Life After College

Chapter 7

Andrew left a few hours before Kevin was to come over. So, of course I was left wondering where the hell he was.

I was dressed in gray slacks and a royal blue cashmere sweater -that Andrew bought me- and sat waiting in the livingroom. When I heard a knock on the door, I jumped up and raced to the door. I thought it was Drew, since there have been times when he’d go out shopping and come back with so many bags, he couldn’t open the door.

“Kevin!” I said with a smile on my face.

“Hey, Richie.”

We hugged. “Well, come on in.” We walked into the livingroom and sat in opposite arm chairs. “I would introduce you to Andrew, but I’m afraid he had other plans this morning and he hasn’t gotten back yet.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s okay.” Kevin looked me over. “You still look good, Richie.”

I smiled. “Thanks. You too. I guess moving to France hasn’t hurt you a bit.”

“Well, being around those hot French guys can keep anyone young and fresh.” We laughed just as Drew walked through the door, with a handful of shopping bags.

“Hello, hello, hello.” He said cheerfully. “I hope I’m not late.”

I stood up, gave him a kiss, and took his bags. “No, actually Kevin just got here.” I set the bags down behind the couch. “Drew, this is Kevin Saunders. Kevin, this is Andrew Payne. He’s the guy that took me off the market.” Kevin stood and shook Drew’s hand.

“Nice to meet you, Andrew.” Kevin smiled.

“Likewise.” Andrew returned the smile, but I saw him give a quick look over at Kevin. Sizing him up. Kevin was around the same lean size as Drew, with tan skin, green eyes, and short black hair that was spiked all over. He wore a rosy colored button down shirt, tucked into some black slacks.

I sat down and Drew sat in my lap. “So, did I hear something about France?” Drew started. “You living in France now, Kevin?”

“Yes, I moved there a year ago, but I went to college there for four years, so it wasn’t hard to learn my way around.”

“And I bet you love it there too.” He started playing aimlessly with my hair. Twirling it around his fingers. “You found anyone special there yet?” He asked. To anyone else, it would’ve sounded like a simple question, but I knew better. I know what he meant by asking that question, while he just so happen to be sitting on MY lap and playing with My hair.

Kevin blinked. “No. No, no one yet.” He looked over at me. “I haven’t found me a guy like ol’ Richie here. He’s a great guy. You’re lucky to have him.”

Drew gave this short, fake chuckle. I could tell he wasn’t really feeling Kevin like that. “Yes, well, we’re BOTH lucky to have EACH OTHER. Two things I value most about our marriage, is that we both add something special to the table that keeps our relationship as tight as ever, and the fact that nothing,” He looked Kevin straight in the eyes. “and I mean nothing will EVER tear us apart.”

Kevin swallowed and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “As it should be.”

Our conversation went on like that for a while. In the beginning, I was so excited about Kevin coming and meeting Drew so he could find out about the people I knew from back home, but it all apparently backfired on me. I felt so embarrassed by those two; fighting over me like two bickering housewives. By the time Kevin left, the air was uneasy and I could tell Kevin was a bit uncomfortable. I also knew it was because of Andrew, who by the way looked and acted like nothing happened at all once my old friend left.

Andrew’s POV............
It had been two years since Dicky and I got married. Both of us now 25, we started to become more settled in to married life. Even I “the jealous bitch of California” became less jealous as the years went on and welcomed more of Dicky’s friends instead of chasing them away.

I was also more eager to start a family. I knew the old fashioned way wasn’t going to do it; I couldn’t walk up to Dicky and tell him “Whoops, I’m pregnant.” I’d scare my own self. But I had been visiting some of the local adoption agencies and looking at pictures of possible.........choices. (Is that really a good word to use for a child?) I brought it up a few times to Dicky while at home, just to get a feel of as to where he stood with the idea of raising children. He’d just shrug his shoulders and say, “I don’t know?” Now, what the hell did that mean? Yes or no?

I finally got the courage to ask him one night when we went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. We sat in the VIP section, which was very secluded from the rest of the place and allowed me the right amount of privacy for what I was about to ask him. “Baby?”

“Hum?” He was sitting across from me chewing on a piece of filet mignon while cutting another piece with his knife and fork.

“I’ve been thinking.........”

He stopped and looked at me when he realized I hadn’t finished what I was going to say. “About?”

“Family.”

“What about it?”

“I’d like for us to start our own. I want us to adopt.”

Dicky set his silverware down and wiped his mouth with his burgundy cloth napkin. “Adopt?” He asked me in a surprisingly calm tone. Maybe too calm?

“Yes.”

He rubbed his hand across his chin over and over in thought. “I don’t know, baby. I mean, I’m pretty settled in to what we have right now. I’m not sure I want this amount of responsibility on my hands.”

“You say responsibility like it’s something bad. Having a child around the house is a good thing, Dicky. Really, you should just come to the agency with me and see the all those little faces. They.........”

Dicky sat up in his chair. “You’ve been going down there? So what, you’re making my decisions for me now? Making those people think that we both are interested in adopting kids?”

That’s when I got defensive. “No one is making your decisions. And since when has it been all about you, Richard? Am I supposed to bow down and hide like some dumb bitch, just because you didn’t want a baby and I did?”

“No. I expect you to take my feel of the idea and accept it. If one wants something life changing to happen and the other doesn’t, don’t force the other to change.”

I was fed up and ready to go home by then. I slammed my napkin on the table. “And what if I ask you again and you keep saying no? What then, huh? Am I supposed to accept that, because ‘the other doesn’t want to change’? When am I going to get my baby, Richard?” I got up and walked to the car. Leaving Dicky with the tab and tip to pay for.

We rode home in silence, and when we got home and crawled into bed. I decided to try again using a different procedure. Dicky was laying on the other side of the bed, bare chested, and lying on his back with one arm behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. I slid over to him and slowly laid my head on his chest, next to the big, flexing bicep that was behind his head. Not saying a word, I stared at him, until he finally looked away from the ceiling and caught my gaze. “What?” He asked softly.

I ran my hand up and down his chest. He had gotten slightly bigger these past two years, with all the weight training he had been doing. But it wasn’t an excessive amount of muscle. Know what I mean? He also got rid of his five o’clock shadow and stuck with a faintly dark goatee.

I sat up on my elbow with my head in my hand and looked at him. The anger from earlier since gone away. “Tomorrow is Saturday. Atleast come with me to see them, then make up your mind.”

Dicky sighed deeply then took his arm from behind his head and wrapped it around my waist. Though he had added on a few more pounds of muscle, I was still the lean slightly muscular man from...........well college. “All right. I’ll go.”

We arrived at the adoption agency Saturday morning, and we met up with a middle aged woman named, Cora Keen. I’d met and talked with Cora on numerous occasion, when I would come there alone looking at pictures. Cora had been working at the agency for well over 23 years and she knew every child in that building as if they were her own. She was a very sweet lady. Very kind to me every time I came to visit. She was the one who actually told me to make to move and ask Dicky about adopting.

“Let me guess, you must be Dicky.” She said cheerfully as she shook his hand. Dicky looked at me with a confused look on his face.

“Just how many times have you been here, Drew?”

I blushed. “Just a few.”

“Right.” Cora said as she showed us to a sitting area and showed Dickey the photo album of children. We sat together and as he flipped through the pages, I showed him all the ones I really really liked. Being the open-minded man I knew he could be, Dicky nodded his head to a few and even showed me ones he thought were “cute” –as he worded it.

When we closed the book, Cora walked in and said, “Andrew, there’s one more that I didn’t get to show you. Both of you follow me.” As we followed her down the hall, she kept talking. “We heard a knock on the front door last night. It was raining and the poor little thing was soaking wet. A young woman -maybe you all’s age- was seen off in the distance running away. We figured that must have been the boy’s mother.”

“So it’s a boy?” Dicky asked.

“Oh yes.” Cora answered smiling. “And a very beautiful baby boy.” We made it to the end of the hall and she opened the door and let us in first. Another lady worker was in there, sitting in a chair watching him. I walked in first and when I saw that child, something in my heart just stopped. Then it melted. He was absolutely perfect. Perfect. His skin was a creamy olive, his eyes were an ice blue color, cute round face, and the thickest dark curly hair I had ever seen. When he saw me, he smiled like he knew me all along.

“How old is he?” I managed to breathe out.

“He’s three, we think.” The woman answered.

“Does he have a name?”

“No. The mother left no form of ID when she left him last night.”

Dicky came up behind me and put an arm around my shoulder. “You’d think he was yours, Drew. You two look just alike.” I smiled at Dicky, then kneeled down to the baby in the crib and touched his hand that was wrapped around the wooden bars.

“Hey cutie.” I said to him sweetly. The boy just smiled, showing little teeth that were just starting to form in his mouth. I stood and Dicky picked him up and held him. The boy looked up at his face and started placing his small hand over his mouth on and off again. Dicky chuckled. The child stopped then laid his head down on his strong shoulder, his little arms dangling to the side, and just looked at me. I knew then on, that I wanted a baby and that this little boy was the only one I wanted.

That night, Dicky and I were cuddled together in bed watching tv. My head was rested on his chest and I could hear his heart beat from under me. But he was unusually quiet that night. Normally, he’d be doing something that got on my nerves, talking, or we’d be doing something else. “You’re thinking about him, aren’t you?” I asked.

He laughed softly. “It’s funny, just yesterday I was dead set on not having a child. Even today, before we drove to the agency, I didn’t give it a second thought.” He slowly started playing with my hair. “But when I saw that boy..........something just clicked.”

“I know what you mean. When I saw him, I knew there was no one else I wanted.”

“Me too.” Dicky sighed.

I sat up and looked down at him. “So what are we going to do?”

Dicky trailed his finger down the side of my face, then pulled me down and kissed me tenderly. “We’re bringing him home.”

I leaned my head against his and smiled from ear to ear. “Really?”

“Really.”

The next day, we went back and filled out the necessary papers to get the adoption process going. We decided, we wanted to have an open adoption, so if the mother came and wanted to be in the boy’s life, she could be. So days followed after that and while the agency conducted a home study and did a detailed investigation into our backgrounds, a screening for history of child abuse, criminal activity, and a full examination of our relationship, social attitudes, medical records, and financial status, Dicky and I began preparing for a baby in the house. I helped him paint the boy’s room a light green with white trim, but the rest of the “Do it yourself” work was on him. I shopped for clothes, hats, shoes, blankets, a stroller, sippers, and baby toys, while Dicky stayed at home and made the house more baby friendly. He put together the crib and changing table, put plugs in the electrical wall sockets, hooked up the nightlight, and put together the gate at the head of the stairs, so the boy wouldn’t fall down the steps.

Finally after days of what seemed like endless waiting, “Damon Alonso Taylor” came home. I know you’re probably wondering, “How did you decide on who’s last name he’d have?” Well, Damon had a name from the both of us. Taylor was Dicky’s last name and Alonso was my middle name.

Damon fell asleep during our drive home, so to keep and eye on him, we laid out a thick blanket on the floor in the family room and laid him on his back, as we stood in the kitchen fixing ourselves some sandwiches. It wasn’t ten minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Jessica stuck her head in. “I’m sorry. I just had to see the newcomer.”

I smiled. “He’s in the family room sleeping.”

Jessica walked in and spotted the little boy on his back sucking his thumb in his sleep. Dicky smiled like a proud father, when we heard Jessica say, “Awwwww. He’s so precious. Look at all this thick dark hair. Just a head full of curls. Andrew, you sure this one isn’t yours biologically?”

“Unless I’ve been making deposits at the local sperm bank, I don’t think so.”

Jessica walked out the family room and joined them in the kitchen. “Well, he’s gorgeous. So tell me, how does it feel now to be a parent. You two are now a part of the club for life.”

“I feel anxious.” Dicky said. “Anxious to hear his first real word, lose his first tooth, go out on a date, prom, marriage, his career choice. I’m anxious to see what kind of man he grows up to be.”

Jessica smiled. “Well, you two have got a long wait ahead of you for all that. Let’s just start with his first real word.” We laughed. “Well, I need to be going. Have to start dinner.”

“I’ll walk you out.” I said. I followed Jessica out the front door, then I stopped her. “So, how are things with you and Daniel?”

She shrugged. “It’s better, I guess. Ever since I confronted him about the cheating, he’s gotten better. He’s more sweet, kind, gentle, and more caring to Sofia. He’s become the man I married again.”

I smiled and rubbed her arm. “That’s wonderful, Jessica. I’m really happy for you.”

“Me too. Call you later?”

“You’d better. Bye darling.” We kissed and she walked back next door. I walked back inside the house and spotted Dicky sitting with a now awake Damon in the family room.

“Can you say Daddy, Damon? Say Daddy.” Dicky had Damon sitting indian-style on the couch looking at him.

“Dally?” Damon said in his high pitch baby voice.

Dicky smiled. “No. Dad-dy. Daddy.”

“Daddy?”

“Yes. Daddy. I’m your daddy.” He pointed to himself. “Now, what’s my name?”

“Daddy.”

I giggled as I walked in the room. “How cute.”

Damon looked up at me, then stretched out his arms. “Mama!” I glared at Dicky.

“Did you teach him that?”

He tossed up his arms in innocence. “I didn’t do it.”

I shrugged it off and picked Damon up.

“Thank you.” I whispered to Dicky that night once we were cuddled up close in bed together.

“For what?”

“For agreeing to this. For giving me the opportunity to be a father. Well mother, as Damon calls me.”

“I didn’t do anything. If it wasn’t for you, Damon would still be homeless, and we would still be childless. If we’d listened to me, we wouldn’t be parents right now.” He kissed me.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Dicky laid me on my back and started kissing my neck. I ran my hands up and down his sides, until I finally pushed his boxer/briefs down his legs and caressed his backside. “What do you say, we get a bit rowdy tonight?” He whispered in my ear as he bit at my neck, reached under my shirt and tweaked one of my nipples.

“Ow!” I said as I playfully smacked him on his smooth ass. “We can’t do that tonight.”

“Why not?” Dicky asked as he pulled my blue t-shirt over my head and started sucking on the sore nub. I moaned before I knew it.

“Um.......be......because it’s Damon’s first night here..........and I want to make sure he sleeps well tonight.”

Dicky groaned against my chest. “Awwww. No hanky-panky?”

“No, baby. Not tonight.” I smiled wickedly as I looked up at him rested above me and started rubbing his chest. “But that doesn’t mean foreplay is out of the question.” I shoved him to his back and climbed on top of him. There, I pressed my lips to his and explored his mouth with my tongue. When it got to the point where we could barely breathe, I moved my attentions to his jaw, neck, collarbone, abs, then finally placed a sweet kiss on the head of Dicky’s dick.

He gasped when I did this, then chuckled. “You said no hanky-panky. You keep that up, I might just rape you tonight.”

I smiled up at him as I massaged his shaft. It felt like the finest of satin on my fingertips. “Well brace yourself, big boy. Cause I’m not done yet.” Sticking out my tongue, I gave his member a tongue bath, licking every inch of him with the utmost of care. My love was panting something terrible by then. I thought he was going to explode when I slowly licked the dip between his balls with the tip of my tongue.

I took him down my mouth at a painstakingly slow pace. I had gotten right good at it if I do say so myself. Inhaling 8\" of erection is not an easy thing to do. So imagine my delight when I heard Dicky going into a frenzy. “Oh Drew. Oh. Oh!”

That’s when I heard it. A distinct thump noise, like something fell. First thought came to my mind was Damon. ~Oh no! He’s fallen out of bed and hurt himself! It’s only his first night here with us! Will this traumatize him!~ I jerked my head up.

“What the.......” Dicky panted in disappointment. “Drew?”

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“That thump noise?”

“What thump noise?”

I sat up on my knees. “That thump just a few seconds ago, Dicky. I think it came from Damon’s room.”

“You’re hearing things, Drew. There was no noise.”

“What do you know? You were too busy moaning.” I got out of bed and started for the door.

“Drew, the boy is fine. Come back to bed, baby.”

“I just have to go check and see if he’s okay. If not for him, then for my sanity so I can sleep tonight.” I walked out the bedroom and into the next room beside ours. I opened the door slowly and walked to the little multicolored bed. Damon was just as Dicky said, fine. The boy laid sleeping on his back, thumb placed habitually in his little mouth; sucking on it on occasion.

I sat on the edge of the bed and ran the back of my hand down his smooth cheek. ~He’s fine.~ Dicky walked in donning his boxer/briefs again. “He all right?”

“Yeah. He’s fine. I’m just going crazy.”

Dicky squatted down infront of me and rested his palms on my bare knees. “You’re not crazy. You’re just being a parent. You thought you heard something and you did the first thing any other parent would’ve done. You checked on our little man.” He rubbed the boy’s head gently. “There’s nothing wrong with being overly caring and loving.” He stood, then kissed my forehead. “Come on. Let’s get to bed.”

I smiled as we started walking out. “Are we really going to bed, or are we going to do something else?”

He chuckled, placed his arm over my shoulder, and kissed my cheek. “We’ll talk about that when we get back to the room.”


TBC......