gaze from looking at me to the ocean with ease. He looked up at me and then back to the ocean before he looked back at me and let out a sigh.
"I don't regret things, I really do want to try to be more than friends with you, and no I'm not ashamed of you. To be honest I'm not even feeling that much ashamed of myself anymore either. After I got home yesterday afternoon from dropping you back off at your place I went straight to my room and laid in bed thinking about you. How you acted, how you held me the night before, how calm you were, and just everything I'd learned about you in such a short time. But then my thoughts turned to my family and what was expected of me and I just thought of how they'd never approve. I'm just so confused about it all and I just don't know so much about so many things..."
He sighed and closed his eyes, but before anything else could be said from him I leaned over and nuzzled against his shoulder. "Don't think so much about things, Matt. No sense worrying about tomorrow, when you live today, and you never know..." I shrugged and leaned against him, "You think your family may not approve, but maybe they could learn to accept it. I didn't think my family would accept me, but, as you can see from my father's behavior, they do accept me for who I am and who I love."
He leaned against my head and nuzzled against my head, "Yeah, you're lucky you have such a kind and accepting family. Not many fathers would accept the idea of their son being gay, and there aren't that many furs in general who would accept it I'd think."
He wrapped an arm around me and I wrapped an arm around him as we continued to sit there. We moved closer together and I smiled as he rubbed my shoulder and I rubbed his side some. We just sat there looking out at the starry night and admired the moon as it reflected across the surface of the ocean. For several minutes neither of us talked so as not to ruin the moment, but after a few moments I felt the need to speak. I rubbed up against Matt and let out a sigh before I looked up at him with a smile.
"Ya know, Matt, this has probably been the best few hours of my young life. And I just want you to know that I'm glad to have met ya. I don't know what's going to happen between us but I just want to let you know I'll stick by you and help you with coming to terms with yourself. I just wish that your family would be more accepting of things like love when it came to others." He nodded and leaned over against me and I looked up at the sky.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a moment before I decided to sing a little for Matt, since he liked my voice apparently. "And as we lie beneath the stars, we realize how small we are."
I stopped and turned to look at Matt better before I went on. "If they could love like you and me," I smiled and put my paw on his chest right over his heart and one over mine as I sang that line. "Imagine what the world could be."
We smiled to each other and Matt actually joined me in singing the chorus of the song. "If everyone cared and nobody cried, if everyone loved and nobody lied, if everyone shared and swallowed their pride, then we'd see the day when nobody died. We'd see the day when nobody died."
Matt smiled when we finished the last line and I reached out and hugged him close to me. He fell towards me and we fell over into the sand and looked at each other smiling. I held him on top of me and suddenly we just blinked and relaxed our faces gazing into the other's eyes. I couldn't stop looking at him, and I couldn't turn away from him. A few moments passed and we slowly moved our faces closer at a pace that seemed to take years before our lips met again.
We'd closed our eyes and were kissing each other like lovers, just a sweet kiss. No tongue, no moaning, nothing extremely intricate, we just had our lips pressed against each other and kissed each other slowly. I felt his smooth lips against mine and the soft fur surrounding them as we held that kiss as the seconds passed by. He moved a bit and twitched his nose and I felt his whiskers tickle against my muzzle, and I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as we slowly and sadly pulled away from each other.
I let him go and he rolled to my side and was panting softly with his eyes closed. It seemed that neither of us had been breathing much during that kiss and it had taken a bit out of us. I chuckled and we looked over at each other panting and neither one of us could hide the smiles on our faces that we had deep inside our hearts.
"That was some kiss, Zeke. I think we're getting better at it." Matt winked at me and I just rolled my eyes and gave him a smirk.
"Yeah... it was good..." I laid back in the sand and watched the stars for a few minutes before I reached into my pocket to look at my cell phone and saw that it was already getting close to 11. I lowered my ears in disappointment and sighed looking over at Matt.
"It's getting late... And I need to getting back home, Matt. Sorry." I stood up and brushed off the loose sand from my clothes and fur before I offered him a paw and pulled him up. I held onto his paw and pulled him into a tight embrace before leaning up and giving him another kiss. I chuckled and brushed off the sand from his clothes and even gave his rump a pat chuckling to myself.
"Hey now... I'm not sure what kind of otter you think I am, but I am not an easy lay, buster." He was smiling so I knew he wasn't being serious so I gave him another peck on the cheek and held onto his paw as we started walking back to the car.
"Yeah, and you can't tell me that you've never had a guy pat you on the butt before." He smiled and we laughed at our stupid jokes before it got quiet and we walked along the shore back to his car. We just walked along paw in paw occasionally looking at the other. We were much calmer and at ease with each other, so we even walked a lot closer together.
We got back to the car and after brushing off some more got in and started to drive off. We sat in silence for a while just enjoying the night ride with our windows rolled down, the wind blowing through our fur, and a smile on each of our faces from our own personal thoughts.
I was thinking about how nice this evening had been and how everything was going well for me at last, and I'm sure Matt was enjoying his first real date with another guy but I wasn't sure. I kept on watching him and smiling softly and eventually he caught me staring with a smile on my face.
"Hey now... what's got you smiling all of a sudden now, Zeke?"
I chuckled and took a deep breath, "Oh I was just thinking how this night has been so nice and how I haven't been this happy and calm in a long while." I really hadn't felt like this since I was a kid, and it really felt good to be this at peace with everything.
When we got into town we barely saw anyone around, and encountered very little traffic so we were able to drive pretty quickly. The roads were lit by the streetlights as we drove along, the only other light besides the headlights that illuminated the darkness along our path. The shadows of the night flew along the ground as we drove and the night air was filled with the peaceful calm of early spring.
After a few more minutes of driving along the streets we finally reached my home and Matt pulled up into the driveway quietly. Matt turned off the lights and let the car idle for a moment and we looked over at each other smiling again. It had been a good night, and we both knew the other was feeling good about it as well.
I reached over and put my paw over Matt's as we looked at each other and I rubbed it softly not breaking eye contact. "This was some night, huh, Matt? Not a bad first date in my book."
Matt nodded softly, "Yeah, my first date with a guy, though, so it's the best by default, but..." Matt looked at me hopefully and moved his paw about to give my paw a gentle squeeze, "I hope that it won't be our last one..."
I chuckled and gave him a smirk after he said that and nodded, "I hope that too, Matt. And if you count our trip to the mall and around town tomorrow then I can guarantee that." I let go of his paw at that and we made our way out of the car and to my front door.
When we got to the door I noticed that the house was dark. I guessed that my dad had already gone off to bed for the night so I stood there with Matt for a moment. I looked up at him and he was still smiling that sweet happy smile he'd had all evening on his face and he looked so handsome in the soft light of the full moon that illuminated the night.
"So I'll call you sometime around... say noon? Then we can go to the mall and all that and hang out again, what do you think?" Matt kept smiling his soft sweet grin at me and I just nodded at him softly.
"Yeah, that sounds good, that gives me a lot of time to sleep in and rest up for a big day then." I smiled at him as we stood on my doorstep. I felt so at ease with him around, and this night had gone off without a hitch, much to my appreciation.
"Ok then, I'll talk to you tomorrow then, Zeke, it was a real blast tonight, glad I met you and could experience this with you." I chuckled and gave the big otter a soft kiss on his lips before I nodded and agreed with him. He just smiled and gave me a soft hug before he turned around and waved before getting into his car and driving off towards his home.
I watched after his car as he drove off until the taillights were no longer visible before I went inside. The entire house was quiet and I couldn't hear anything going on around. It seemed like my dad had gone to bed already so I just headed upstairs and got ready for bed.
After performing my nightly rituals I stripped down to my boxers and laid in my bed looking up at the ceiling. I thought about these last few days and how fast things had gone. Since Wednesday I'd gained a few friends, gotten into a fight, made a surprising ally, went out on a date, and even gotten a potential boyfriend. It all seemed so surreal to me but I knew that it was real. It made me smile to think about the things that had happened so far, and it was looking good what the future held for me. I just had this feeling that things were going to be well in the future, at least for awhile, and that I might have at last found a place here for me.
I liked the idea that this place just might be the place where my family could settle down at last. I imagined us all here together and smiled and imagining Matt along with my family made me chuckle happily. I was getting ahead of myself though with such thoughts. I turned my thoughts back to Matt and got situated under my blankets. His scent was slowly dissipating from the blankets but there were still faint traces of his scent. I let those smells fill my thoughts as I closed my eyes, and my last thought before I fell asleep was wondering what tomorrow had in store for me.