Second Wind

Chapter Three

Ben

By Labor Day at least the front yard was looking good. The crew from the nursery had ripped out all of the dying bushes and replaced them with smaller, healthier ones. Becky had made some good choices as I knew she would. The backyard was another story. The fence she had picked out was on back order and Sal explained that they couldn't do any real landscaping back there until the fence was installed. I got home from work the day after the holiday and there was a very polite voice mail message from Joey at the nursery that the fence would finally be delivered the next week and that they'd do the installation immediately. He apologized twice for the delay. Either he was a very smooth salesman or he was just an incredibly nice guy. Becky had taken a liking to him that morning I thought I'd died and gone to hell and she's one of the biggest cynics I know, so maybe it was the latter.

The next Monday night the bowling league started up again. Finally, a comfortable social outlet for me. I'd been hanging out with Beck all summer but ever since that drunken night we'd stayed away from the club on weekends just in case Paul and his trophy boy were there. The league had moved from the lanes in Union where we'd bowled last year to Madison, which made for a much shorter drive for me. Though the management of the lanes knew we were a gay league we weren't sure how the other bowlers there would react to us. We hadn't had any problems in Union, but you never knew, especially when we discovered the other Monday night league was a men's league. We'd bowled alongside a mixed league in Union.

It didn't appear we had anything to worry about. While the other league was more than twice our size and were fairly loud and boisterous, they didn't pay much attention to us. Our first night was a 'fun' night, meaning no teams, no competition, just friendly bowling to acquaint new members with the league and get organized. The competition would begin the next week.

Afterward, I left the bowling alley around ten o'clock and immediately ran into my only problem for the night - a flat tire. I'd never changed a tire on my car before and wasn't even sure where the spare and the jack were. I looked in the trunk and found them in a compartment underneath. Of course I was parked in the darkest part of the lot so not only was I not sure what I was doing, I couldn't see to do it. I knew I was in trouble when I couldn't even loosen the first lug nut. I pulled on the wrench with all my might but nothing happened. I braced myself and tried again. This time the wrench slipped off the nut and my hand slammed into the edge of the wheel well.

"Fuck!!!" It felt like I'd broken every bone in my hand.

"Need some help?"

I looked up and a guy about my size was standing a few feet away in the dark. I explained the problem and he came toward me. I could barely make out his face. He looked like a kid. He had classically handsome features and dark curly hair. He picked up the wrench and looked at it.

"This toy wrench that came with the car is your problem. Let me get mine."

He went to a minivan in the next row, opened the back and came back a minute later with a large four-way wrench shaped like a cross. He put it on the nut, stomped on one side of it and it turned slightly. Then he grabbed it with both hands and started turning it. He repeated the process with the other nuts while I just stood there holding my throbbing hand. Once he had started loosening all of the nuts, he got the jack out of the trunk and jacked up the car, took off the tire and put on the spare. I felt so helpless standing there as he put everything back in the trunk. He hadn't said a word the whole time he was working.

"How's the hand?"

"Feeling better. I guess it'll be okay."

"Let me see." I held out my hand and he took it between his, lightly running one hand over the back of mine. I felt a little electric jolt when he touched me, probably static electricity. His touch felt so good I almost forgot about the pain. "No bones poking out through the skin, anyway. I guess you'll live."

"Look, I can't thank you enough for helping me out. I would have been stranded here if you hadn't come along." I reached for my wallet. "Here, let me pay you for your time."

He stepped back and looked as if I'd hit him.

"No way! I was glad I could be of help. You might want to think about joining the auto club, though. I might not be around the next time you need a hand."

"You'd better believe I'm doing that tomorrow." Paul and I had had a joint membership and it hadn't occurred to me to join as an individual when I moved out. He always took care of things like that.

"And you'd better get that flat fixed tomorrow, too. You don’t want to be driving around without a spare. Do you have far to go tonight?"

"No, just a couple of miles."

"I could follow you, just in case." This guy was too nice to be real.

"No thanks, I'm sure I'll be fine. Thanks again for everything."

"No problem." He turned and walked back to his car.

On the way home I realized I hadn't even gotten his name. I was lucky he'd come along and was such a nice guy. It was funny, he looked like a kid and yet he'd taken charge of the situation, got the job done and even told me what to do as follow-up. He'd left me feeling like I was the kid, but he sure took good care of me.

Joey

I saw Angie a few more times over the rest of the summer. She came to most of our family gatherings on Sundays and came by the house a couple of evenings as well. Once we went out to eat at the diner on Main Street and took Connor with us. We quickly re-established our old high school friendship. Mom was happy, but saw things differently.

"It's nice to see you and Angie getting along so well, Joey, but you should take her out somewhere nice to eat now and then. And leave Connor at home. Three's a crowd, you know."

"Mom, we're just friends. I keep telling you that."

"Well, you and Jenny started out as friends, too."

"That was different, you know that."

"Of course it was, but that doesn't mean something more won't develop if you give it a chance. You don't see the way Angie looks at you."

"I give up. Think what you want, Ma. We're just friends."

Mom just smiled and nodded knowingly.

Bowling with my brothers showed me a side of them I rarely saw. At family gatherings, they were sons, husbands and fathers. At work, they were responsible employees of a family business. Now and then one of them would make a suggestive comment about an attractive female customer who had been at the nursery but usually they had to watch their mouths, especially when Pop was around. But at the lanes, bowling with all guys, they let loose. Their talk all night was about women and they were crude and raunchy. They all seemed to remember not only every hot woman they'd seen that week, but every detail about her body as well. Anthony wasn't so bad. He was on the quiet side like Pop and me. But John and Vinnie, man, it was like they'd had all of this horniness building up inside them all summer and it was exploding out of them. If I hadn't had such a dark natural complexion I'm sure I would have been blushing. I didn't think of myself as a prude but I just didn't look at women that way. Besides, having spent most of my life with Jenny, I'd never gotten into the habit of using foul language and wasn't very comfortable with it.

After our first night of bowling, the guys were going to hang out at the bar for a few drinks. I was anxious to get home to check on Connor so I left on my own. Maybe Mom was right, I had to get more of a life for myself. Obviously Connor was fine and sleeping soundly in his crib, but I had to see for myself.

I was halfway across the parking lot when I heard the sound of metal clanging to my left, followed immediately by "Fuck!"

I looked between two cars and saw a guy leaning against a car, holding his hand. He pointed out the flat tire and explained that he was having no luck getting it off the car. I quickly looked him over. He was about my size but somehow looked smaller. Maybe it was the pain in his eyes that made him seem vulnerable and helpless. Whatever, I took over and changed the tire for him. He stood and watched in silence and I couldn't figure out anything to say either. When I'm at work I'm pretty good at making small talk with the customers because it's my job and I know more than they do about the business, but otherwise when it comes to making conversation with strangers, I'm lost.

After I'd finished he was still grasping his left hand in his right so I asked to take a look at it. I don’t know why. I couldn't have told whether anything was wrong with it even if there had been more light. But it was something to say and do. I felt a shiver as I took his hand in mine. I wasn't sure if it was him or me. His skin was so smooth. Obviously he had a desk job. He'd probably never done any manual labor in his life. Being so close I tried to get a better look at his face. He had sort of delicate features and again, very smooth skin. He almost had a pretty look about him. I realized I'd been holding his hand too long and let go, trying hard to make small talk.

Things got a little awkward when he tried to pay me for my help so I gave him some general advice about the car and left as soon as I could. On the way home I wondered who he was, where he'd come from. I'd lived in town all my life and never seen him before. I mean, I didn't know everyone, but living and working in a small town you get to know a lot of faces.

Wednesday morning Sal came to me as soon as I got to the nursery.

"The Donnelly fence is being delivered this morning. I'm going to go over there with Juan and Javier to install it this afternoon but I don’t think either of them is up to handling the post digger. Think you can give us a hand?"

I thought about the two little Guatemalans he referred to and agreed that while they were hard workers, the machine would probably get away from them. I looked at my schedule and saw nothing that couldn't be put off for a day so I agreed to meet Sal at the house after lunch. Now and then I enjoyed getting out of the office, getting my hands dirty and doing some real work.

Ben

I got home from work on Wednesday and saw the landscaping truck out front. As I pulled into the driveway I could see the fence was already up on the side by the garage. It looked even better than it had in the picture that Becky had shown me. I went in the front door and fussed over Lula. Living alone, it was nice to be welcomed home so enthusiastically, even if it was by a two year-old female beagle. She was even more excited to see me than usual. She'd probably been watching the workmen through the sliding glass doors in the family room and was frustrated at not being able to get out to say hello to them. I grabbed her leash, fastened it to her collar and led her out into the yard.

There were four shirtless guys working in the yard. Two were little brown-skinned guys, working along the back of the yard, attaching sections of fence to the posts. On the far side of the yard I saw Sal and another guy operating a big machine that was drilling holes in the ground. It looked like a giant motorized corkscrew. Sal was looking good, as usual. The other guy had his back to me. He was a lot smaller than Sal but he had plenty of muscle. His body was smooth and perfectly proportioned.

Lula pulled me away from them toward the back of the garage, one of her favorite spots. I checked out the finished portion of the fence while she emptied her bladder.

"Mr. Donnelly?"

I turned and the smaller guy who had been with Sal was approaching. The sun was right behind his head so I couldn't make out his face but his body was spectacular. With his build and his curly hair he reminded me of Michelangelo's David. I'm not usually into guys like that but he was quite impressive.

"Hey, you're the guy with the flat tire!"

I squinted, tore my eyes off his nipples and looked at his face. Sure enough, he was the one who had helped me out the other night.

"Hi, small world. Thanks again for all your help. I'm Ben Donnelly." I held out my hand.

He shook my hand and I felt that jolt again. I also noticed something I hadn't the other night - a gold band on his left ring finger.

"Joey Napoli. We've talked on the phone a few times. I talked to your girlfriend when I was out here before. She said you weren't feeling well. I hope everything we're doing meets with your approval."

"Yeah, I like it all so far. Becky sometimes knows what I want better than I do."

"Handy trait in a girlfriend." Girlfriend? Why do people just assume everyone is straight?

Just then Lula noticed the guy and leaped up at him, putting her front paws on this thighs and jamming her nose into the bulging crotch of his tight jeans.

"Lula! Bad girl! You know you're not supposed to do that." I pulled on the leash but she didn't budge.

"That's okay. I love dogs. My mom's allergic so I could never have one, though."

He reached down and lightly scratched her behind the ear while she continued sniffing his crotch. Life could be so unfair. How come she got to do things like that? I imagined he'd react a bit differently if I was the one who had jammed my face into his package.

"Lula? That's an odd name."

"Actually, it's Tallulah, but that's such a mouthful it got shortened pretty quickly."

Just saying the word mouthful while watching Lula nuzzle Joey's balls made me start to get hard. I tugged on her leash again and pulled her away from him.

"So, did you get that flat fixed?"

"Actually, no. I got busy yesterday and forgot about it."

He sighed and shook his head. I felt like a kid whose father had caught him doing something wrong. A ridiculous feeling because now that I saw him close-up in good light I could see he was lots younger than me.

"I'll take it with me tonight and drop it off at a friend's garage to be fixed. I can bring it back first thing in the morning."

"Please, you don’t have to do that. I can take care of it."

"It's no big deal. It's easier than following you around to make sure you're all right until you have it done."

He did it again, making me feel like a kid. He was more of a kid than me but somehow in his quiet, unassuming way he just took charge of the situation.

"Say, would you guys like anything to drink? You must be thirsty, working out in the sun like this."

"Thanks, but we've got a cooler with jugs of water."

"Well, if you need to use the bathroom, just knock."

"I will. I'd better get back to work or I'll have to listen to Sal gripe the rest of the afternoon. Leave the tire out by the front door and I'll take care of it."

He went back across the yard and I followed him with my eyes before leading Lula back into the house. I went into the bedroom and watched him out the window while I changed. I looked back and forth between him and Sal. Sal was more my type so why did I find Joey so appealing? He really was a nice guy, even nicer than he'd sounded on the phone. But he was even smaller than me, and way too young for my taste, almost a kid. But he wasn't a kid. He was a man, a little man, but definitely a man.

Joey

I was surprised when I met Ben Donnelly and found out he was the guy I'd run into in the parking lot the other night but it was a pleasant surprise. He'd popped into my head a couple of times since then and I was glad to see him again. I didn't feel as uncomfortable talking to him as I did with most strangers. In fact, I could have talked to him all afternoon but I reminded myself that I had work to do. Besides, I had started to get aroused when his dog attacked my crotch. Nothing but my right hand had had any contact with my privates for so long that it was an exciting feeling. Even after he pulled the dog away I stayed half-hard. Maybe I wasn't asexual after all. I just hoped this didn't mean I was into animals, though. I hoped even more that Ben hadn't noticed. I'm not especially well-hung but it's hard to hide anything in tight jeans.

I picked up the tire on my way out and brought it back early the next morning. I was just going to leave it by the front door but decided to ring the bell just to let him know it was there. From the little I'd seen of him he was likely to walk right past it and leave it out all day while he was at work. A minute later the door was opened by a very sleepy-looking Ben in his boxers. I obviously woke him up and just as obviously the walk from the bedroom to the front door hadn't completely made his morning wood go away.

"Hey Ben, sorry to wake you up. I just wanted to let you know the tire's okay now."

"Thanks, Joey. C'mon in. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"Sure, if it's no trouble. I've got a few minutes."

I followed him into the kitchen and he hit the button on the coffeemaker. He excused himself to go to the bathroom and I offered to take the dog out for him. When we both got back a few minutes later he looked a bit more awake and the bulge was gone from his shorts. He poured us each a mug of coffee. I watched him and kept quiet while he sipped his coffee and gradually woke up. He looked like a little kid, stretching and rubbing his eyes. Of course, I knew he wasn't a kid. He was at least a few years older than me but he acted younger. I checked out his body. He was a maybe an inch taller than me and slim, quite a bit paler than me but just as hairless. His body was nothing special, but nice.

When he bent down to put some food in Lula's bowl I looked at his butt and felt a stirring in my groin. A surprising feeling, but nice nonetheless. I didn't want him catching me with a hardon though so I started talking.

"So what were you doing in that parking lot the other night, Ben?"

"I'd just been bowling with my league. It was our first night there."

"Cool. I'm in a league with my brothers. We'll probably see each other all the time there now."

"Yeah, your league is lots bigger than mine but I'm sure we'll run into each other."

I'd been so intent on trying not to be obvious that I'd been looking over Ben's body that I hadn't noticed he was staring at me.

"You're not dressed like yesterday, Joey. Aren't you working here today?"

"No, Sal just needed my help drilling the holes. They're done now so the others can finish up the rest. It's back to the nursery for me today."

"Shit, now I really feel bad, you making a special trip all the way out here just for the tire."

"It's no big deal. I was up early anyway." Mom and Pop were always up early but Connor was having one of his fussy mornings.

"Well, you're really a great guy. Do you go out of your way like this for everyone you meet?"

"Nah, but then, most people I meet don’t seem to need as much help as you do."

"Hey, that wasn't very nice." He looked so cute when he pouted. Cute? Was that a word to use about another guy, especially one older than me?

"Just teasing, Ben. You're so easy. Look, I'd better get going and let you get ready for work."

"Okay, but to tell you the truth I'd rather just hang out a while. You're right though, we both have to go to work. How much do I owe you for the tire?"

"Forget about it. My friend doesn't charge me for little stuff like that."

He walked me to the door and we shook hands.

"Thanks again, Joey. For everything."

"You're welcome, Ben. See you Monday night, maybe."

I found myself whistling as I got into the car. Maybe cute wasn't the right word to use when thinking about a guy, but that's what Ben was. Being around him made me feel good. I whistled all the way to work.