Unexpected Love (BOYXBOY)

Chapter 24

"What do you think about Connor and Ben?" Toby asked.

Hmmm ... I definitely want to hear what they think about that, I thought to myself.

"I think it's great," Cody began. "I don't know if it'll turn into something serious or not, but I think it's good that Connor is at least willing to try. I just hope he'll be happy. I don't think Ben will hurt him, but then again, I never would have thought Ryan could hurt him the way he did ... and I'm usually pretty good at reading people. It's good that they're taking things slow, though."

"Yeah," Toby sighed. "I just wish Ryan hadn't been such a fuck up. And I don't know how he's gonna react when he finds out that Connor and Ben are seeing each other. But I'm glad that Connor's not moping around any more, or I might have had to sleep with him to get him smiling again."

WHAT THE FUCK?!

"Ouch! What was that for?" Toby shrieked. I could only imagine what Cody had just done to him.

"Well, I hope I'm the only one you'll be sleeping with ... at least for a while," Cody replied. "I love Connor sooo much, but I think it's okay for me to be a jealous, bitchy teenager every once in a while and stake my claim to your ... well, you know ...."

"Anything you want, babe. Now can we get back to what we were doing?" Toby asked. "I mean, I adore Connor and all, too, but he's not here in bed with us."

Even though I couldn't see them, I could imagine the cute, sexy grin that must have been plastered on Toby's face right then. And, knowing what they were up to, and that they were both probably naked already ... well, I had to go take care of some business. I briefly considered the possibility of rushing over to Ben's house and totally ravishing him, but I thought that would be taking things a wee bit too fast. So, I took care of things myself. I tried focusing on Ben, but for some reason, Ryan kept popping into my head, and that was rather disconcerting. When I eventually came, though, it was Ben who I was thinking about. And I was sure it was Ben that I wanted to be with now.

After cleaning myself off, I lay back on my bed and thought about everything Toby and Cody had said. Yeah, I felt a little bad about eavesdropping on them, but it made me feel so much better -- not just hearing how they felt about me, but that they approved of my dating Ben. I guess I was afraid that people would think I was being a total whore or something, or that I was just on the rebound. But everyone had been great about it so far. And, of course, I was tickled pink (how gay is that?!) that Toby and Cody were back together.

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It was a little strange without Ryan around the house, but it was definitely turning out to be a good thing. I felt much more relaxed and had the chance to explore my new relationship with Ben. If I had to see Ryan all the time while things were just starting out with Ben, I'd probably feel guilty. I didn't want to feel that way, because I knew that I wasn't doing anything wrong by dating Ben. The only problem in our new relationship, though, was that it was difficult for us to get much time alone together. When we were at his house, Derek was usually around. I still didn't feel comfortable bringing him over to my house, either. Sure, Ryan wasn't there, and Toby didn't have a problem with it, but it just felt ... weird.

When Ryan did get back from baseball camp, I had no idea how things were going to go. Part of me wanted him to know about Ben and me, wanted him to know that I'd moved on and found happiness again. But even after the "Sally Bolero Incident," I didn't want to hurt him any more. That was still a couple weeks away, though, and I wanted to spend my "free time" exploring things with Ben. It wasn't like the privacy issue was that big of a deal, since we weren't having sex or anything like that, but it would have been nice to be able to cuddle and kiss without the feeling that we were being watched.