Standard Disclaimer – I don't own Twilight or any of the characters from the story.
WARNING – THIS STORY CONTAINS HOMOSEXUAL SEXUAL CONTENT. IF THIS OFFENDS YOU, PLEASE STOP READING NOW!
EPOV
I grabbed my suit jacket and headed out the front door as I heard my best friend, Bella, pull up to the house. She was dragging me all the way to Forks to attend a wedding. When she begged me to go, I gave in before I realized that Forks was almost four hours away from Seattle. Since moving to Seattle, 8 years ago, I had never been much further than the suburbs. I was a city boy through and through. The thought of small town living kind of gave me the creeps.
As I climbed into the passenger seat, Bella handed me some coffee and a bagel. "Thanks for coming with me, Edward. Believe me, I wouldn't make you do this, but the groom is an ex-boyfriend of mine with a huge ego. If I don't show up with a date, he will think I'm still pining over him."
"Why even go then?"
"He's the son of my dad's best friend, Billy. When dad was killed four years ago, Billy really helped me out. Sure, his son is an ass, but this is important to Billy, so I'm going."
I listened to her tell me all about the people that she expected to see at the wedding. The groom, Jake, was getting married to a lady named Leah. Apparently Jake was still dating Bella when he met and started screwing around with Leah. Bella found out about it when Leah claimed she was pregnant with Jake's baby. It turned out that the pregnancy was a false alarm. Jake swore that he had only been with Leah once and he was drunk at the time. He made it sound like Leah took advantage of him in his inebriated state, so Bella forgave him.
Two months later, Bella caught Leah giving Jake a blowjob in his garage. He tried to say it was a mistake, but Bella didn't buy it that time. She broke up with him on a Thursday afternoon. Jake and Leah were engaged by the end of the weekend. Bella was pissed. She and Jake had been together since high school, so it really hurt that he moved on so quickly. I guess her history with him totally blinded her to the fact that he was an ass.
Leah pushed for a fast wedding, but Jake didn't want to rush. Bella was pretty sure Jake was cheating on Leah and wasn't ready to settle down and that's why he made her wait for an entire year and a half before they got married.
We arrived in the tiny little town of Forks thirty minutes before the wedding. Bella gave me the grand tour of the town, which took all of 7 minutes, then headed to the tiny little church and sat in the parking lot as other people arrived.
Bella told me that Jake and Leah were both from an Indian Reservation nearby. Apparently it was smaller than Forks, if that's even possible. Leah didn't want to get married there because she wanted a "big church wedding," so they were having it in Forks. That cracked me up, because this little church couldn't possibly hold more than 100 people.
I held her hand, playing the part of her pretend boyfriend, as we stepped inside. She greeted everyone as we passed. I shook hands and pretended to be interested as we made our way to the middle of the church and sat in the uncomfortable wooden chairs. I said a small prayer that this wedding would be fast, so we could get to the reception, have a few courtesy drinks, and then get the hell out of this place.
The little church was filling up fast. I was barely listening as Bella rattled off the names of every person that walked in, like she thought I would remember anything she said. I was more impressed that she knew that many people than anything. Everyone was taking their seats and starting to quiet down for the ceremony, when the doors opened one more time and a tiny little woman with black spiky hair slipped in dragging a tall blond man behind her. Something about the man caught my attention.
They quickly headed to the opposite side of the church and took their seats a few rows in front of us. I could see his dirty blond wavy hair and just part of his cheek. Not enough to be sure, but just enough to remind me of the summer I turned 16 and met another boy with the same golden hair.
My parents lived in a rather prestigious neighborhood in Chicago back then. The house I lived in was quite grand and sat on a large piece of property. On the back of the property was a guest house that my father rented out to a crazy old lady named Mrs. Whitlock. Mrs. Whitlock was an old widow that owned a video store in a strip center nearby. My father handled Mrs. Whitlock's legal affairs after her husband died. Mr. Whitlock had run the store into the ground before died and left her up to her eyeballs in debt. She had to sell off her home to pay for his burial, so dad let her rent the guest house pretty cheap.
That was the summer her nephew, Jasper, came to help out at the store. I was hanging out around the house, getting in my mom's way, so she sent me to go introduce myself to "Martha's guest." I didn't really want to, but mom insisted that I try to make him feel comfortable, so I walked across the back yard to introduce myself.
I found him sitting on the couch watching TV. He looked just as bored as I was. His aunt let me in and introduced us. He looked up at me with a dull expression and then looked back at the TV. I didn't know what to think. We were about the same height. He was kind of scrawny. His dirty blond hair was cut short, but it was wavy, so it kind of made it look like a mess. His eyes were deep blue and he had long eyelashes. His face was smooth and he had pink lips that looked soft. I will never forget thinking that I had never really noticed eyelashes or lips on someone until I met him.
He was sitting on one side of the couch, so I sat on the other while his aunt brought me a glass of lemonade and a cookie. "Jasper, why don't you turn off the TV and visit with Edward. He lives in the big house. He just turned 16 recently too, didn't you Edward?"
"Yes, Mrs. Whitlock, two weeks ago."
"That's nice dear. Jasper turned 16 last month. Now that he's old enough to work, his parents sent him up here to Chicago to help me out for the summer. He lives down in Texas, don't you Jasper?"
Jasper rolled his eyes and ignored her. Mrs. Whitlock either didn't notice or she didn't care. She just got up and headed for the door. "You two stay out of trouble. I have to go to the store. I'll be back in about an hour."
She went out the door and I heard her car drive away. I kind of felt uncomfortable sitting there, so I tried to make conversation. "So, you came to help your aunt, huh?"
He shrugged, "I guess."
"You don't look too excited about it."
"I'm not. My parents have been fighting a lot lately, so they sent me up here to help Aunt Martha while they try to work on their marriage. I don't even know if they'll still be married when I get back."
I didn't know what to say. "That kind of sucks."
"Tell me about it."
"So you're going to be working at the video store?"
"That's the plan. I'm supposed to work nights on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I'm sure she is going to try to drag me to church on Sunday, so basically, my weekends are going to suck all summer long."
"What would you be doing with your weekends if you were home?"
"I would be hanging out with my friends, looking at girls, and stuff. My buddy tried to stash the new Playboy in my luggage before I left, but my mom found it and threw it away. I was pissed."
"You look at Playboy?" I was shocked. I didn't know anyone who had dirty magazines.
"Sure. Everyone does it. You mean you never look at Playboy?"
"Ummm… No… I mean it's not that I don't want to, but I don't know anyone that has that kind of stuff."
Jasper laughed, "You're a trip, Edward. Look at you. Your face is so red; it looks like it's going to pop. If I can manage to get a hold of some interesting pictures, I'll let you know."
"Okay, sounds good."
Jasper and I spent the next couple of days hanging out at my house. He loved my baseball card collection. He would sit for hours flipping through the cards and telling me every little detail about each player. I already knew all about them, but I let him talk anyway.
Jasper started his first shift at the video store on Thursday evening, so I didn't see him. He called me on Friday afternoon and told me to come over. I was just about to go swimming in our pool before he called, so I went over to his house in my swim trunks and a t-shirt.
Jasper met me at the door, "Edward, my friend, do I have a treat for you. Remember I told you that I would let you look at a magazine if I could get my hands on one?"
"You got a Playboy?" I was sure my mouth was hanging open.
"No, I got something even better." He reached into a backpack and pulled out a DVD in a blank case. "Aunt Martha's video store has an adult section. When I was working yesterday, I found out that all of the cases for adult movies are in that locked room. If an adult wants to go back there, I have to buzz them in. This kind of sucks, because when I'm alone at the store, I can't hold the button down at the counter and open the door at the same time, so I can't really see what's back there, but I realized that I don't have to. You see, when they go back there, they bring the empty case to me and I have to pull the disk from these drawers behind the counter. Aunt Martha has the disks filed by some strange code numbers that I haven't figured out yet, but I did manage to flip through and grab a movie out of the drawer for us to watch. I stuck it in my backpack when she went to grab us dinner."
I think my eyes almost popped out of my head and my voice squeaked, "You got a… dirty movie?"
"Yes, my friend. We have porn to watch this afternoon. Aunt Martha is working at the store and won't be here to pick me up for four more hours, so what do you say we pop this movie in a take a look?"
"Don't you think she is going to notice it missing?"
"No, she has hundreds of movies. If someone did come looking for this exact movie, she would probably think it got misfiled. I'll put it back when I go in to work tonight."
He stuck the movie in the DVD player and grabbed the remote before taking a seat on the couch. My hands were shaking and my heart felt like it was about to beat its way out of my chest as I took a seat on the other side of the couch.
He fast forwarded through the warnings and disclaimers, but then the commercials started. They were for other videos and phone sex lines. The first few commercials were of well endowed women wearing next to nothing talking on the phone and kissing each other. The next commercial showed naked women rubbing on each other and licking on a giant blue plastic penis. I felt a lump in my throat. Part of me was intrigued, but part of me wanted to run out of the house screaming.
When the actual movie started, the characters on the screen were talking, so Jasper pressed the fast forward button again. "We don't give a shit about the plot, right?"
I don't think I answered him. I just sat there staring at the screen watching everything move quickly. Jasper resumed the video just as some guy helped a woman out of her dress and started sucking her nipples. She was moaning loudly and making strange noises that got even louder when he pulled her microscopic panties off and started rubbing her… parts.
A few minutes later, another woman came into the room. Somehow she got naked and started sucking the first woman's breasts while the man started licking her… parts. The second woman took his place licking the first woman while the man stripped out of his clothes. The first woman started stroking and sucking his penis while he moaned loudly.
I noticed that my own erection was causing an embarrassing bulge in my swim trunks. I reached for a throw pillow on the loveseat to try to hide it but Jasper said, "Dude, don't do that. If you get spunk on Aunt Martha's pillows, she's going to kill us both."
I am sure my face was beet red as I stammered, "I… um… I was just…"
Jasper turned and looked me in the eyes, "Edward, chill man. So your dick's hard. Mine's hard, too. It's no big deal. You're watching porn. It's supposed to be hard. That's the point. Why do you think they make these movies?"
I glanced down and sure enough, Jasper had a sizable bulge in his pants, too. He wasn't even trying to hide it. He didn't look embarrassed or ashamed at all. He turned back toward the screen and resumed the movie, while I tossed the pillow back over to the loveseat and tried to relax.
I watched as the woman sucked the man until he came on her breasts, then the scene changed and someone else was talking so Jasper fast forwarded it again. He stopped at a room full of naked women pleasuring each other with strange looking toys. We only watched that for a few minutes then moved on to the third scene.
This one had a couple making out in a movie theater. The woman unzipped the man's pants and pulled his dick out. She stroked him while he tried to be quiet. She bent down and started sucking on him. The camera panned back and you could see another man sitting in the row behind them, watching. He was rubbing on the bulge in his pants while he watched the woman give the guy a blowjob. He moaned and the guy getting the blowjob turned and noticed him. He nodded his head, so the guy rubbing himself came around and took a seat behind the lady. He reached up her skirt and slipped her panties off before he started fingering her. She moaned and started sucking harder as the man in the seat behind her put on a condom and started fucking her from behind.
My dick was so hard that it was aching and really starting to get uncomfortable. I noticed the couch was moving and glanced over at Jasper. His pants were open and his hand was inside his boxers stroking himself. I couldn't see anything but I could tell what he was doing and it made me even harder. Before I could talk myself out of it, I slipped my hand in my swim trunks and grabbed my aching cock.
I tried to focus back on the screen as I stroked myself, but my attention kept shifting to the boy beside me. His face was flush, his head was thrown back, and he was breathing hard. Before I realized what I was doing, I had matched my pace with his and was quickly approaching orgasm. I forced myself to face the screen, so I wouldn't get caught staring, but then he moaned and my head shot his direction just in time to watch his jaw clench, as his body tensed and shook with his orgasm. It was beautiful.
I closed my eyes and let the image repeat in my head as my own orgasm washed over me. I was panting, trying to catch my breath, when I opened my eyes and glanced over at Jasper. He was looking at me with a strange look on his face. It looked like part amazement and part happiness.
He ejected the DVD and stuffed it back in his backpack. "That was so much better than magazines. Next Thursday I'll bring home a different one. I think you have a good idea with the swim trunks."
I was confused, "What do you mean?"
"Well, I have to go up stairs and rinse out these boxers, so Aunt Martha doesn't find them covered in spunk. You can just go jump in the pool to rinse yourself off."
That became our weekly routine for the rest of the summer. Jasper would sneak home a porno on Thursday night. I would go to his house for lunch on Friday. We would both wear our swim trunks. We would watch the movie and jack off then go swimming the rest of the afternoon.
As the weeks went on, I began to realize that I wasn't particularly interested in the scenes with lesbians going at it, or women getting themselves off. I liked the scenes with the men. Watching a man going down on a woman was okay, but I preferred watching the women giving the guys blowjobs, watching the men fuck the women, and watching the men jack off. But secretly, the thing that got me off every time was watching Jasper cum.
On Jasper's last week at the video store, he brought home something different. He claimed he was in a hurry and didn't get a chance to look up any information on the video. I didn't think anything about it, so I just took my place on the couch and waited for him to cue up the movie. When he fast forwarded it to the "good parts", as he called it, I watched as a man and a woman started making out in a hot tub. Before long, they were undressed and all over each other.
This was nothing unusual. I noticed that Jasper was only half paying attention to the screen. He kept glancing over at me with a smirk on his face. I thought it was strange, but didn't say anything.
My attention focused on the screen when another man joined them in the hot tub, but instead of kissing the girl, like they did in the movies that we usually watched, he leaned over and kissed the other man. I am sure my mouth was hanging open and I might have drooled a little bit as I watched the two guys make out while the woman stroked them both at the same time.
They ended up climbing out of the hot tub. The woman was laying on her back on a low lounge chair and one of the men started to fuck her. The other man stood up so the man that was fucking the girl could suck his dick at the same time.
My hand was in my swim trucks and I was trying not to moan as I watched the man sucking the other man off. By that point, I couldn't tell you if the woman was still there or if she'd caught on fire. My attention was only on the men. I was stroking hard and fast and could no longer stop the moans coming from my mouth. I heard a quiet moan from Jasper and cracked my eyes open enough to see that he was about to cum too, but he wasn't focused on the screen and he didn't have his eyes closed, he was looking at me.
This pushed me over the edge and I came loudly all over the inside of my swim trunks. I had never cum so hard or so much. It took a while to get my strength back. I may have even fallen asleep, because I didn't notice Jasper take the DVD out and stash it in his backpack. When I opened my eyes, he simply smiled and asked if I was ready to go swimming.
I was a little uncomfortable at first, but Jasper was very relaxed while we splashed around in the pool. We had just climbed out of the pool and were drinking lemonade before Jasper had to head back to his aunt's place to get ready for work, when he turned to me and said, "So, Edward, are you gay or bi?"
I almost choked on my lemonade. "What?"
"It's a simple question. Gay or bi?" He smiled and said, "Don't worry. I'm not freaked out or anything and I'm not going to tell anyone."
I focused my attention on the towel around my shoulders. "Umm… I don't know."
"It's simple. Do you prefer watching the women, the men, or both?"
I thought about it. I knew I didn't really care much for the scenes that only had women in them but I didn't know if that made me gay or bi. I mean, the fact that there was a woman in the movie didn't turn me off or anything. "I'm not sure. I liked watching what some of the women did to the guys, but I wasn't interested in what the women could do to themselves or each other."
Jasper nodded, "In the one we watched today, what did you think about the woman's tattoos?"
I closed my eyes and tried to think. "She had tattoos?"
Jasper laughed, "Dude, she had a butterfly on her left tit and a scorpion right where her pubes should have been. If you didn't even notice them, I would say you are probably more gay than bi."
I felt my face heat up. "Umm… ok." I didn't know what else to say. "That doesn't freak you out?"
Jasper shrugged his shoulders. "Why should it? I'm definitely bi. I have my fantasies about women, but I also have some about men. If I had known you leaned more toward the gay side than straight, I would have brought home more bi or gay videos. Aunt Martha has them separated into straight, lesbian, gay, and bi, so people don't have to sort through things that make them uncomfortable."
"How thoughtful," I snickered.
We saw his aunt's car head toward her house, "Shit! I have to go. See you later."
He ran across the yard to throw on some clothes before work. He didn't have time for a shower and would have to go to work smelling like chlorine, but I was glad we talked about everything and he wasn't going to stop being my friend.
Jasper left four days later and returned to Texas. Before he left, we sat up secret email addresses so we could communicate without our parents knowing. I honestly didn't expect to hear from him again. I was surprised when I got an email the day he got home letting me know that his parents were back together and everything seemed to be okay.
Throughout the school year, Jasper and I would email each other on occasion. He would send me pictures of hot naked guys and I would send him pictures of frogs. Once I found a picture of a naked chick with a frog tattoo. He really got a kick out of that one.
The following summer, Jasper came back. He had changed a little over the year, but I guess I did too. He was now an inch taller than me. He was still thin, but he was muscular, like a swimmer or a bicyclist. He had let his hair grow out and it was almost over his eyes. His lashes were still just as long and lips still looked just as soft. He seemed much happier than he did the previous summer. His eyes sparkled when he smiled and he smiled a lot.
He was working the same schedule at the video store that he did the summer before, so it took no time for us to get back to our Friday afternoon schedule of lunch, movie, spank, and swim. Just as Jasper promised, he started bring home more movies geared toward my interests. The first afternoon movie was just as nerve wracking as the first one the previous summer and just like before, Jasper made it easy.
I noticed Jasper glancing at me more and more often, like I had done to him the previous summer. I wondered if I should say something, but decided against it. I figured he was probably just making sure I was enjoying myself. On the third week, when he loaded the movie and grabbed the remote, he didn't sit on the far side of the couch. He sat closer to the middle. I took my regular seat and started watching the movie.
We made it through the first scene and were fast forwarding to the second scene when Jasper asked me if I wanted some popcorn. We had only had a small lunch, so I said sure. He paused the movie and brought back a bag for us to share. He sat right beside me and held the bag so we could both reach it as we watched. I was starting to get into the movie, and I was incredibly hard. I was just getting ready to slip my hand in my swim trunks when Jasper handed me the popcorn bag. I didn't think anything about it; I just sat it in my lap and focused back on the movie.
I felt Jasper reach his hand in the popcorn bag to grab a few pieces. This caused his hand to brush up against my dick through the bag. I gasped and my eyes shot to him. He pretended not to notice my reaction. I thought it must have been an accident, so I turned back to the movie. Jasper reached over to grab some more popcorn. This time, he slid the popcorn up the side of the bag, all the way up my length, before pulling his hand away and eating the popcorn.
"Fuck, Jasper, I don't think I should be the one holding the popcorn." I was panting.
Jasper gave me a crooked smile and said, "But if I hold it, I won't have an excuse to touch you."
Time seemed to stand still. My heart was pounding in my ears so loud, I was sure I must have heard him incorrectly. "What?"
Jasper took the popcorn from my lap and sat it on the coffee table. "You do want me to touch you, don't you?"
I heard myself say, "Fuck, yes!" before I realized what was coming out of my mouth.
"I thought so," he chuckled. "Come here. Let me give you a hand."
He reached over and ran his hand along my length on the outside of my swim trunks, giving me a little squeeze. My head fell back and I moaned "Fuck, Jasper that feels good."
His thigh was right up against mine and I could feel his body heat everywhere we touched. His hand continued to stroke me on the outside of my swim trunks. It felt incredible. My hand was resting on his thigh. I started sliding it up toward the tent in his swim trunks so he could feel just as good as I did. When my hand came in contact with his hard dick, he moaned and his hips bucked a little.
"That feels so good, Edward. I've been thinking about this for so long. I want to touch you. I mean really touch you. Is that ok?"
I nodded my head and his hand slid inside my trunks to grab my dick. With the angle he was at, he didn't have much room to move. "Edward, I want to do this, but you're going to have to pull you trunks down a little and pull out your dick, so I have room to work."
I couldn't form words; it felt so good, so I lifted my hips and slid my swim trunks down to mid-thigh, exposing my dick. Jasper ran his hand up and down my length. "Edward, you have a beautiful dick."
I was still rubbing his through his trunks, "Yours… I want to touch yours."
He let go of me briefly to slide his trunks down. Part of me wanted to whine about the loss of contact, but the other part of me was excited to finally get to see and feel him for the first time.
"Jazz, you're beautiful." My voice sounded breathy and full of lust.
We both turned to face the TV. Our arms were crossed over each other so we could stroke each other at the same time, which was a little awkward. I found that when I especially liked what he was doing to me, I would forget to move my hand. I guess you could say that I wasn't very good at multitasking. Even through I was facing the TV, all of my focus was on the feel of his hand on my cock. We could have been watching Power Rangers for all I knew.
I could feel my orgasm building and I knew it was only seconds away. I tried to warn him but ended up moaning something loud and un-comprehensible. I could feel my muscles tensing and let go of his dick, for fear that I might accidentally break it off. I grabbed his thigh and called out his name as I came.
When the feeling returned to my limbs, I turned to finish Jasper off only to find that he had cum right along with me. "I would have done that for you, you know."
Jasper was breathing hard, "I know, but when you called my name, I couldn't help it. I started cumming and I wasn't even touching myself."
"I must have magical vocal cords then." We both started laughing as we pulled up our swim trunks and headed back to my house to go swimming.
I was worried that this new step in our relationship would make things strange between us, but it didn't. During the week, we hung out with some of my friends, played games, talked about cars, and watched real movies, but Friday afternoons were reserved for our private time.
Half way through the summer, I got up enough nerve to kiss him. We had just finished watching porn and jacking each other off, which we found was much easier if we took turns. I would go first one week and he would go first the next. On this particular afternoon, I got him off first and while he was still dazed and out of breath, I leaned in and kissed him on the lips. I think he was shocked at first because he didn't respond but then I slid my tongue across his bottom lip and he opened willingly. His hands slid into my hair and his tongue caressed mine. It was heavenly.
We kissed for a few minutes then I felt his hands slide down my back, tracing the muscles, then back up to repeat the same path on my chest and stomach. His hands were everywhere. I'm not sure which one of us encouraged it, or if we both did, but somehow we ended up stretched out on the couch making out. I was on my back and he was partially on top of me. He slid my shirt off and dropped it to the floor before working on my swim trunks. He managed to slide them all the way off and put them on the floor with my shirt.
It felt really strange being completely naked in his aunt's living room, but when he started stroking me, I stopped noticing all that much. In fact, the thrill of doing something so risky made it even more exciting. I could feel him hard against my hip as he ground against me. When he kissed his way down my neck and grazed my nipple with his teeth, I lost it. He tried to muff my loud moans by kissing me as I came. He held me while I came down from my orgasm and kissed me softly before getting up and handing me a paper towel to clean myself up. Afterward, he helped me put my clothes back on, because I was still a little rubbery. Once I was dressed we headed to my house to go swimming.
During the weeks that followed, we stopped with the pretense of watching the movies and went straight to making out. For some reason, we never moved our activities to his bedroom. We would always end up snuggling naked on the living room couch, but we never did anything more than use our hands to bring each other pleasure. Each week, we would hold each other longer and longer after we found our release. We would caress each other more, and our kisses would linger.
I couldn't hold back anymore, I had to tell him how I felt. It was our last Friday together. We were snuggling naked on the couch. He was lying on his back and I had my head on his chest, while he made gentle patterns on my back with his fingertips.
"Jazz, I hate that you have to go home in a couple of days."
"I know, but I have to get back. If I'm going to get a college scholarship, I'm going to have to work hard. Without a scholarship, I probably won't be able to afford college."
"Do you think you will make it back here next summer?"
"If everything goes well, and I get my scholarship, I may have to spend my summer moving to my new college and finding a job. If I don't get a scholarship, I'll probably come back here and help Aunt Martha for the summer before going home to work with my dad on the ranch."
"You would work for your dad the rest of your life?"
"No, my dad doesn't own the ranch. He's just a ranch hand. I would be working for his boss until I could save up enough money to afford to do something else with my life. Maybe I can save up enough to pay for technical school, or maybe I will join the military. I hear they can teach me a skill and they'll pay for college too."
I always knew I was going to college. There was never a question about it. All I had to do was tell my parents what I wanted to be when I grew up and they would send me to whatever college would be best to put me on that career path. I never had to worry about how it was going to be paid for.
"I hope that you get your scholarship so you can go to college, but I also hope that you can come back next summer… I'll miss you."
"I know. I'll miss you too, Edward." He placed a kiss on the top of my head. "I'm sure we will see each other again someday, even if we don't end up spending next summer together."
"I hope so."
"Besides, we can always email each other. I'll send you pictures of guys and you can send me pictures of frogs." He laughed, "Why do you do that, anyway?"
"I thought the frogs were cute," I told him.
"They were cute," he admitted. "But I didn't understand why you sent them to me."
"My parents have my computer locked down, so I can't surf for naked pictures on the internet. The frogs were the cutest things I had access to, so that's what I sent."
He kissed me softly and said, "I liked them. You can send me frogs anytime."
He looked at the clock and decided it was time that we head to the pool. We swam laps in silence that day. I wanted to hold him longer, but I knew that it was impossible. He worked that night and the following day.
On Sunday morning, my mom let him in the house while I was sleeping. He came upstairs and woke me up with a kiss. "I have to go, Edward. Aunt Martha is waiting outside. I told her I wanted to say good-bye."
I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight as I tried to fight back the tears. "I love you, Jazz."
I could hear the pain in his voice as he said, "I know. I love you, too. I'll never forget you, Edward." I heard a sniffle as he quickly got up and disappeared down the hall and out the door.
I laid there in bed crying for several hours. Mom came upstairs to find out why I never made it downstairs for breakfast. When she saw me, laying there in bed sobbing, she knew what was wrong. I didn't even have to tell her.
She sat down and ran her finger through my hair in that soothing way that only mothers can manage to pull off. "You loved him very much, didn't you?"
I nodded my head and cried harder.
"Honey there is an old saying that my grandmother used to tell me. If you love something let it go. If it comes back, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was. I think this saying applies to people too. You have to let him go, Edward. You both have a lot of growing up to do. When the time is right, you will find someone to love that loves you back. It might be him or it might be someone else. You won't know until you get to that point. You just have to be patient and work hard to be the best person you can be in the meantime."
I was relieved that my mother never questioned my sexuality or made me feel uncomfortable about it. She was the one to tell my dad. He had a harder time adjusting to the idea than she did, so we ended up in family counseling for the first half of my senior year in high school.
I sent frogs to Jasper every Friday until high school graduation. I sent him a picture of me in my cap and gown. He sent me a picture of him in his. He got a scholarship to play soccer for a college in Florida. I ended up in California. We stopped emailing each other as our college lives picked up.
The following year, I was on the computer in the college library and decided to Google Jasper Whitlock to see what would come up. I was shocked when I saw a wedding announcement. Jasper had married a woman named Maria Lopez. According to the article, they met at school and it was love at first sight.
My heart broke right there in the college library. I cried for almost an hour before Bella approached me. She held me and listened to my story. She cheered me up and took me out for ice cream. She made my life a brighter place and we became instant best friends. We listened to each other complain about blind dates and stupid guys. Somehow, things weren't so bad with her in my life.
After college graduation, I moved up to Seattle to start my career as an architect. Bella followed me a year later, when she finished her teaching degree. I couldn't ask for a better friend, so letting her drag me to a small town in the middle of nowhere to attend a wedding for people she didn't even like was the least I could do.
I glanced at my watch and realized that this wedding had been going on for nearly an hour already and I hadn't paid attention to a single thing that was happening. I was too busy strolling down memory lane. I tried to catch a glimpse of the blond stranger across the room but couldn't see him because someone was blocking my view.
Finally the wedding was over and everyone was filing out of the chapel and walking across the street to the VFW hall for the reception. Bella dragged me out before I could find the blond stranger in the crowd.
"Come on, Edward. The sooner we get over there the sooner we can say hello to everyone and head back to the real world."
The VFW hall was decorated in pink and white, to match the bridesmaids' dresses. It kind of looked like a strawberry vanilla swirled smoothie. Bella headed over to talk to her dad's friends while I headed for the keg to pour us some beer.
I had just dispensed the second cup when I heard a familiar voice.
"I thought I saw you here."
I looked up and found myself face to face with Jasper Whitlock. My heart clenched. He looked even better than I remembered. His hair was chin length. He had a tan. He was wearing a grey suit that fit him like a glove. His eyelashes were still just as long and his lips still looked just as soft.
"Jasper, what are you doing here? Last I heard you were still down in Florida."
"That didn't work out as well as I had planned. I'm in the process of moving to Seattle, actually. I'm a photographer now. Where did you end up?"
"I moved to Seattle right out of college. I'm an architect. Is this your wife?" I said looking at the little lady on his arm.
He smiled down at her, "No, this is Alice Brandon. She runs one of the modeling agencies I work with. We worked together in Florida and became good friends. She's letting me stay with her until I can find a place of my own. She's the one that convinced me to move all the way up here… Alice, this is Edward Cullen."
Alice smiled politely but my attention was still on Jasper. "What kind of place are you looking for?"
"I was looking for a place that I could set up a small studio, maybe something with an attached apartment. I don't know. I just started looking. I'm supposed to meet with a realtor next week so she can make suggestions."
Bella walked up, so I introduced her, "Jasper, Alice, this is my best friend, Bella Swan."
As it turned out, Alice and Bella already knew each other. They both grew up in Forks. Alice graduated a few years earlier than Bella, but that didn't keep them from talking about everyone else in town for the next two hours while Jasper and I talked quietly.
"So, Jasper, do you have any kids?"
He shook his head, "No, thank god. Maria wanted to have kids right away, but I wanted to wait until we finished school. We ended up getting divorced two years later, so I'm glad I held my ground about waiting."
I did a mental happy dance. "Sorry to hear that your marriage didn't work out. The wedding announcement made it sound like you were really in love."
"That was all bullshit. I thought she loved me, but she was just using me. Her student visa was getting ready to expire and she was going to have to move back to Venezuela. She didn't want to do that, so she suckered me into marrying her. I didn't realize it at first, but eventually the blinders were lifted from my eyes. By the end of our first year of marriage, she had already moved both of her parents and her brother into our house. None of them were working, so I was supporting the entire family. I couldn't keep my grades up while working two jobs, so I lost my scholarship and had to drop out with only one semester to go. That's when I started to realize what she was doing. When I confronted her about it, she tried to blackmail me by saying that she had proof that I'd had sex with men and she was going to send it to my dad."
Part of me felt bad for him, another part was jealous of whoever he had had sex with, but the biggest part wanted to hunt her down and beat the shit out of her. "What did you do?"
"All she had were some pictures on my computer of men and women that I had downloaded from the internet. I thought I was pretty safe so I called her bluff. She called my dad and told him about the pictures of the guys and said that she caught me jacking off to them. Dad didn't take it very well at all. At first he was pissed that my wife was trying to drag him and mom into our marital problems. It didn't hit him until two days later that she was saying that I was getting off to pictures of other guys. The shit really hit the fan then."
"What about your mom? How did she take it?"
"She cried at first, because she thought she had messed up somehow when she was raising me. It was hell. I was so pissed at Maria for fucking with my family that I filed for divorce and complained to immigration about her and her family. They didn't do anything at first, but eventually they were all sent back to Venezuela."
"That's good. How about now? Are things still strained with your parents?"
"My mom is ok now. She understands that I like both genders equally. She just wants me to be happy. Dad is another story. He thinks I must be so desperate to get laid that I would let anyone do me. He thinks being bi-sexual makes me a slut. Needless to say, we don't talk much. Aunt Martha has been the most supportive of all of my family. She keeps sending my parents books and articles about how to deal with it."
"I'm glad I never had to deal with that. Mom guessed that I was gay on the day you left. She told dad about it. We spent a few months going to family counseling because dad didn't understand how he could be a good role model for me. They were a little heartbroken that they may never have grandchildren because I'm an only child and they have no nieces or nephews. Dad was worried that he, his father, and his grandfathers had worked so hard to build up the family money so they could take care of future generations, but now there won't be any. My sexuality is killing off the family line and wasting all of the sweat and tears that my ancestors put into building the family fortune. It took a while, but the counselor finally convinced my dad that I could adopt when I was ready, or I could will the family money to a variety of charities that would use it for a good cause, so it wouldn't be a waste."
"So, things are good now?"
"Yes. They are great now. Dad is much better. Now he wants me to find someone and fall in love. He says he wants me to be happy, but I think he is hoping I will adopt a dozen kids or something like that."
Jasper laughed. "Shit, Edward, do you really think you want a dozen kids running around?"
"No, but two wouldn't be bad," I replied honestly.
Jasper smiled. "No, two wouldn't be bad at all."
We continued to talk about our lives, getting to know each other again. Jasper had seen some of the buildings I had done. He offered to take my picture standing in front of my latest masterpiece. I told him I would think about it.
When Bella and Alice were ready to head back to the city, Jasper and I exchanged phone numbers. We made arrangements to meet for lunch the following Friday. I was on cloud nine all the way back to Seattle. I didn't even think to ask if Bella was okay, after watching her ex-boyfriend get married to the person he left her for. Some friend I am.
I was a nervous wreck as I walked into the restaurant on Friday afternoon and looked around to see if Jasper was already there. I found him sitting at the bar, looking as gorgeous as ever. When he saw me, he smiled and my entire world seemed right again.
After lunch, I gave him a tour of the city, showing him all the places that I had grown to love. I had always dreamed of taking Jasper out on a real date, but this was better than I could have ever imagined. We held hands and walked through the park. It was sweet and simple, but perfect because it was us. We were finally both at a place in our lives were we were ready to see where things would go and could be open and honest about it. We agreed to take things slow, but I knew my heart already belonged to him and always would.
I drove him back to Alice's loft after dinner at my favorite restaurant later that evening. We held hands as I walked him to the door. "I really enjoyed myself, Jasper. I hope we can go out again sometime," I said nervously.
"I would love to go out with you again, Edward." He leaned forward a kissed my cheek. "Thank you for showing me the city."
"It rains here a lot, but the city grows on you. I hope you learn to love it as much as I do."
Jasper looked like he was going say something, but stopped himself. "I'm sure I will."
I stuck my hands in my pocket to keep from reaching out for him as I said good night and turned to leave. I made it three steps before he stopped me. "Hey, Edward, before you go… I wanted to show you something."
He reached up and unbuttoned a few of the buttons on the front of his shirt, pulling it aside, so I could see the small frog tattooed over his heart. "I got this the summer after high school graduation. I was all alone in a new city, trying to get situated in a dormitory with a bunch of obnoxious ass holes. I was unpacking my things and half listening to my roommate go on and on about his girlfriend and all I could think about was you. I got a job at a coffee shop on campus and used my first paycheck to get this. It reminded me of you, so I had it put over my heart. Even though we didn't keep in touch like we should have, I never forgot you, Edward."
I wiped at the tear that slid down my cheek. "I never forgot you either, Jasper."
Those words my mother spoke to me years ago floated back to my mind. If you love something let it go. If it comes back, it's yours. If it doesn't, it never was. My mom was right. I had let him go years ago, but somehow we found each other again. We had both grown up a lot over the years, but the love I had for him was still there. The chances of us finding each other again at a little church, in a small town, in the middle of nowhere, in an entirely different state than where we first met, were astronomical. This had to be more than a coincidence. This had to be fate.
BPOV
It was so great seeing Edward happy again. When I first met him, that day in the library, he was so broken and alone. I knew I had to help him. We became the best of friends right away. Over the years, I watched him grow and heal. He started dating guys in college, but that turned out to be a disaster. He was a beautiful man, so you would think he could find someone, but his beauty was his curse, I guess.
Edward wasn't looking for a quick piece of ass. He wanted a relationship. The guys that asked him out just wanted to get him naked. If he didn't put out on the first or second date, or if he even mentioned the word boyfriend, they would either get really pissed or just start avoiding him. Edward pretended it didn't bother him, but I knew it did.
I would find him sitting alone in his apartment, drinking wine and staring at a framed picture of a blond guy in a graduation gown. It was sad, really. I knew that he was still hurting for Jasper and that every other guy he dated would never compare to the love he had for him. I knew I had to do something to help him, but I just didn't know what.
When Edward and I moved to Seattle, I took a job as an English teacher at a high school. One day, I ran into Alice Brandon at the school. She was handing out flyers to students with modeling potential. We started talking about our lives. She told me that she had just let a photographer move in with her temporarily. She said his name was Jasper Whitlock and he was incredibly talented.
I knew it had to be the same guy Edward was pining over. The chances of there being another Jasper Whitlock in the world were… I don't know, but I doubted there was another one out there. I told her that I thought my best friend was still in love with him. When she found out my best friend was named Edward Cullen, she almost flipped. She started squealing and jumping up and down. It was kind of embarrassing, actually.
We came up with a plan to get the guys together, without them feeling like they were being forced together. We just wanted to reacquaint the two of them. If they got back together, that would be great, but if they didn't that would be ok, too.
I got an invitation to Jake and Leah's wedding the following day. I couldn't believe they had the gall to send me an invitation. I was going to throw it away at first, but then I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to get Edward and Jasper together. They would have to dress up for the wedding, so they would look good. They would be in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strangers, so they would have to be on their best behavior, and we could make it look like a coincidence.
I called Alice and within minutes we had it all planned out. I was surprised how easy it was to convince Edward to go as my date. When we got to the wedding and Alice arrived with Jasper, I thought Edward was going to get whiplash from trying to look at the guy. I had to fight back a giggle when people kept getting in his way. He actually growled in frustration. It was cute.
They were finally able to talk to each other at the reception. It was really sweet watching the two of them reconnect. They started dating the following week. It was great to see Edward truly happy again.
Jasper found a great little place to set up his studio. It had plenty of room for his equipment and props, with large windows to let in natural sunlight. He converted the small storeroom into a bedroom, so he could move out of Alice's place, but he didn't stay there long. Within a few months, Edward convinced him to move in with him.
On Christmas morning, Edward woke Jasper up and dragged him into their living room to watch the sunrise. They stood at the windows holding each other silently. Edward gave Jasper a kiss then dropped down on one knee and asked Jasper to marry him. I wish I had been there to hear his exact words because I am sure it was something sweet and romantic. Later that day, they called and told all of us that they were planning a commitment ceremony to be held in the spring.
Edward's parents were ecstatic. His mom insisted they let her help plan the ceremony. Jasper's parents weren't so thrilled. His mom cried, but claimed they were tears of joy. Jasper's dad refused to speak to him on the phone. I could see the hurt in his eyes when he told us about it.
Instead of letting it get him down, he focused his attention on his photography and his business skyrocketed. He had so many clients that he had to hire an assistant, Angela, to help him keep the billing straight and coordinate his schedule.
Edward asked his parents if they could have the ceremony in their back yard, since that was where Edward and Jasper first fell in love. His mom said she would make sure everything was perfect and told the boys to leave her to take care of everything.
Invitations were sent out to close relatives and friends across the country. Jasper had family in Texas and friends in Florida. Edward had friends in California and Seattle. They didn't expect that many people would go all the way to Chicago for their commitment ceremony, so they were surprised when the RSVPs started rolling in.
Edward's mother opened the RSVP from Jasper's parents saying that they were not going to be able to make it. She got on the phone with her husband and the following day, they showed up at the ranch were Jasper grew up. When they talked to Jasper's parents, they claimed that they could not afford the flight and hotel stay. Edward's parents insisted that they would pay for the flight and they could stay at their house.
Eventually, Jasper's father admitted that he didn't want to witness his son committing himself to another man. Edward's father sat him down and talked to him about his concerns. Jasper's dad really did want Jasper to be happy, but the thought that his son would have an intimate relationship with another man really grossed him out.
From what I was told, the conversation went something like this…
"Mr. Whitlock, were you very close to your grandparents?"
"Yes, they practically raised me when I was young."
"Do you think your grandmother liked it doggy style?"
Jasper's dad almost hit him. "Don't talk about my belated grandmother like that! That's disgusting!"
"You know they had to have an active sex life, right?"
"Of course. They had my mother, but still. Just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach."
"But you loved them and you know they loved each other, right?"
"They were married for sixty three years."
"Ok, so you loved them and they loved each other. You accepted their relationship based on the love they had for each other, not based on anything they did in their bedroom. Why can't you accept you son on the same basis? You don't have to picture what they do in the privacy of their bedroom. Just like they don't want to picture what you and your wife do in the privacy of your bedroom. Just love your son for who he is and be happy that he has someone who loves him back. You can pretend that they don't do anything other than hold hands and kiss if it makes you feel better. That's what I do."
"Do they have to kiss?"
"Unfortunately, yes. It's awkward at first, but you get used to it."
By the end of the day, Jasper's parents agreed to come to the ceremony. Jasper's dad said it would give him an excuse to visit his sister-in-law, Martha, anyway.
The ceremony was beautiful. Edward's mom had a gazebo installed in the center of the back yard. Jasper was in his aunt's house and Edward was in his parent's house. There must have been about 150 people there. Most of them were friends and neighbors of Edward's parents and Jasper's Aunt Martha.
The gazebo was covered in beautiful spring flowers and had a unity candle set up on the rail. When the music started playing, both sets of parents came out to the gazebo. Each father lit a candle and waited with the preacher. The music changed and Edward and Jasper made their way out to the gazebo. They both looked stunning.
The preacher said a beautiful prayer for their happiness that brought tears to my eyes. Edward and Jasper exchanged vows that they had written themselves. Everyone could see how much they love each other. You could see it in their eyes. They lit the unity candle, said "I love you", and kissed sweetly.
After the ceremony, we all changed into comfortable clothes. Some of us went swimming while others kicked back in lawn chairs and enjoyed the music. A catering company provided the food and there was an open bar set up beside the pool. We all had a great time. Even Jasper's dad seemed to be enjoying himself.
Edward and Jasper took a month long honeymoon in Europe. When they came back, they settled into a routine. Everything seemed to be going great. They were happy. Alice and I found boyfriends. I thought that things had finally settled down, but I was wrong.
Two years after Edward and Jasper's commitment ceremony, Angela started having really bad migraines. Jasper convinced her to go see a doctor about it. They did some tests and found that she had several brain tumors. They did a biopsy on one of the tumors they could get to easily and found that it was cancer. They estimated the growth rate of the tumors and told her she probably only had a year to live.
We all expected her to be sad and depressed, but she wasn't. I don't know if it was shock or what. Instead of freaking out, like I would have done, she focused her attention on her friends. She sat down with Jasper and Edward and asked them to allow her to do one more thing. She had always wanted to have a baby, and she knew that they would be great parents, so she offered to give them a baby.
Angela wasn't taking any birth control, so it was relatively easy for her to get pregnant. They went to a fertility specialist and explained that they didn't have much time. The doctor gave her injections to increase her egg production and give her a better chance of conceiving. Originally they decided that Edward would be the father, but when it came time to provide his sperm, he kind of froze up. They let Jasper go into the room with him "for support." While they were in there, they decided that they didn't care which one was the biological father and really didn't want to know.
They "helped each other out" and captured both of their sperm in the same container. Jasper even tried to mix it up a little before giving it to the nurse. Angela was artificially inseminated and managed to get pregnant on the first try.
Her pregnancy was rough. She was sick all the time. She refused to take any medication for her headaches because she didn't want it to affect the pregnancy. Jasper and Edward insisted she move in with them, so they could take care of her. They took turns taking her to the doctors and staying home with her when she wasn't feeling well.
When it was time for the first ultrasound, they both went with her. The doctor said she was having twins. They were all thrilled. As the babies grew, Angela looked worse and worse. Her pregnancy limited the tests they could do to check the growth rate of the tumors. For a while, I was worried that she would die before the babies were big enough to survive outside of the womb, but thankfully I was wrong.
Angela was put on bed rest, not so much for the pregnancy, but to keep her strength up. Even Alice and I took turns staying with her. She was as big as a house by the time the doctors said she was ready to have the babies.
Edward and Jasper had set up a nursery in neutral shades because they didn't want to know the sex of the babies. Once a date was set for the cesarean, Edward and Japer's parents flew in. Alice and I waited in the hospital with their parents while Edward and Jasper were in delivery with Angela.
It didn't take as long as I expected. Jasper came out into the waiting room smiling ear to ear. "It's a boy and a girl! They are so tiny and beautiful."
Everyone went over to hug him. Alice asked, "Where's Edward?"
Jasper smiled. "He's still in there crying. They were closing Angela up when I came out here to give you the news."
I had to ask, "How is Angela doing?"
"The doctors are going to take her in for testing first thing in the morning. They want to see if the cancer has spread. We should have some results soon."
The babies were adorable. They decided to name the little girl Angela, after her mother, and the boy Benjamin. They gave the babies the last name Cullen-Whitlock. Baby Angela had auburn hair, like Edward, and Benjamin was blond, like Jasper. The doctor said they were from two separate eggs, so it is possible that they had different fathers since both men donated together.
The grandparents were thrilled to get to hold the babies. Tons of pictures were taken. Jasper's dad insisted that he have his picture taken holding both babies at the same time. He did not show preference to one or the other, which surprised us all. He had really done a lot of soul searching and made a lot of changes since the ceremony. I don't know if it was because he was finally seeing his son happy, or if it was the counselor that Edward's dad hooked him up with. Either way, we were all relieved that he came around.
Angela's test results were not good. The cancer had spread into her bones, lungs, and kidneys. The doctors tested the babies to make sure nothing had spread to them. They were both clean, thank God. The doctors said there was nothing they could do for her, so they sent Angela home to die. She spent the next four months holding the babies as much as she could. Edward bought a camcorder so she could record messages for them and recorded herself reading them bedtime stories. She also recorded everything she could remember about her family, including the medical history, family tree, recipes, and stories about her ancestors. She was an only child. Her mother died in a car accident when she was a teenager and her father was hospitalized with Alzheimer's.
Four months after the babies were born, Angela had a seizure and slipped into a coma. She died three days later. Since her father and the two babies were her only surviving relatives, Edward and Jasper made sure she had a beautiful funeral. Everyone they knew, including Edward's and Jasper's parents came for the funeral.
Jasper's Aunt Martha sold the video store and moved to Seattle to watch the babies during the day, while the guys worked. Edward found her a nice apartment that was close to their home. It was right beside a park with a playground and walking trails. They bought her all new furniture, so they wouldn't have to move so much across the country, but when they went to Chicago to help her move boxes of personal things, and clean up the guest house, they ended up taking the couch home with them. It currently sits in their bedroom.
Angie and Ben grew up to be brilliant children. They both had their mother's brown eyes. Angie had her mother's delicate features but Edward's hair, personality, and a little birthmark on her hip that looked like his. Ben had the more dominant personality. He was the one that usually got into mischief, but with his blond hair, big brown eyes, and a dimple in one cheek, it was hard to stay mad at him.
They called Edward "Dad" and Jasper "Daddy", which confused the teachers when the kids first started school. In kindergarten, Ben was asked to stand up and tell the class about his parents. He told them that his dad cooked dinner, bought groceries, and drew houses and buildings. His daddy did laundry, picked up toys, and took pictures of people. When the teacher asked about his mom, he said that she was in heaven but sent messages through the TV. Edward got a call from the teacher and had to explain.
The following day, Angie was asked the same question in her class. She simply told the teacher that she had two fathers and her mother passed away. She was obviously the brighter of the two children. When the teacher asked how she had two fathers, she rolled her eyes and said, "Do you need me to draw you a picture?" Edward got a call about her smart mouth.
When he got home from work, he asked her to actually draw a picture explaining how she had two fathers. He was curious if she was just being snotty or if she actually had a visual in mind. She drew a stick figure family, with two dads holding hands and two kids standing beside them. In the sky, she drew a stick figure woman with wings and a halo.
Edward was proud of her, so he framed the picture and hung it in his office at work.
Edward, Japer, and the kids alternated spending their holidays with their families. Every Thanksgiving they would go to Texas and every Christmas they would go to Chicago. During the summer, they would send the kids to spend a week with one set of grandparents, and then a week with the other. During the two weeks of the summer that the kids were out of the house, Edward and Jasper would spend their afternoons on Aunt Martha's ratty old couch in their bedroom, watching movies and acting like teenagers.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story. Feel free to leave me a review to let me know what you think.
Thanks,
A Little Distracted