Small Town
Part 7
############################################################################################
Justin awoke to the incessant buzzing coming from the alarm clock on his nightstand. Groaning he reached over, finally hitting the off button on the third attempt and putting an end to the irritating sound. Instantly his eyes begin to close and just as he felt himself starting to drift off, the loud knocking on his door shook him awake again.
“Justin, are you up?” his mother’s voice called out from behind the closed door.
“Yeah, I’m up, I’m up,” he yelled, his voice still heavy with sleep.
“Okay, because I don’t want you to be late for school. Hurry up and I’ll drive you.”
“Alright,” he moaned, forcing himself to sit. A loud yawn split his face in two as he dragged himself from his warm bed and, still half asleep, headed into the bathroom. He relieved his full bladder, washed his hands and brushed his teeth. He looked into the mirror above the sink, gazing deep into his blue eyes, trying to find even a hint of a change. He didn’t see any. He wondered if anyone at school would be able to tell that he was different. That he was now a man. Well, at least by definition of having lost his virginity, he was a man. He still had a few more weeks to go until he would officially be one, and he couldn’t wait.
Stripping off his underwear he climbed into the shower enclosure and turned on the water, adjusting it to just the right temperature. He moaned in pleasure as the hot water ran over his still tired body, soothing it and getting it ready for the long day ahead. He hated school. He couldn’t wait until he was done. It wasn’t school exactly that he had a problem with, it was certain kids. Kids that thought it was fun to pick on him because he was different. Because he wasn’t interested in playing sports or hanging out and shooting the shit about all the girls that he had supposedly fucked. Because he was gay.
No one at school actually knew that he was gay. He wasn’t dumb enough to tell them. Well, except Daphne. She was his best friend and she knew. He couldn’t keep something so big to himself. He had to share it with her. They shared everything important and realizing that you’re gay, well, that’s pretty important. And she was totally cool with it. When he told her that he thought he was gay, she didn’t act surprised at all. She said that she always knew that something about him was different than most of the other guys they knew, and now they both knew what it was. He was gay. No big deal and things went on just like they always had. With them by each other’s side.
Justin finished his shower, turned off the water and stepped out to dry himself. As he ran the fluffy towel across his skin, his thoughts instantly turned towards Brian. He felt his cock begin to harden at the memory of the previous night and smiled. How the hell was he going to be able to get through the day without thinking about the man? Because every time he did he got an erection. Not that he minded. He liked that the image of Brian did that to him, but he didn’t think that walking around school with a permanent boner was a great idea.
“Hurry up, Justin,” he heard his mother yell from downstairs. “Breakfast is waiting.”
He pulled on some clothes, ran a brush through his damp hair, grabbed his knapsack and headed downstairs. When he walked into the kitchen, his father was taking a last gulp of his coffee before he headed out the door for work. He watched him kiss his mother goodbye, then the man turned towards him and Molly, who was already sitting at the table and said, “Have a great day at school you two. See you when I get home.” And with a smile and a little wave, he was gone.
“You too, Dad,” Justin said as he slumped down in a kitchen chair. His mother instantly placed a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him and he began to eat.
“So, Justin, will you be home right after school today?” Jennifer asked him as she stood by the stove, sipping her coffee.
“Um, I’m not sure. Daph and I might go hang out or something. Okay?” he asked. He didn’t want to think about what had happened last night and what he thought about her inquisition about Brian. He still wasn’t ready for that.
“Sure. Just let me know. I’m taking Molly to Cara’s after school and she’s staying there for the night because Daddy and I have a dinner to go to and we won’t be home until around eleven or so.” Jennifer wanted to ask Justin more about last night, but after sleeping on it, she decided that she wouldn’t push. She would wait and see what happened. Give her son the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was just jumping to conclusions about what was going on in the car with his new friend, Brian. She knew that was probably all it was.
“Yeah, I get to sleep over on a school night,” Molly shouted around a mouth full of food.
“Molly,” Jennifer said sternly, “Don’t talk with your mouth full.” She shook her head at the lack of manners that her daughter possessed. “And the only reason I’m letting you stay at Cara’s on a school night is because I don’t want you and your brother fighting and torturing each other while we’re out.” Then turning her attention back to Justin she said, “I really do wish you would both try to get along better.”
“Me?” Justin said incredulously, then turned towards his sister and stuck his tongue out at her, mimicking her actions.
“Yes, YOU,” Jennifer said with a laugh.
“She started it,” he whined.
“She started it,” Molly repeated mockingly.
“Goof,” Justin said to his sister.
“Goof,” Molly repeated.
“You shit,” Justin said as his patience began to fade.
“You shi…” Molly started to be quickly cut off by her mother.
“Hey,” Jennifer said, staring sternly at her daughter, then even more so at her son. “Watch it, Justin,” she warned and watched as the supposedly mature one crossed his arms over his chest and sulked.
“Well, she did start it,” Justin said softly then stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth and took out his frustration on it as he angrily chewed it to shreds.
############################################################################################
Across town, Brian was already at work. He hated Monday mornings. Not that the weekends were that much better, because most weekends he had to work, but at least it was still the weekend. Mondays just reminded him that he had another entire week to deal with his father’s shit at the store. Not that he got away from it at home either. He was never that lucky.
“Hey, Brian, get your ass in here,” Jack yelled from the back. He knew there wouldn’t be any customers that could hear him because the store hadn’t opened yet. He knew that Brian was just restocking the shelves, like he always did every morning.
“Yeah?” Brian said as he made his way into the stockroom.
“What the hell is this?” Jack asked pointing to the large boxes stacked against the wall.
Not really sure what his father was getting at, Brian looked at the boxes puzzled for a minute, then answered. “They’re the boxes of corn flakes that I picked up from Granger’s last week,” Brian said flatly. He didn’t understand what the man was getting at.
“Do you see that, over there?” the older man asked, pointing to a few boxes on the floor on the other side of the room.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Well, Sonny Boy, why would I want you to get MORE corn flakes when we obviously have a few boxes left? Why would I want these to sit here, turning stale, when we still have all of those to sell? Can you answer that for me, smart boy?”
“I…I just picked up what you ordered. I didn’t think that…”
“You didn’t think what?” Jack cut Brian off before he could finish. His voice growing more and more forceful as he continued to speak.
“I…I didn’t think that, that I should, um, I mean, uh, I didn’t think that you knew we had those so I just took what was in our order,” Brian said, hating the weakness he heard in his voice. Hating himself for feeling so weak.
“You don’t think I know my own store? What I do and don’t have in here?”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant. I just…” Brian didn’t know what to say. He knew that they had the boxes of cereal left when he’d picked the others up, but he knew better than to question his father and kept his mouth shut. He just did his job and took the boxes that he was told to pick up from their supplier. But as he watched his father’s anger continue to build, he knew he had to think of something quick or he’d find himself at the end of a fist, connecting with his face and various other body parts of choice. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “Sorry, I guess I made a mistake. I’ll…I’ll take them back to Granger’s and tell them that I screwed up. I’m sure it’ll be no problem. They’ll just credit our account.”
“Yeah, you do that. And while you’re at it, make sure you pick up the things I ordered for this morning,” Jack said as he turned to walk away, throwing over his shoulder, “And don’t fuck up again.”
Brian let out a huge sigh of relief as he watched the man walk away. When he was out of sight, he finally let himself fall against the wall behind him, silently giving thanks that his legs hadn’t given way while his father was present, because they were shaking so badly. He fucking hated the fact that he still scared him so intensely. Hated it. Taking a calming breath, Brian reached for the first of the three large boxes and proceeded to bring them out to the alley so that he could load them into the truck and take them back. He just hoped that they didn’t give him any problems with returning them. That was all he needed. Then Jack would really have something to say.
Jack sat down in his battered old high-back leather chair in his dingy little office at the back of the store. He grabbed a bottle from the bottom drawer of his desk and a glass and poured himself a shot of Jim Beam, downing it in one gulp. He loved the slow burn as the amber liquid traveled down his throat. He poured himself another, downing it just as quickly before returning the bottle and glass to the drawer. He closed his eyes and rested his head back against the chair. He knew it was his fault that they’d gotten more boxes of cereal. He hadn’t realized that they had a few boxes still left tucked away in the corner of the stock room. He remembered moving them there the week before when he was trying to rearrange some other stuff and had forgotten all about them. But he couldn’t let his son know that he had ordered the new ones. He wouldn’t give the too smart for his own good son of a bitch the satisfaction of his slip up. Nope, he always had to have the upper hand. He laughed at his own joke. “Yep, the upper hand, the lower hand, any hand as long as it could throw a punch,” he said to himself and laughed even harder as the alcohol worked its way into his system. “Always gotta keep the control.”