Love Is Not A Straight Line

Chapter 4 - Valentine's Day

"Hey, are you there?" said Ricky Bowen holding his phone to his ear.

Ricky paced back and forth across his room waiting for a response. A faint interference sounded before a breath appeared.

"It's good to hear from you. I thought you'd never call," said the voice on the other end of the cell phone.

"Carl, it's good to hear your voice. Sorry for calling so early."

"It's okay. What can I do for you little buddy?" asked Carl.

"Before I tell you anything I wanted to thank you for showing up at the auditions, I didn't feel I had the complete confidence to continue."

"Don't worry. I'm glad I did it, you're very good at this."

"I have a question for you."

"Okay, let her go. What's our problem?"

Ricky sighed before he began to speak. He didn't want to have this conversation with his dad, let alone Big Red. Even though he had a good relationship with both of them, it wasn't the same as talking to Carl, the man who knew practically everything about him.

"Remember the talk we had?" asked Ricky.

"The talk in which you cleared up sexual doubts, I remember."

"Well, I want to do something romantic with EJ for Valentine's Day, but I'm still very hesitant about it."

"Remember what I told you?" asked Carl "Communication between you and your partner is critical."

"I know, but I feel like EJ won't like it if I start talking about it."

"Stop right there Ricky, why wouldn't he like it?"

"Because it's weird..."

"Ricky, two things...if you have something you want to try, you should tell EJ, he's going to understand, and secondly, EJ is a very kinky person. I don't think he's going to dislike what you tell him."

"How...?" asked Ricky

"That doesn't matter now, although the answer is obvious. Is your dad home?"

"Mmmm...no, he went out to meet some friends, I don't know when he'll be back. But he left breakfast ready."