Bennett The Brave

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

I laughed quietly and muttered a little, "uh oh".

"What's the 'uh oh' for, Bennett?" Mr. Morris asked, hovering over me as I peered at Saturn through my telescope.

"I think my eyelashes are frozen to the eyepiece," I replied, trying not to move my head. Mr. Morris chuckled, gently patting my back.

"Okay, hold still Bennett," he said, leaning in close to my face. Very gently, he blew warm, minty breath over the lens, and I felt my eyelashes come free of the eyepiece. I blinked involuntarily and then stood up. He took a cloth out from his pocket and wiped at the lens. "Yup," he said, "Lost more than a few lashes that way myself." I smiled my thanks to him, and found my eyes making their way down to the front of his trousers. I don't even know why I did it, but I look at him and was rewarded with a glance of a shifting mass rippling beneath his bulky trousers as he turned away to talk to another kid. When I realized what I was doing, I shook my head vigorously and looked away. Still, the image persisted in my mind and I couldn't help myself wondering what it Mr. Morris looked like under those trousers.

Out on the frozen lake, the night was perfect for observing the heavens. The hard surface of the ice provided a level, stable surface to stand our telescopes, and afforded a near-panoramic view of the night sky. The cold, still, winter air made the stars twinkle brightly; the planets and their satellites became easy to view through the vast array of lenses pointing up from our little cove. The constellation Orion held his shield and spear over our heads, surrounded by the jewels of the Pleiades and the many other objects around him. I loved Orion, mostly because I pictured Garrett like that, all heroic and stuff, battling the Peter Gilberts of the world.

My father came up with the idea of hosting the Astronomy Club at the lake for a star party. Of course, Mom took care of the particulars; inviting us all up to the Lodge afterwards for hot cocoa, with marshmallows of course, and warm cookies. Mr. Morris took some time, with the warm fire crackling behind him, to speak about some of the objects we observed, and talk about our upcoming trip to an observatory.

Mr. Morris, our science teacher, had an obvious passion for the subjects of cosmology and astrophysics. Whenever he talked about those things, he became animated, moving around and gesticulating like some crazed mad-scientist. Younger than most of the teachers at my school, I connected with him more. He spoke to us without condescension; it was less him teaching, than it was him sharing something amazing and cool with us. It didn't hurt that Mr. Morris was a very handsome man; he seemed very fit and athletic, and I wondered why he hadn't been drafted for the war. I understood Mr. Morris' desire to pass-on the gift of knowledge too, remembering the feeling I got while showing Neal the some of the sexy things I had learned from Garrett; a nearly indescribable emotion that made my heart and guts go all quavery.

While Mr. Morris talked, I let my mind drift, and soon found myself imagining Neal and I, naked somewhere, while Garret and Mr. Morris explored our bodies. Lizzie, seated next to me, discretely moved a sweater from her lap over to mine. To my absolute horror, I realized she was helping to cover my obvious boner. She patted my knee and grinned devilishly at me as I blushed furiously. I silently thanked her and she winked at me. I tried to focus my attention back to Mr. Morris, who was passionately describing a new , but decidedly implausible, theory of the beginning of the universe, calling it the "Big Bang".

My gaze kept returning back to Mr. Morris' body. Without the heavy winter gear on, he looked tall, lean and rangy. I guessed him to be about 24 or 25 years old, yet he seemed clean shaven, with curly, lustrous chestnut colored and slightly longish hair. Once more, my mind went off on a little stroll on it's own, and I found myself wondering if he had hair like that anywhere else. This, of course, did nothing to help my aching erection. I quietly excused myself to Lizzie, making a silent, awkward beeline for the bathroom, managing to shut the door behind me without it making too much of a racket. I really did have to pee, but my raging hard-on made that all but impossible.