Pictures of You

Chapter Two

James is my best friend. We have known each other since we were ten years old. His parents moved to Sheffield and he had to start a new school; my school. I knew that there was something different about him straight away, and I knew he was like me, whatever that was. We gravitated towards each other from the very first moment we laid eyes on each other, and hung out at lunchtime on that first day.

After just hours it seemed like we had known each other for years, and had out own little in jokes. I knew I had found a best friend for life. A kindred spirit. Someone who would always be part of my life. And six years later we're still as tight as ever. We still hang out pretty much every day and talk about everything. Seriously, there is no topic off limits.

I don't ever remember James telling me he was gay, and I certainly never had to tell him. We both just knew. So when we were old enough to really understand what that meant, we started talking about which boys we both fancied, like it was the most normal thing in the world. And it really was the most natural thing in the world. Other guys talked to their mates about which girls they fancied. They don't have to have a conversation where they say, 'Dude! I've got something to tell you. I like girls...No it's not just a phase...No, I don't need to sleep with men first to see if i'm sure.'

And that's what I have always loved about my relationship with James. It's just totally organic. We've never had to try to make our friendship work. We both just enjoy hanging out together. We never run out of things to talk about and we have so much fun. I look at all the other people in my class. I have loads of friends, but I cant think of anyone else would rather hang with. He is always my priority.

James never really had to come out either. I think everyone always just assumed he was gay, just because he spent so much time with me. Guilty by association. Maybe if he hadn't, then he would have slipped under the radar. He isn't quite as out and proud as I am. His dress sense is simple and he wears his hair flat, with his fringe brushed to one side. He's one of the quieter kids in our class, but that doesn't mean he's ashamed of who he is. He has never denied his sexuality. He just doesn't shout it out like I do. But for all our differences, we have so many similarities. We love the same music, the same movies and have the same taste in men. We both love locking ourselves in my room or his and making up dance routines to Madonna songs. But most of all, we just get each other. That's something I can't even describe. We just do.

Whenever we had different last classes of the day, we'd always meet each other by the school gates and get on the bus together.

We met up on Monday, as usual. We didn't have too many classes of the same classes as each other on Mondays, so we had the weekend to catch up on. I hadn't seen him since Saturday afternoon when we hung out at his place, so we had nearly forty-eight hours of gossip to catch up on.

He was already at the gate when I got there. I had Mrs Donnelley's class last period on Mondays, so I was always late on Mondays. 'The bell is not a sign for you to all get up and go,' she always said. 'It's for me to start wrapping up the class.'

Absolute Bullshit!

As I approached him, I held my clenched fist in front of me and pushed it towards him. He saw me, then held his fist up too and we bumped them together. It was the same greeting we did every time we saw each other.

'Mrs Donnelly up to her usual tricks?' he asked me, clearly aware if my lateness.

'Yeah,' I said. 'The fucking bitch.'

We looked at each other and laughed.

'We walking?' he asked.

'Yeah,' I said.

We both lived about a mile away from school. There was a bus that stopped by both our houses, but by the time it had gone round all the backstreets and stopped about a million times, it was often quicker to walk. We both set off, walking down the hill, away from school for another day.

We stopped off at the shop on the way home to pick up snacks before heading to my house. On the way, we had a game of yes, no or maybe, as we often did. This involved looking at passing guys, and deciding if we would sleep with them or not. It was just a game, of course. Neither of us ever actually went to talk to any of the guys. It was just a bit if fun. Besides, James had never slept with anyone before. When he did do it, it would have to be with someone special. He was too amazing to give it away to anyone not worthy if him.

We didn't actually say anything out loud. We would just subtly nod to each other, shake our heads or shrug. As we walked passed the park, a guy in his early to mid-twenties walked toward us. He had dark hair, swept back with too much gel and a black leather jacket. As we got closer I shook my head. Just as I did it, I looked at James out the corner of my eye who was nodding. I turned and looked at him. 'No fucking way!' I said.

'What? He's hot.'

'Yeah, in like the nineteen-fifties. Look at the greased back hair.'

'It's a classic look.'

We both burst out laughing, blowing the cover of our game. The man turned around and looked at us, confused, which made us laugh even harder.

We played several more rounds, agreeing on most before getting back to my place. We got a drink from the kitchen, fed the dog, then took our snacks up to my room.

'Want to watch a film?' I asked.

'Sure,' he said. 'What's good?'

I opened up my laptop and started searching the streaming site I used.

'Old or new?' I asked him.

'Old?'

'Horror or comedy?'

'Comedy.'

We chose an old rom-com called How to lose a guy in ten days. I plugged by netbook into my TV, and we sat sideways on my bed, with our backs against the wall and our legs hanging off the side.

We sat and watched the movie, laughing, both tucking into the big bag of Doritos inbetween us, as Kate Hudson tried to win a bet, but ended up falling in love.

James turned and looked at me.

'You want me to...?' he said.

He didn't have to finish the sentence. I knew what he meant. I nodded. 'Yeah.'

'Cool.'

He reached over with his right hand and started unbuckelling my belt. He opened the buttons on the flies of my jeans and gently slipped his warm hand into my boxer shorts. I helped him out by putting my thumbs under the waistband of my underwear and pulling them down, taking my jeans with them, right down to my ankles. We smiled at each other, then I leaned back against the wall, closed my eyes and let him work on me.

This was another part of our friendship. James and I had been giving each other hand jobs for last year or so. There was nothing in it and we are just friends. But we worked out a while ago that it feels better someone else doing it for you than it does doing it yourself.

Some friends play sports,or go to movies or went running together. We gave each other hand jobs. It was just the same. An enjoyable activity for two friends to do together. Everyone's got to have a hobby.

Author's note

This a completely different way of writing for me, putting out every chapter as I write it. I know the main storyline, but other than that am not planning more than a few chapters ahead. WP writers - How do you plan your novels that you write on here?