Year 2

(2nd interlude - sorry! Back to Cameron next time).

Carrie was 9 years old, almost. Beau was 7 and Bobby was 6. As young as they were, they were all full of energy, they were bored and they were restless. They'd been cooped-up in the car for hours, and they were sick of it! Their parents, in the front seats, were sick of it too, especially the mother. Much more of this and she was going to lose it completely.

"Cal, it's about bloody time we got a bigger bloody car! The kids are getting bigger and there's just not enough room in here."

"I know. I've been meaning to look into it. I think we need a van or a mini-bus."

"We do, and the sooner the better. Cut it out, Beau! You hit your brother one more time and we'll stop this car and you're walking."

"Dad, how much longer have we got to go?"

"Not long, Carrie. About 5 or 10 minutes. That's the Peninsular up ahead, Kaimoana's over at the other side of it."

"Well good! Hurry up, Dad, I've gotta pee."

"You always do, Sweetie."

The only quiet person in the car was Jared. He sat looking out the window, waiting and worrying. They'd had such a fantastic time here last year, the best 2 weeks of his life. What would it be like this year? Could they do it again? Last year was a long time ago. He was older now and so was Ethan, would it be the same between them?

They'd agreed to keep in touch, but neither of them was very good at that and messages had been short and few. He worried.

He worried needlessly. The car pulled up at the Ocean View Motel, the same motel and the same unit they'd stayed in last year. They all poured out of it and stood looking around. Jared didn't look enough, he didn't see it coming.

A flying tackle flung him to the ground and he was on his back with a boy trying to pin him down. Ethan! He bucked and struggled and they chortled and giggled as they wrestled and rolled around on the grass. Everyone else stood smiling down at them.

Finally, by mutual agreement, they stopped, sat up and looked at each other.

"Dorkface."

"Pussy."

"Damm, Ethan, you've got strong!"

"I've been training, but - nah, you're just a pussy."

"I could still beat you, Boy."

"Didn't though, did ya?"

"No, well you took me by surprise. Next time I'll do ya."

"In your dreams, Pussy."

"Dork!"

"Okay, you two. Enough of that." Mrs. Kersten interrupted. "Nice to see you, Ethan. We've got to get unpacked here. Where are you sleeping, Jared?"

"Where? With Ethan, of course. Where else? That is," he looked up at Mrs. Stone, "if I can?"

"That's fine by me," she smiled. "But shouldn't you ask Ethan what he thinks?"

"Oh yeah. Ethan, what do you think?"

"I think if you sleep anywhere else I'm not going to be happy!"

"Neither will I. That's cool then, I'm sleeping in Ethan's room."

"Of course you are," his father agreed. "No-one expected anything else. You might as well take your bag over there too."

"I will. Thanks, Dad."

"One thing, Jared," His mother interposed. "You're welcome to sleep over there, but you come back to eat with us."

"But surely," Ethan's mother said, "we could give them breakfast. If they're still talking by the end of the day, maybe they could both come over to you for dinner."

"That sounds fine, if they're still talking," Jared's mother smiled. No-one expected that they wouldn't be.

The parents all agreed, this time Jared and Ethan were a year older and they were both level-headed and sensible boys, so they were allowed much more freedom than they had last year. But only in the daytime, from dinnertime onwards they were at home with their families.

They spent a lot of their time with the parents and siblings anyway, going on outings or just messing around, but it was good that, when they wanted, they could go off together alone. They did a lot of just wandering around and exploring the town and the surrounding area. There was never any trouble and, once again, there was never a cross word between them.

The parents talked about that one afternoon when they were all having a picnic up the coast, near Clarence. They were sitting together on the beach watching the 5 kids playing in the surf.

"It's not natural, you know," Mr. Kersten said.

"What's not natural, Cal?"

"Those two, Jared and Ethan. They're boys, they should be falling out and fighting at least once a day, but they never do. They never disagree about anything. It's not natural."

"That's not right, Cal," Mr. Stone said. "They disagree all right, I've heard some long discussions between the pair of them. They just don't fight about anything. I think it's great the way they get along together."

"Don't get me wrong. I think it's good too, but I still think it's not natural. They're not acting like normal boys."

"What is a normal boy? Is there any such thing? I wasn't one, were you?"

"No," Mr. Kersten laughed. "I wasn't one either."

"You two can leave them alone." Mrs. Stone sat up. "The boys are happy and that's all that matters. Jared is the best friend that Ethan's ever had and he's good for him."

"I agree," Mrs. Kersten said. "Ethan is Jared's closest friend ever and he's good for him too. Let them be."

"They're happy now," said Mr. Stone. "But they're not going to like being separated again. Ethan was a pain when we took him home last year."

"Jared was the same," said Mr. Kersten. "You're right, they're not going to like it. I've been thinking about that."

"And?"

"And I think we can do something for them. We'll have to talk to them separately, if we can prise them apart. We'll talk to Jared first, and then to Ethan . . ."

Later that day, they all ate out in a downtown restaurant. The place was nothing fancy, pretty basic in fact, but it was a good meal and it was a treat for the kids. They didn't get to do that often.

When they returned to the motels, Mr. Kersten took Jared aside and spoke to him about his plan. Jared was so excited when he heard, he flew at his father and nearly knocked him off his feet. Mrs. Stone had the job of telling Ethan, and his reaction was the same. The two boys met in the middle of the driveway, held each others hands and jumped up and down, yelling at each other.

And so it was, when their 2 week holiday in Kaimoana came to an end, the Stones went north in their car, the Kerstens went south in theirs and Jared and Ethan also went south, on the bus.

The parents' plan was for Ethan to go home with Jared and stay there for another 2 weeks, following which they'd put him on a plane to Wellington where his father would meet him and take him home. Jared would fly up there to spend the next school holidays with Ethan. The boys were rapt!

"Best plan ever!"

"Ever, ever, ever!"

The bus took much longer than the car to get to Christchurch, of course. (And why is that anyway?) So Jared's mum was waiting to collect them when they arrived and took them home.

They had no guest-room, so Ethan would have to sleep in Jared's room, which they didn't mind at all.

"There's a mattress in the rafters in the garage. We'll drag that down and put it on the floor. You'll be fine on that Ethan."

"No, stuff that, Dad. Ethan's not sleeping on the floor. He can sleep in my bed with me."

"Are you sure, Jared? It's not a big bed."

"He's not a big kid. Yeah, I'm sure, he's sleeping with me."

"Well . . as long as everybody's happy? Let me know if it doesn't work out and we'll get the mattress down."

Choice!

They had a wonderful time for the next 2 weeks. Every day they went out and about, usually on the buses, sometimes doubled on Jared's bike. Jared showed Ethan around his city and his world. It was great! The best time each day came after they'd gone to Jared's room and gone to bed.

They'd discovered a really, really choice game they could play in bed, but they weren't telling anyone about that. It was their secret. It began the week before, back in Kaimoana. They were in bed, wrestling together - quietly so they wouldn't get yelled at and told to go to sleep.

Jared's dick got hard, stiff and bigger. It did that sometimes, he wasn't sure why. He was a bit embarrassed and trying to hold it out of the way, when he felt Ethan's one against his leg and it was exactly the same! He rolled over on to his back and pulled Ethan over to lie on top of him, face to face. Their two hard dicks were pressed together and it felt good! It felt really good, so they just lay there enjoying the sensations.

Ethan moved, their stiff dicks rubbed against each other and that felt even better. So he did it again, and again and again. Suddenly they were humping against each other, rubbing and thrusting and jerking and it was so good. And better, and better!

Ethan's dick was jerking wildly on its own. He lifted his head up, opened his mouth and it looked like he was going to scream, so Jared pulled him down and kissed him to keep him quiet. That felt good too, really good. So they did it again when Jared's dick started doing the same thing. They'd never felt anything like it. Exhausted, Ethan got off him and they rolled apart.

They lay on their backs, slowly calming down and not talking about it. They lay quietly in the darkness listening to the waves breaking over on the beach and thinking, until they both drifted off to sleep.

They woke next morning and went about their day as usual. Almost as usual. They were both quiet, confused and thoughtful and still not prepared to talk about what they'd done. Something told them that what happened was wrong - it was like fucking, wasn't it? But it felt so good!

Their secret was a barrier between them all day. It was not good and the night was getting closer. After dinner, Jared, always the more outspoken of the two, decided that he couldn't stand it any longer.

"Come on, Ethan, we're going over to the beach."

"The beach?"

"Yeah. Big wet thing across the road. Come on."

They went over and sat quietly, just above the heaving water-line. Jared took a breath.

"Ethan, this is crazy. We have to talk about it."

"Talk about what?"

"You know what. About what happened last night, what we did in bed."

"I don't want to talk about that."

"Well, tough! We have to. This is mad and it's driving us apart. I don't want that, do you"

"No, I don't want that."

"Good. I think I love you, Ethan."

"I know that I love you. I've loved you since, well, since you saved me from those bullies last year."

"Really? Took me longer. What we did last night, that was sex, wasn't it?"

"I think so. But wasn't it, like gay?"

"Guess so. That's not good, is it?"

"Felt good," Ethan grinned.

"Sure did!" Jared grinned back and everything was all right between them. "We going to do it again tonight?"

"Do you want to do it again?"

"Hell, yes!"

"Yeah, me too. But we can't tell anyone, not ever."

"Not ever?"

"Never. They wouldn't understand and they'd stop us."

"They'd bloody try!"

"Okay, it's our secret. Just you and me."

"You and me rule!"

"Oh yeah. Want to go to bed now?"

"Fuck yeah! Let's go, we need an early night."

They went to bed naked because you were, like, meant to, weren't you? They weren't sure, but it sure felt good. They only ever wore their pjama tops after that. The second night was better than the first because, now, they knew what they wanted and, together, they worked out how to get there. It was choice. And they did it every night from then on.

By the end of their time together in Christchurch, they were well experienced and practised at what they were doing. They'd even worked out wanking. That was good too, but not as good as doing it together.

Even their extended holiday had to end, and it did - too soon. They sat quietly in the back, holding hands, while Jared's mum drove them out to the airport. This time, they swore, they'd be more faithful in messaging - every day! Also, it was a long time away, but they only had to wait until May when Jared would be coming up to stay in Carterton. Better than waiting the whole year anyway.

They hugged and cried when Ethan had to board his flight. He went through the gate and he was gone. Jared's mum put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"Come on, My Sweet. Let's go home."