It was Saturday evening and they were at the dance. Brian and Justin stood at the entrance of the school gym, handing out programs for the upcoming football season. They had done the same thing this afternoon, just before the game had started. Brian had no idea when Justin had worked on the programs. It was a miracle the project ever got done, considering all the excitement over the last few days. Undoubtedly, Justin had labored over it at night while the rest of them slept; but Brian had never seen him doing it. The game earlier on had been a huge success. The kids had won a resounding victory over Browne. The coaches had allowed Gus to start but because they didn’t want him to overdo it and risk a more permanent injury, they had only let him play for the first and last quarter. That was more than enough for him as it gave him a taste of a real game, yet left him wanting more. Even the Squeelies were in rare form this afternoon. It was the first time they had their official game uniforms on and they were completely energized by it. Brian watched them as they got ready. They were huddled on one side of the bleachers, close to the entrance where he and Justin were distributing the programs. Their voices were raised at full squeal. He watched in fascination as the curlers came off the de-rigueur ponytails, allowing the curly tendrils to fall gracefully and flop around when they jumped and kicked. The short skirts were all pressed, ruffled socks matching the orange and white school colors of their uniforms. Even the bows in their hair were matching, orange and white. They were practicing their high kicks and generally doing all the standard clapping and chanting that drove Brian nuts. He tried to imagine Jenny Rebecca doing all those things and he couldn’t; it was giving him a headache. The girls had all made a beeline for Gus when the family had arrived at the football field earlier this afternoon. They hovered around him, checking him out and making sure he was alright. One girl in particular, Ashley, stayed with him when the others had left. She only moved when the coaches called everyone to their respective groups. She was very pretty, blond and petite. Apparently Gus had the same penchant for blonds, which secretly amused Brian. After the game they had rushed home so that they could shower and get ready for the dance. Gus took forever to get ready, stressing over the clothes he was going to wear. Picking up and discarding one shirt after another, finally settling on the new one they had bought the other day for precisely this event. “Christ, Gus, will you stop queening already! You look great! The girls will be all over you like flies on shi..” “Stop Dad,” Gus said laughing, “I get the picture.” “Well, get a move on or we’ll get there after they close the doors.” “Wait a second,” Justin said. “We need to take a picture of him or Mel and Linds will never forgive us. This is his first official dance, after all.” “Fine,” Brian sighed, resigned to dealing with two queens tonight. Justin went to get his camera and Brian stood in the living room, beer in hand, watching Gus as he continued to check himself out in the mirror above the fireplace. He really is a good looking boy, Brian thought to himself. He was just starting to mature and shed the little boy softness that Brian was so used to seeing. He wore his hair short, so as not to interfere with his sports, but it suited him. It reminded Brian of the look he had in his late twenties, around the time he had met Justin. There was something different about Gus’ face though which Brian couldn’t quite put his finger on. There seemed to be a new look in his eyes which wasn’t there last week. “Ready?” Justin asked as he came back from getting the camera. “Right,” Brian said and went over to where Gus was to position him for the picture. Justin took several photos of Gus by himself, a few of him with Brian and then setting the camera to the automatic mode, he rushed over to the group for a family shot of the three of them. Brian turned to Gus and moved his face close to Gus’ neck to smell him. “How come you don’t have any cologne on?” he asked. Gus was surprised by the question and answered, “I don’t have any.” “What!” Brian exclaimed. “Sunshine, go to the bathroom and get this boy some cologne. Get the good one, the new Gucci that you bought for me last month.” Turning to Gus he said “Don’t you know that in the world of mating, smell is extremely important? It’s what attracts animals to each other, females to males, in your case. It just completes the package and you mustn’t ever forget that.” “Okay, Dad,” Gus said looking at his father with a very familiar lip-biting smile. Just before getting ready to go Gus asked Justin if he could talk with Brian for a minute, alone. “Sure, Gus,” Justin said. It’s only seven. You have time; the dance doesn’t start till seven-thirty. I’ll be out in the kitchen if you need me, okay?” Gus looked at Justin gratefully and said, “Thanks, ‘Daddy J’.” Brian and Gus moved over to the sofa and sat. Brian looked at Gus, waiting. He could tell that Gus was extremely uncomfortable. His complexion was changing from his normal pale pink to beet red, the telltale sign of his discomfort. “Go ahead, Gus. What is it?” Brian asked. “You know that talk we had the other night, about condoms?” Oh shit! “Yeah, what about it?” “Well, I’m glad we had that talk, because now I know. But the truth is I’ve never even kissed a girl… and I think I might want to tonight, but I’m afraid I’ll make a fool of myself… because I don’t know how, and I’ve heard that girls make fun of boys who don’t know how to kiss… and I don’t mean kiss, Dad, I mean KISS, with tongue!” Gus blurted out this sentence as fast as he could, gulping in a deep breath and turning every shade of pink possible. He looked at his father imploringly, hoping for an answer. Brian did his best not to smile. He knew he had to take this question as seriously as it was delivered. He was quiet for a minute, thinking about what he would say, and then he asked, “Gus, what’s your favorite desert?” “Huh?” “What is your favorite thing to eat as a special treat?” “Smores,” Gus replied, looking at his father with a puzzled look on his face. “Okay. When you eat Smores, do you take one or two bites and then it’s gone, or do you nibble and lick and enjoy every little morsel?” “I nibble,” Gus said, starting to get the picture. “Exactly! Kissing should be like eating Smores. It’s something you should take your time with and really enjoy. It can be the most erotic thing you and your partner will do, if it’s done right. No one likes sloppy kissers, Gus, it’s gross and you’ll turn her off in a minute.” Brian proceeded, seeing he had Gus’ full attention. “You need to start slow, moving all over her face before you get to her mouth. Don’t go directly to your goal. There are a lot of places that you can savor and enjoy along the way. Ears are critical, so is her neck, her cheeks and forehead. All facial parts are interesting and need to be explored. Use your hands too, Gus, while you’re kissing her. Caress her face gently, the way you would a kitten or a baby. By the time you get done with that, she’ll be begging you, and so grateful that you’re finally kissing her on the mouth. And when you get there Gus, don’t ram your tongue into her. This is not ‘The Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. Enter slowly and proceed with caution; pretend it’s a Smore straight from the fireplace, hot and melting. If you go too fast you’ll burn your tongue. If you’re too slow, everything will fall all over you. You’ve got to do it just right.” Gus sat there staring at his father, mesmerized. He had no idea his one simple question would result in a dissertation on the art of kissing. “And, for God’s sake, no matter what you do, do not open your mouth so wide that her entire head could fit in it. You don’t want to devour her, you just want a taste. Got all that, Sonny Boy?” “Yeah, Dad, I think so… slow and gentle, right?” Gus said.” “Right, son,” Brian finally smiled. You’ll find out soon enough how the slow and gentle can turn into hot and fast before you know it. How one kiss can turn you both into a quivering mass of emotion…how one kiss can change your life…the way my first kiss with the most beautiful man I ever met changed mine. You’ll find this out in your own good time Sonny Boy, and when you do, I hope you are as lucky as I was. That was earlier and now, he and Justin were at the dance with several other parents, watching their offspring doing a timeless mating ritual. Boys on one side, girls on the other. It doesn’t matter what year this is, it’s always the same, Brian thought to himself. The kids were finally starting to converge on the dance floor as the music blared to obnoxious levels. Justin could see Gus walk over to Ashley, the little blond cheerleader that had been by his side earlier this afternoon. They looked so cute together, Gus almost a full head taller than her. Their dancing was tentative; they were learning to be around each other for the first time. Most of their contact had been on the football field. This was the first time the boys and girls were in a social atmosphere together. The lights in the gym had been turned down a little bit, but were still bright enough to eliminate any thoughts of intimacy. This was just as well, since they were only fourteen and fifteen year olds after all. Many parents had come up to them to compliment Justin on how great the programs had turned out and to talk about Gus and how well the team did today against Browne. No one knew what happened at the house last night, and Brian and Justin hoped that no one would find out. Kevin O’Riley would have enough to deal with in his life without having to tackle being a social pariah. They had decided to wait for Melanie to get home to discuss all the legal ramifications with her. They wanted her opinion before they made any decisions about pressing charges against Lisa. The talk between the O’Rileys and the three of them this morning had been emotional and strained. After Kevin started to cry, Joe’s tears followed shortly after, and soon all five of them were pretty shook up talking about Lisa’s actions. It had broken the tension though, and by the time the O’Rileys had left, a mutual understanding existed between the two families. They had almost decided that if Lisa were committed to a mental facility to get the help she so badly needed, they would most likely hold off on filing the more severe charges of attempted murder. However, they did tell them that it would all depend on what their lawyer advised, before any final decisions were arrived at. The trespassing and destruction of property charges would probably have to stick. The O’Rileys had to settle for that and tonight when Joe dropped Kevin off at the dance, he greeted Brian and Justin politely when he saw them. He also walked over to Gus and his group of friends to say “what’s up.” Brian watched the whole exchange, bracing himself for any repercussions from Gus’ friends, but they seemed to take their lead from Gus and when they saw that he greeted Kevin without any hostility, they all backed off. Brian was grateful and so proud that Gus was taking this so well. He could have just as easily turned on Kevin and made his life more miserable than it already was. Brian knew better than anyone else how horrible it was to live with the consequences of your parent’s actions and he hoped that somehow Kevin would be able to recover from this nightmare and move on. He also hoped that Gus’ first foray into the ugly world of human emotion and sickness would not affect the way he viewed the world or the people who lived in it. Somehow though he was confident that it wouldn’t. Gus was too well grounded and had so many years of love and support from all the adults in his life. It would be surprising if this were to change his opinion of people much. Undoubtedly, he would remember this week for the rest of his life, but he wouldn’t let it color his original impressions of the human race. Brian had told Gus this morning that there will always be sickness and hatred, that was a given. But he also told him, even though he hated to admit it, because he had not very often been the recipient of it, that there was more goodness in people than evil. Basically, people do want to do the best for each other. They just have to wade through the bullshit of life to do it. There was no need to cloud or influence any of Gus’ impressions because of his or Justin’s past experiences. Gus’ life right now was pretty much a clean slate and only he should be able to do the writing. Justin watched as Gus danced with Ashley. They were so sweet and tentative around each other, it was refreshing to see. Justin’s teenage years had been spent in such a different world. Trust and innocence were never part of the equation. His life had been one of hidden emotions; standing up to the whole world, defending his decisions and living in fear that he had not made the right choices. He was glad that Gus would never have to deal with that. That he was comfortable with who he was and sure of his place in the world. Justin supposed that Gus’ sexuality had a large part to do with it. It was not easy to be Gay and view yourself as ‘different’. Granted, times had changed so much and societies views of homosexuals had done a hundred eighty degree turn around, however, the bottom line was and still is that they were not the ‘norm’ and that anyone who happened to be born this way had an uphill battle to contend with. Brian and Justin would have loved and accepted Gus no matter which way he had turned out, but the fact that he was straight would just make his life a little easier to live, which is all one could hope for. Justin was pleased that Gus had asked Brian about kissing, because Brian was definitely the Master; there was no one who kissed better than Brian Kinney. No one. More than that though, he was happy that he and Brian had been here, at this time, for this ‘first’. That they could actually participate in a first event for their son since they had missed out on so many of them in the past. Brian came up to him and put his arm around his shoulder as they stood watching the couples on the dance floor. “Well, this is one dance that’s going to have a happy ending, don’t you think, Sunshine?” Justin looked at him with his famous smile and said, “It does look that way, doesn’t it? I hope that Gus is having a good time.” They both watched as Gus walked out one of the side doors with Ashley in hand. Brian grinned at Justin and said, “Oh, yeah, I think Gus is going to have a real good time tonight. Kissing 101 is about to commence.” TBC