Ainge's Changes, Part 2
#2 of Ainge's Changes
On a personal note: votes are great, but it's comments that I truly appreciate. If you enjoy the story as it's unfolding - or even if you don't - please let me know in the comments. It's nice to know exactly what my readers are thinking, and I try to reply to them if they merit it. Enjoy!
- HP
Tommy woke up to the sound of a loud engine driving by his street, and stopping nearby. His eyes finally managed to pry themselves open a few seconds later, and he quickly hauled himself upright, his back resting against the headboard of his twin-size bed. His mind flashed back to the unusual emergence of bodily hair and the small growth in his tailbone in the dark hours of the morning, and frantically inspected his body to see if any of it was still there.
It wasn't.
He sighed in relief. At least whatever had happened to him in the middle of the night wasn't permanent. His mind began to drift back to the images that had spurred on his activities earlier, and that naturally caused his boyhood to wake up and rise to attention once again. Tommy began to fondle his genitals once again for a minute or two, until he heard a familiar voice.
"Thomas, don't just spend all day in bed now! Time to get up!"
A mother's voice is enough to get anyone to spring out of bed and into action. Even though Doris wasn't Tommy's biological mother, but she and his father made sure that Tommy knew that they still loved him just as though he was their own child. In return, Tommy did his best to stay out of trouble, and managed to accomplish that - most of the time.
Tommy climbed out of bed and lumbered into the kitchen, still in his pajamas even though the clock on the microwave clearly showed that it was after 10:00 in the morning. His mother was already getting started on the day's errands, cleaning the kitchen counters as he reached in the pantry for a box of sugary cereal.
"Thomas, I hope you don't think that just because it's summer, you can just sleep the whole morning away." Doris chided.
"Sorry, Mom. I didn't sleep too well last night."
"Oh?"
"Yeah... it was too hot." He was only telling a partial lie. Bringing up hair growth that disappeared the following day might open up a larger can of worms than he wanted at the time.
"Well, hurry up and eat your breakfast. Someone's moving into the house across the street, and it looks like they have a boy about your age. You might want to head over there and say hello."
Tommy's attention was piqued by this information. None of his friends from school lived anywhere nearby, so here was a chance to find someone he could share his summer vacation with. He finished off his Lucky Charms in a few minutes and headed straight back into his bedroom to get dressed. Once again, a quick check to see if anything was out of the ordinary. Nope, still nothing there.
He came out of the house in his favorite summer outfit - a pair of neon green shorts, his lucky T-shirt featuring a cartoon wolf on a skateboard, and white tennis shoes. As he walked across the street to the moving van, he saw the boy his mother had told him about.
He was sitting on the stone bench situated just outside the front door, enjoying the shade that the overhang roof offered him. His head was buried in a portable video game, and it wasn't until Tommy came up to the driveway of the new boy's house that he noticed just how lanky and thin he actually was, accentuated with a mop of strawberry blonde hair. He didn't know why, but the boy even smelled good. Already Tommy could feel the first inklings of what could only be described as a crush.
"Hi," Tommy said assertively.
The boy looked up from his video game, and the two of them made eye contact. If Tommy didn't know any better, he would've sworn that this kid was crushing on him just as much, judging by the beaming smile he got from the kid during introductions. "Hi! I'm Ryan!"
"Hi Ryan, I'm Tommy. I live across the street."
"Cool! Nice to meet you, Tommy."
"Whatcha doing?"
"Oh, nothing. Dad told me to stay out of the way while we're moving in, so I'm just sitting here playing video games."
"That's cool. There's a park at the end of the street if you wanted to check it out. We can play basketball or something while you guys get everything out of the van."
"Sure, sounds good. Let me just tell my dad where we're going." Ryan got up from the bench and ran inside and shouted. "Dad!!"
Moments later, Ryan was exiting the house again, with a middle-aged man decked out in thick-rimmed glasses and an orange polo shirt. "Dad, this is Tommy. He lives across the street, and he's taking me to the park."
"Is that so?" the father said, giving Tommy a comforting smile and bowing down a bit to match the boy's height, while extending a welcome hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tommy."
Tommy smiled and shook the man's hand. "Thank you, sir."
"Have fun, but be back here by 5:00, OK?"
Before his father could even finish, Ryan and Tommy were already headed down the sidewalk. "Thanks Dad!"
After a quick stop back at Tommy's house to grab a basketball out of the garage, the two boys made the quick trip to the nearby park, getting to know one another in the process.
"So what do your parents do, Ryan?"
"Dad's a pediatrician. Mom used to work part-time at an arts and crafts store until she had to quit because she was having my little sister. You got any brothers or sisters, Tommy?"
"Nope, neither one. I'm adopted."
"Really? I've never met someone who's adopted before."
Tommy chuckled. "It's not like I'm an alien or anything. Just that my original parents died when I was a baby."
"Wow. That sucks. Do you know anything about them?"
"Not really... I never bothered to ask. I mean, the mom and dad I have now are as good as anything I could've wanted. I just know that they were driving home from the movies one night when some drunk driver smashed into their car. I couldn't have been more than six months old when it happened. I didn't have any relatives to stay with, so I was put up for adoption."
"Really? That's kinda weird."
Tommy took mild offense. "Why do you say that?"
"Think about it. No grandparents? No aunts or uncles? You don't have any family you could've lived with?"
"It's not the first time something like that has happened. No big deal."
They entered the park and made a beeline for the basketball court. The two of them played for a couple of hours - first a few games of one-on-one, then moving on to shootaround games like HORSE and Around the World. The two of them ended up being quite evenly matched, and with every passing minute, Tommy could feel the bond between him and Ryan subtly growing stronger. It was mid-afternoon when the two of them finally called it quits, and made their way to a vending machine to grab a couple sodas. Ryan took a slurp of his drink and gave the park a quick look around.
"Hey, I got an idea." Ryan pointed to the wooded area about a hundred yards away from the courts, on the other side of the fence. "Let's go over there and hang out."
"That's not part of the park, Ryan. I don't think we're supposed to go into there."
"Hey, the two of us are going to need a hideout, aren't we?"
Tommy gave his new friend an odd look. "What are we going to need a hideout for?"
"Duh, to hide out. Come on." Ryan snatched Tommy's basketball out from under his shoulder and took
off for the trees. Tommy could only sigh and run after him.
Ryan was already up and over the short wooden fence, down into the gorge where dozens of oak and eucalyptus trees had been growing for decades. It provided a terribly comfortable shade from the temperatures which had once again become unseasonably hot for the early summer. When Tommy finally caught up, the look of excitement on Ryan's face was obvious.
"OK Ryan, what did you want to do down here?" Tommy asked, with a slightly annoyed tone of voice.
"Do you think anybody saw us?"
Tommy shook his head.
"Cool," Ryan replied. I want to show you something."
"Why couldn't you just show it to me up in the park?"
"Because it's a secret. I don't want anyone else to see."
"See what?"
"You promise you won't tell?" Ryan asked.
"I promise."
"Swear to God?"
"Swear to God."
"Cross your heart and hope to die?"
"Come on, Ryan, just show me already." For as much as it intrigued him when they met, Ryan's boundless energy was starting to grate on Tommy's nerves.
"OK, close your eyes and count to ten."
Tommy sighed. Ryan looked to be about his age, but seemed to act like he was half of it. "Fine." He closed his eyes - even putting his hands over them, as if he knew Ryan was going to make that demand too - and counted out the seconds.
"Eight... Nine... Ten." Tommy removed his hands and opened his eyes, ready to dismiss whatever ridiculous trinket Ryan was trying to show him.
The sight he was confronted with made his mouth dry.
Ryan stood right in front of him, arms out to both sides, pants and underwear around his ankles. It was impossible not to look at it. There, right between his legs, was the first penis Tommy had ever seen aside from his own. It was nothing impressive - maybe three inches long with a generous estimate, and a scrotum that looked more useful for quail eggs. But still, Ryan seemed awfully proud of them.
"Ta-daaa!" Ryan proclaimed. "It's my weiner!"
Tommy was paralyzed. He could barely breathe. Forget all the kids he knew at school, here was someone who was actually willing to show him their bits. Already he could feel his own equipment start to swell with excitement.
"Well, aren't you gonna show me yours?"
Tommy finally snapped out of his reverie. There was no denying what he was seeing, and the thought of fooling around with Ryan, even a little, was exciting. But still, he couldn't take the chance - especially considering what had happened to him the previous night.
"I gotta go," Tommy blurted out, as he scrambled up the ditch, bounded over the fence, and ran straight home, leaving a confused Ryan standing in the nude with his basketball and two half-empty cans of Coke.