Cupid's Big Weekend

She looks at me, hard.

"So, have you heard Cal's side of the story?"

I nod.

"I sure would appreciate hearing it," she says, as she sits back in her chair to listen.

I tell her what I know, what Calvin told me not 24 hours ago (has it really been less than a day?). The pieces fall into place, one by one, and she nods each time one does. Finally she has the full picture.

"So," she sums up, leaning forward conspiratorially, "Three months ago Reese and Cal try to kill each other with my good steak knives; today, Reese and Cal are, well, that," she gestures out the window again, where Calvin sits with his back against a tree, feeding an apple to Reese, whose head is in his lap. "And what has changed? Nothing. Nothing except you," she jabs me in the chest. "You did this."

I'm not sure what she's accusing me of, but I shrug and nod.

"And for that I will always love you," she cries out as she stands up and kisses me on the forehead. "Now for Part 2 of our plan." She cackles an evil laugh and hustles back to the kitchen. I follow. I want to know what Part 2 might entail, as Part 1 has pretty much wiped me out.

In the kitchen, Aunt Emily is busily unpacking several grocery bags of food. It looks like she emptied out a high-end supermarket on her way up here.

"Aunt Emily, you never got around to the part about how you knew to come here this morning, and to bring all of this food."

She snickers and rubs her hands together.

"Ah, that's where fate stepped in. Last night, or rather early this morning, when Reese opened the gate to the driveway, he made enough noise that it woke Dolores, whose cabin is right near there. Well, she looked out to see what the ruckus was, and she recognized him of course, and then she saw Cal get out to help. She called me right away with the news. She didn't mention you, though, which is why you were a surprise to me this morning."

"I was sleeping in the backseat. It had been a long day."

"Tut, tut, my dear, you had exhausted yourself in the service of love," she murmurs, mussing my hair. "In any event, as soon as I got her call I knew that something may finally be happening between the boys, and I wanted to help if I could. I know they wouldn't think to bring anything decent to eat, and then they would have to drive the half hour into town for every meal, and how can romance bloom on a diet of burgers and fries? So first thing this morning I loaded up and here I am!"

She seems quite pleased with herself.

"Little did I know that there was already a cupid working the inside!" She winks at me. I think it's somewhat extravagant praise, when I've only done what my most lustful impulses have led me to do.

"Now, tell me, Cupid, are you any good in the kitchen?"

"Yes, ma'am. I had to learn at an early age, but now I quite enjoy cooking."

"Well, good. Help me unload these bags, and we'll see if you can tell what I had in mind."

We unpack the very tony groceries, and I start to build a vision of the meals to come. I can do this.

"So, you and Cal," she ventures, while we arrange the cupboards. "Is it serious?"

"No, ma'am," I respond, without thinking. It suddenly occurs to me, though, that in some ways it is very serious, to me anyway. "I guess not. I don't know, really, what it is, between us."

"Let me guess. You extend a helping hand to a confused soul in need, but once you've helped him over he realizes that his true love lies elsewhere. Am I close?"

"You're scaring me, Aunt Emily. How do you do that?"

"At my age, kid, there's very little I haven't seen. Or done, for that matter. Are you okay with Cal and Reese? I mean, with whatever they get sorted out here?"

"Well, since I'm the reason they're here at all, it would be pretty illogical of me to try to break them up now. I knew that this could happen, but I also knew that Calvin and I had no future until he figured things out with Reese. Watching them, though, it's clear that they are right together. So, I'm happy for them, and I'll just have to hope that some of their luck in love rubs off on me."

"Or that they both rub off on you, eh?" she elbows me and busts out another karate chop of laughter.

"I like you, Aunt Emily. You are a dirty old woman."

"Yes, yes, I am!" she hoots.

She pats her eyes dry and gets serious again.

"So, here's the plan. I'll tell the boys at lunch that I suddenly remembered an appointment back at home that I cannot miss, and that I have to leave right away. I'll tell them to stay, since there's so much food here--they aren't like you, Young Sherlock Holmes, they won't question the food--and enjoy the rest of the weekend. Then I'll make myself scarce. You stay and keep working that cupid magic of yours. What do you say?"

"I say we go for it. Operation Cupid, Part 2!"

We clink our coffee mugs together and toast to love.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"You have to leave so soon?" cries Reese, when Aunt Emily delivers her bad news over lunch.

"Yes, dear, but you three should stay. Enjoy the place. And don't worry about the garden. You boys did a great job with the apple trees, so now you should relax."

Actually, what they seem to have done with the apple trees is lie beneath them and look at the sky, but who's quibbling? Funny, though--I could see them through the window the whole time, and never saw them so much as kiss. Strange.

"And Josh here tells me that he can cook, so that's covered. I've left plenty of food for the weekend, so you're all set." She bolts to the kitchen to pick up her keys. Apparently Part 2 starts right now. She sweeps back into the room, and says her goodbyes. She kisses Reese and Calvin on the cheek, and then does the same to me. I'm family.

She crunches across the drive to her car, and she's gone. It's the three of us now: two Greek gods, and Cupid. I'm not as sure that this is what I want at this point, but I promised Aunt Emily I would give it the old college try.

"So, what's next?" I ask brightly.

"Well, we could go for a swim at the pond," Reese offers.

"Sounds awesome," Calvin immediately chimes in, already getting up to go.

"I didn't bring a swimsuit."

They look at me as if I'm crazy.

"Swimsuit?" Calvin inquires, skeptically. "Come on, let's get to the pond."

We walk down the path from the cabin into the valley below, nestled at the bottom of which is a small pond with a waterfall at one end, a little creek emptying out the other, and soft grass all around. It's a beautiful spot. And it's about to get more beautiful--the guys are shucking off their khaki shorts and getting ready to jump in. They stand on the bank of the pond for a moment, and I take in the view: two perfect bodies, two amazing asses, two pretty great guys. In unison, they dive in.

I take off my shorts, and jump in as well. What the hell. The water is cold, but clean and refreshing. I've never skinny-dipped before, and the feeling of the water flowing over my cock and balls is amazing. I could get used to this.

We paddle around for a while, and then Reese hops out of the water and lies on one of the large, flat rocks next to the waterfall. His strong, lean body glistens in the sunlight.

Calvin swims up to me, grabs me around the middle, spins me around, and presses me to him.

"Hey, buddy, I think you forgot your swimsuit."

"So did you. And it's a shame, too. I do love that red Speedo. Especially the way that it rides up on your left buttock when you butterfly."

"You are so creepy," he chuckles. "And so cute." He squeezes my ass, and moves in to kiss me.

"Whoa there, big fella," I say, pushing him back. "We need to talk."

He looks crestfallen. "About what?"

"About all of this," I reply, gesturing over to Reese.

"Oh, right," he says, soberly. "Look, Josh, I don't know what to say. I mean, seeing Reese again has reminded me of all of the things I love about him. And being here, well, it's where so much of our history is, even the bad part. It was on that balcony that we had our big scene, in fact."

I nod with my eyebrows arched in surprise--convincingly, I hope.

"But there's something wonderful about being with someone completely new, someone for whom my life story is unfamiliar, something to be discovered. I was just getting used to the idea of being with a guy--with you--and now with Reese it's all complicated."

"Calvin, I saw you two under the apple trees. You did not look at all conflicted feeding him apples as he lay in your lap. It was a beautiful thing to see, and I'm happy for you, I really am. I think you and Reese are great together."

"It's still a little weird, though. I mean, waking up this morning with him pressed up against me was amazing. It just felt so right. But we haven't even kissed today. It's like we're tip-toeing around the whole issue of what we are to each other. In some ways, it feels like we've moved back to the way things were before, not forward to what they could be in the future."

"I would say take it one day at a time," I smile, "but you always move faster than that. Take it one hour at a time and see what happens. I'm a patient person; if it isn't meant to be with Reese, I'll still be here."

"Thank you, Josh. Thank you for everything."

This time I move in to kiss him, and he meets me halfway.

"Oh, will you two get a room?" Reese shouts from the ledge, just as he launches out into the water in a naked cannonball. It's a wonderful moment as he hangs in the air, cock dangling below him, and then he explodes into the water right next to us with a thunderous crash.

He reaches the surface, and finds us glaring at him. He laughs, and we both do as well.

"Now, get back to making out. I've never seen two guys kissing before, and it's kind of hot."

"What?" I ask, not believing it for a moment. "You've never seen guys kissing? How can that be?"

"Cal didn't tell you about our happy fundamentalist upbringing? Fucked us up in the head but good. I had no idea until I got to college that guys even did that kind of thing. And now it's happening in my own backyard. Shocking!" He splashes us, for effect.

"Well, if it's what you really want," Calvin grins, "Then who are we to deny you?"

He grabs the back of my neck, pulls me close, and kisses me like my tongue is the antidote to poison he's just drunk. Knowing Reese is watching makes it twice as hot. Maybe thrice.

Calvin releases the kiss, looks at Reese. "Are you offended yet?"

"No," replies Reese. "But keep trying."

"You know," Calvin tells Reese, "It was kissing Josh that made me gay."

"Oh, is that what did it, then?" laughs Reese. "Does that mean I caught it from you last night?"

"That one didn't count," explains Calvin. "You were crying at the time, and hitting me on the head, and swearing at me. In terms of romance, it was kind of sucky. So, no, I would have to say you're still straight."

"I deserve a second chance, don't I?" protests Reese.

The things these boys come up with to delay getting down with each other! No wonder Aunt Emily was so exasperated with them.

"Oh, fuck, you two, just get to it!" I shout, my patience at an end.

"You heard the man," Calvin says to Reese. He pulls him close.

Reese suddenly looks very serious, and he even seems to pale a bit. It's clear that he's nervous. I don't really understand this, given that it was his finally trying to come to terms with his attraction to Calvin that started all of the balls rolling, leading us to this moment. But now that the moment is here, Reese looks kind of panicky. Calvin notices it too.

"Dude, it's okay. Really."

Reese stammers in response. "I just ... I don't know if this is what I ..." He looks helplessly at Calvin, and then, adorably, at me. As if I know what he should do. Actually, I do. I glide closer to him, to his ear.

"Reese," I whisper. God he smells good. What is it with these guys? They're like catnip. "This is what you've wanted for so long. Go for it."

He turns to me. His eyes are big, his face uncertain.

"I dreamed of this I don't know how many times, but now..." He blinks the water out of his eyes, wrinkles up his nose. "Josh, how did you know you were gay?"

Here he is, naked in a crystalline pool with the man of his dreams, and he's asking me about what I knew and how I knew it. Cupid has a tough job.

"Reese, I didn't know. I mean, I always kind of knew, but we can play games with ourselves when we don't want to know what we know, you know?"

I'm not helping. He's looking more lost.

"But the moment I knew was when I was too exhausted from trying to hide it--from the world, from myself--to fight it back any longer. I just gave in, and I took the opportunity that was in front of me." I look over at Calvin, who is clearly worried that this is not going well.

"I wasn't as lucky as you," I continue. "What was in front of me was someone who I didn't love, didn't much like for that matter. But he was there, and I had to try. So I did. After, I knew two things: one, that I really didn't like him. And two, that I was gay, without a doubt. Now, what you have in front of you is someone you love, and have for as long as you can remember. Someone you thought you had lost forever, but who is here now because he finally wised up and saw what he had almost thrown away. Calvin loves you, Reese. I know that, I see it. There is nothing bad that can happen to you, to either of you, if you just take this chance. He loves you."

Calvin, who has been listening to me, opens his arms again; Reese, with his boyish grin, glides to him. They float, nose to nose, searching each other's eyes. Then, they close their eyes and finally share the kiss that they've been denying themselves. They've been heading here their entire lives.

Score one for Cupid. I should probably feel bereft at this moment, as I watch the man of my dreams lose himself in the arms of the man of his dreams, but I don't. What I feel is a strange kind of joy. This is one of those rare moments when the universe aligns itself suddenly, when something happens that is so right and so true and so real, that my heart races to see it.

Oh, and it gives me a tremendous boner.

Calvin and Reese are less tentative now, and their embrace turns to a kind of wet, ecstatic grappling. They go at each other with an abandon that is familiar to me from their fighting, from their wrestling in the apple orchard. But it's different, too, as they seek leverage not to subdue the other but to achieve greater contact, more effective friction. I dip below the surface to see what's going on downstairs, and my suspicions are confirmed. Two huge cocks rub up and down between them, their hands reaching places that used to be off limits even to best friends.

Back on the surface, Calvin whispers into Reese's ear, and then they paddle off to the waterfall and its hospitable flat ledge covered with moss. They have forgotten I exist, and, watching them, I almost have as well.

They reach the waterfall and climb up onto it, standing proudly in the full daylight, their jutting cocks breaking the flow of the water as it cascades down upon them. They kiss again, and again their embrace grows frenetic, as if they cannot ever touch enough of each other's skin. Calvin takes Reese's hand and leads him out of the waterfall and to the ledge. He sits, and then lies back on the mossy rock, and pulls Reese down on top of him. They kiss, but I can see Calvin preparing to make his move--I've known him just over a day, and I already recognize his style. There it is: he grabs Reese's shoulder with one hand, puts the other on his hip, and rolls him neatly over. Calvin's on top and in charge. He takes full advantage; he kisses his way down Reese's chest, taking a moment to kiss and suck on his nipples (I taught him that! You're welcome, Reese) and then falling gravitationally to his crotch. Reese is watching him, intently. Calvin wraps his hand around Reese's fat prick and looks up at him. Though the waterfall is babbling nearby, I can still make out his words.

"Is this what you want? I know this is what I want, but I need to know that you want it too. Really want it."

Reese looks down at him, and slowly a smile stretches across his face.

"I've never wanted anything more in my whole life."

Calvin smiles up and his buddy, his best friend, and now, as the head of Reese's cock disappears into his mouth, his lover.

Reese arches and writhes as Calvin works his magic--he is just a natural at this, a prodigy--and within a minute he is crying out unintelligibly. He shakes all over, then his every muscle tenses as he grasps Calvin's head and tangles his fingers in those sandy locks. Calvin does not relinquish the throbbing prick in his mouth, but continues pumping away as Reese arches and screams and thrashes.

As first times go, this one is a winner.

Then Calvin is back on top of Reese, kissing him frantically. They roll over, Reese on top this time. Reese sits up a bit, and his eyes take in the sight of Calvin, naked and sweating and urgent, spread out before him.

"I can't believe we're here," he intones huskily. "I love you so much it hurts."

"I love you so much you're gonna hurt if you don't get busy, mister," Calvin threatens, laughing and tickling Reese's ribs with his long, strong fingers.

Reese pounces on Calvin's lovely member, and without hesitation (finally!) he takes it in both hands and his mouth. He can still barely cover it all, but he's trying mightily. Apparently both of them are on a hair trigger today, because Calvin is almost immediately in the throes of an impending orgasm. I hope they learn to slow down and enjoy this sometime.

"Oh god oh god oh god," I hear Calvin chanting. The familiarity of this chant pleases me. And then every muscle in his body seizes up, his legs kick out wildly, and Reese had better get ready for the tsunami.

"Oh god oh god Reese I love you!" he calls out, and Reese's head stops bobbing up and down as he tries to figure out what to do with all of the cum. I silently wish him luck.

Hearing Calvin call out Reese's name while he cums should perhaps devastate me, but it doesn't. Instead, it puts some closure on the whole deal. I sense the relief that Calvin feels now, having found his place, and having aligned his inner self with his outer reality. I'm happy for him, for both of them.

Exhausted, for all kinds of reasons, they lie side by side on the ledge in a tangle of sculptural arms and legs and luxuriantly spent cocks, and they are beautiful. As their breathing settles into long, restful breaths, I swim to the opposite bank where we left our clothes. I climb out, grab my towel and shorts, and walk up the path, naked under the warm sun.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I'm back in the kitchen, working my way through Aunt Emily's mountain of fine foods. She's left me a pile of ingredients and no recipes, so I'm doing my best to figure out what she had intended for this dinner. After an hour, the pieces are falling into place, and I'm starting on the actual cooking when Calvin and Reese appear on the path up from the pond. From the kitchen window I can look down on them as they climb, chattering and nude, toward the cabin. I can't make out what they're saying, but the conversation is spirited. I smile to myself, thinking how happy Aunt Emily would be to see this.

The boys stomp and clatter in to the house--how can naked men make so much noise? As they walk into the kitchen, bringing with them the fresh smells of the pond, I see that they've put their shorts on. I guess we'll call this dressed for dinner.

"Dinner in about a half hour, guys," I call in greeting from the stove.

"Great!" says Reese. "I'm starved."

"Yeah, thanks for doing all of this," Calvin adds, taking in all of the various foodstuffs strewn about the kitchen.

I can tell something's worrying him. I hope all went well at the pond after I left. I assumed that if I took my leave while they basked in a post-orgasmic glow that nothing untoward could happen. I may have been wrong.