Ted & Gary Part 7

Wednesday August 18th @ 9:30 AM - Back Roads

     Will looks down the road he's driving and says to Ted, "Aw Shit!
There's TK. Do you think he saw us?" "Well by  the way he's waving at
us, I think that he might have noticed." Will slows the car and stops
about 10 feet from where TK is standing. TK runs up to the window, and
leans toward Will. "Holy Shit! You're driving. How come no one said
anything? This is fucking fantastic!" Will glances at Ted then turns to
TK, "Well TK, I gotta ask you a favor, Please don't tell anyone you saw
me? I want to surprise Bart." TK looks at Will, trying to look shocked,
"Bart doesn't know? That's impossible!"  Will, "He doesn't know! Shit
you didn't know til just now." TK answers back, "Yeah, but ... but it's
like you and Bart ... keerist, you take a shit and he wipes his ass."

     Will looks at TK, with a pleading look on his face, "Please don't
say anything to anybody, specially you sister. She'll tell Zack and
Bart'll find out." TK shakes his head chuckling, "Okay, but you gotta
give me a ride as soon as you can." "OK. I'm going for my test on
Friday, if I pass I'll give you a ride Saturday. Shit, you're goin to
Topeka this weekend aren't you?" "Yeah, we'll have to wait til next week
for that  ride."

     Will is relieved. Two more days, that's all he needs. Just two more
days. He hopes. He and Ted get out of the car to stretch their legs and
talk to TK. Ted smiles and says, "So this weekend you're going to see
Bill, hey. I bet your looking forward to it." "You don't know the half
of it." TK answered. "I think I might, Gary's coming back this weekend.
This is the longest we've gone without seeing each other, before this it
used to be 5 days ..." TK said something, but Ted didn't quite catch it.
He was thinking about that fifth day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Ted remembers watching Gary from the shadows when Gary left the
diner that night. When he saw him head off in the direction of Leggett
Hall, he decided that he would head for the Alumni fountain.  He always
found the sound of running water to be relaxing. He knew he needed to
relax. He thinks he made a big mistake when he called Gary yesterday. It
was his own damn fault. He had lied to himself, just so he could see him
again. But when he saw Gary through the diner's window, he knew he
couldn't go in there. He had fallen in love with Gary and he had never
felt so alone.

     Ted sat on top of the bench back with his feet on the seat. He felt
incredibly sad. Not crying in your beer sad, but the kind of sad you get
when your hopes are washed away, and you have no dreams left. He knew
himself well enough to know that he would survive, that he would go on.
But it could never be the same. It was that stupid fucking kiss. When he
did it, it felt so right. Then after Gary pulled away, it felt so wrong.

     Gary was at Leggett hall, knocking on Ted's door. He knocked and
knocked. It kept getting louder. Eventually the guy from across the
hall, opened his door and said, 'Hey asshole, give it up. I've got an
early class, so can the noise you fuckhead." With that he slammed the
door. Gary felt desperate. He had to find Ted and explain. Gary knew
that it was probably too late to undo the damage, but he had to let him
know. Let him know that he's never in his life regretted anything more
than just standing there watching him walk away.

     Gary sat down in front of the door clutching his knees to his
chest, hoping that Ted would show up shortly. After a half an hour, he
had this sudden idea that maybe Ted was waiting for him at his room. He
pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket and wrote a five word message,
"Ted, Call me please! Gary" and shoved it under the door. He got up and
headed back to his own room. Going across the quad he noticed that
someone was sitting staring at the fountain lights. When he got close
enough, he saw that it's Ted.

     Ted seemed lost in some reverie, not paying attention to anything
but the changing pattern of the colored lights in the fountain. He was
trying to convince himself that he'd find someone. It was a huge world
out there and if this thing with Gary wasn't meant to be, some guy would
come along and it would right. But he wouldn't let it happen again, the
way it had been with Gary. From now on, he would take things slowly, no
more jumping in head first. Some day he'd find that guy. But in the here
and now, he ached each time thoughts of Gary flashed through his mind.

     All of sudden, there was someone blocking his view of the lights.
When Ted looked up and focused on who it was, he saw Gary's face looking
into his. Gary started to say "Ted, I'm glad I found you..." "Please,
just go awaay ... please ..."
Gary leaned toward Ted and whispered, "I've been wanting to do this for
a couple of days now." He held his face and kissed with an intensity
that could not disguise how he felt anymore.

To Be Continued....

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on to next chapter
back to "stray e-mail, part two"