Part one in a five part birthday epic! ENJOY!!
To be honest with you I wasn't that excited about turning fifteen. It just didn't seem like an age that really deserved to be excited about. Not like 10 or 13 was, or like 16 and 18 will be. It's just one of those 'tweeners, that really didn't do anything for me one way or another.
(I know, that didn't make any sense - but at fifteen you are not into making sense. You are into (a) busting a nut and (b) obsessing about driving. Anything else is fair game, and making sense hardly ever posts a show).
I was excited that Dad let me have a birthday party sleep over. Originally I had thought of just inviting Gavin, but after a summer of him discovering excuses not to spend the night I thought "Why bother?" I figured he and I could still go do something fun that Saturday, but the way the school year was progressing I was thinking - screw even that - I needed to grow up and start spending time with my older friends, like Lee, who actually said he could come over - it had been ages since he and I spent the night.
Well, then I went and did it and invited Vincent, the latest little kid I'm babysitting. Don't get me wrong, I like Vince and all, but once again I'm back to the issues of having a little kid staying over.
"Why in the world did you invite him?" Dad asked me, dumb founded.
"I don't know," I muttered. "It just sort of happened." I didn't want to tell Dad that it was in the heat of passion after that Sunday's weekly spanking. "I guess we can all stay in the basement," I said.
"What if it floods again?" he asked. "You don't have enough room in your room for more than one other kid sleeping there."
"I know," I huffed. I had forgotten about the basement - up until that week, the fall was pretty nice and dry and warm, but now it seemed to rain every other day. "One of them could stay in the guest room."
"What about Gavin?" he asked, reintroducing the Gavin factor.
"Well, I haven't asked him yet, but I guess if decides to come over he and Vince can stay in the guest room. I guess. I don't know."
"You haven't invited Gavin?"
"No," I sighed. "I was just going to invite Lee."
"But then you invited Vince."
"Yeah."
"Well, just invite Gavin, then," he grumbled. "Hell, just turn your fifteenth birthday into a regular preschool." Even though he had appointed Gavin as my official spanker, he had always wished I was friends with kids my own age (not that he liked Lee either, but that's him and his inconsistencies). He was a man of little patience, who rarely held in what he was really thinking.
Rarely...
The Tuesday before my birthday Gavin came off the bus after school with Vince. Vince waved at me, but didn't say anything as he walked with his little crowd. Gav didn't say anything as he stomped over to me.
Man, he looked so pissed.
I could only imagine that Vince had told him he had been invited to spend the night. "I guess Vince told you," I said to Gavin on the way home.
"Yeah," he said.
"I was going to invite you," I said.
"That's what he said," Gav muttered.
We were quiet for about three or four minutes as we rounded the turn to go up the hill to our houses.
"So, can you come?" I asked.
He shrugged.
"What does that mean?" I said, a little more sternly.
"I don't know," he said."I guess."
"Well, don't get your underpants in a twist, Gav," I said. "It's not like I never invited you to stay over my place."
"I know."
"And it's not like we don't see each other all the time."
"I know."
"So, you have to know that I was OBVIOUSLY going to invite you."
He looked at me and nodded.
"Are you all right with this?"
"Sure."
"Are you sure you're sure?"
He nodded again, but he was lying
The rest of the week Gavin continued playing up the hurt puppy dog routine. I gave up trying to convince him that I had always intended to invite him. I was sure that a lot of this had to do to the fact that he was still somewhat jealous of the time I was spending with Vince every Sunday.
On Wednesday I firmed up plans with Dad on him taking us to go see the new movie BLUE STREAK Friday night (I actually wanted to see AMERICAN BEAUTY, but Dad-o nixed that one), followed by an afternoon of paint ball on Saturday. He seemed in good spirits, resigned to the fact that kids that he didn't like would be staying over at his house for the night.
On Thursday I confirmed with Vincent's grandparents and Gavin's folks that it was all right. While both set of folks were happy that their boys were invited to come over, I could tell they were relieved that there would be another child over the same age. Luckily they all knew and trusted me, so there really wasn't a big deal about leaving their young. preteen boys in our care.
Lee was the biggest surprise.
I waited until Friday to tell him on the way to school. He was so totally non-phased by having two youngens hanging with us for the evening, I was sure he was bull_s_h_i_t_ting me.
"So, you are ok with this?" I asked.
"Yeah," he laughed. "I understand. It's cool."
"Really?" Can you tell I was a bit nervous?
"Gavin and you are buds, so that makes sense, and Vince is always good for a laugh."
I wrinkled my brow. "How do you know Vince?" I asked.
"Dude, the kid lives like three houses down from me, if you don't count the empty corner lot," he pointed out. "I've known him for years, since he and Ike moved in with their grandparents."
"You know his brother?"
"Sure, me and Isaac were real close about two or three years ago, before he went off to the all boy school," Lee said. "He use to pick on Vince mercilessly, but I give the little guy credit - he always stood up for himself. Wouldn't surprise me if he could take Ike in a fight today."
"Really," I said, shocked - I had forgotten how small the neighborhood was, and how I really didn't know most of Lee's friends. "Do you still keep in touch with Ike?"
"Nah. He doesn't have a computer as his dorm room," Lee said, reaching into his book bag. "This is the only way I keep in touch with people these days." He then brought out sheets and sheets of paper, that turned out to be printed out e-mail messages.
"What are those?" I asked.
"Here, consider it an early birthday present," he said, handing them to me. "Don't worry, I got you something else too."
"Thanks, what is this?"
"They are some brand new e-mails from my bud, Tom."
"The guy from camp?"
"Yeah, they are pretty wild," he laughed.
I quickly scanned them while Lee was standing there. I remembered when Lee got back from camp he shared the wild stories; I was pretty skeptical that most of this really happened, but still loved hearing about it. "More bull crap, huh?" I laughed.
"Hell know!" Lee said. "It's all true. I swear it."
"Yeah, right," I chuckled. "Just like that circle jerk that supposedly happened last summer, right?"
"What's this supposedly stuff?" he said, wounded. "You're don't believe your old friend, Lee?"
"You just seem to have a lot of stories," I said. "Not that I mind, but...?"
"Hey, if you don't believe me, we can ask Vince tonight," he said, raising his eye-brows.
"Vince? How would he know?"
"He went to Camp Coyote last summer too," Lee said. "His grandparents heard about it from Amanda."
"From Amanda Cooper? His other babysitter?"
"Yeah."
"How would SHE know about the camp?" _d_a_m_n_, this neighborhood was small!
"Don't you remember I told you she and I dated last spring?" he asked.
"No."
"The girl I fingered when I went to go see THE MUMMY?"
"I thought you said her name was Mandy?"
"Duh!" he said, slapping me on the forehead. "Mandy is short for Amanda, _s_h_i_t_ for brains!"
"Oh yeah," I said, nodding my head. "So, that really happened too?" I had assumed he had also made that one up. Gee, I was leaning so much on my birthday.
"Anyway, she was pissed that I was going to camp, so she was talking about it with the Hanson's, and they thought that Vince would enjoy it so they sent him too, and, well, there you go."
"So, you guys went to camp at the same time?"
"Not exactly," Lee said. "Our sessions overlapped by about a day, but I bet he can vouch for how insane that place is. I'm sure it was just as freaky his session as it was mine."
"So, he doesn't know this alleged Tom Person, huh?" I said, smirking.
Lee laughed. "No, they never met. "
"Uh-huh."
"Hey, do you actually think that I would make this crap up?" he asked, pointing at the paper in my hands.
"No, I'm just skeptical that this 'Tom' really went to your camp," I said.
"Fine, e-mail him and find out for yourself."
"No thanks," I sighed. "For all I know, he's some forty year old man watching PBS, while getting off typing this stuff to some twirpy kid."
Lee didn't laugh - I forgot he liked PBS. "It beats watching SOUTH PARK."
"I'm just teasing with you, Lee," I said. "Sheesh - you are as sensitive as little Gavin."
"I bet he's sensitive!" he laughed. "In all the dirty, bad places!"
"Ahhh, you old pervert!"
He laughed it off, and we agreed to meet right after school so we could take the same bus home that day. In between breaks I read a few of the e-mails from Tom, but I was too paranoid that someone would catch me with it so I didn't finish any of them while at school.
It was drizzling when the bus dropped us off, but it was still pretty warm; definite chance the basement would flood.
On the bus, and later the neighborhood bus stop, Lee and I talked about nothing in particular. He did tell me some juicy gossip about Amanda and how she was the one responsible for getting our old Junior High Math teacher fired. He didn't get too far into it when Gavin and Vincent's bus dropped them off.
"Hey guys!" I yelled at them.
Vince ran right up and gave me a hug in front of everyone.
"Hey, BUD!" he said.
I looked over and Gavin had a very 'what the hell is that?' look on his face.
"So, you two ready to come over and wish me a happy birthday tonight?" I asked them, as Vince stopped hugging me.
"Is there going to be a cake?" Vince asked.
"Yeah."
"And we're going to see the new Martin Lawrence," Lee chimed in.
"Yeah, I heard that was real good," I said.
"And paint ball on Saturday?" Vince asked.
"Yup, that too!"
"When are we going to have time to give you your birthday spanking?" Gavin said, sounding shockingly like a disaffected Winonna Ryder for a moment.
(Don't ask me to explain it - but he did - I swear it!)
Ugh! I should have figured he would have my butt on his brain!
(now there's an image)
The three of us stopped and turned and looked oddly at Gavin. My eyes widened. "My DAD doesn't give ME birthday spankings any MORE, Gav," I said, through clenched teeth.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Hmmmm...are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Then, don't you think that someone ELSE should do IT? Don't you think?" he asked. Both Lee and Vince got big smiles on their faces.
"No...no I don't. Besides, I don't know who that would be," I said, curtly. "Since I am fifteen, I really don't need anyone spanking me anymore."
"One of us could," he shot back.
"YOU are not going to spank me!" I said at him, very deeply.
"I wasn't suggesting, me, Matt," Gavin said.
"You weren't, huh?"
"No, I would never do that."
"I bet."
There was silence for about ten seconds before Gavin said, "What about Vince? He could give you a birthday spanking."
"What?!" both Vince and I said at the same time.
"YEAH!" Lee said, slipping his arm around Vincent's neck. "I nominate Big Man Vince as your spanker!"
"Ahhhh - no - no," Vince said, suddenly looking down at his feet. "Thanks, but I couldn't do that, could I Matt?"
"Sure you could!" Lee said. "You've got a hand...he's got a butt...where's the problem?"
"No, I can't do that to Matt," Vince continued.
"Why?" Gavin asked. "Why couldn't you? Because he's OLDER? That's not a big deal, right Lee?"
"You know that's right."
"I can't spank Matt, Gavin, because he...he..." Vince then looked at me, and the sweetest look melted on his face. "Because he spanks me."
Gavin and Lee both gasped.
"WHAT?"! Gavin said.
"Really?" Lee asked, intrigued that there was something about me I hadn't told him.
"You spank Vince?" Gavin asked, with a very upset look on his face.
"Would you hush," I said. "Some of the neighbors are looking."
"How is it you can spank Vince?"
"Every Sunday," I began, then shaking my head. "No. Let's just say, that his Grandparents are very strict, and they expect me to be just as strict when I babysit."
"Ahh, man," Lee said, slapping his own forehead. "I knew I should have listened to Mandy and taken your grandparents up on babysitting you."
I looked over to Lee but didn't say anything - I guess I had never thought about the fact that I wasn't the Hanson's first choice.
"You had your chance," Vince said to Lee, with a wry look on his face.
"And I blew it."
"Yup," Vince, sort of giggled.
"So, they let you spank him every Sunday?" Lee continued. "MAN!" he laughed. "That is the bomb!"
"I can't believe you never told me," Gavin grumbled.
"Oh, shut up both of you," I said, reaching over and patting the back of Vincent's neck. It wasn't fair for Gavin to be doing this here and now, or for Lee to be doing the "should have been me" routine.
"Well, Vince should definitely have to spank you then," Gavin said. "That's the only logical solution."
"No, that's why I can't!" Vince whined, before he started to explain: "Because, well, even if it was a birthday spanking, it wouldn't be right, because, well...it would be like...well, you know. You don't spank your parents, do you?"
"He's not your parents?" Gavin pointed out. "He may be older than dirt now, but he's not your parents. He's still some kid."
"But if I were to spank him, how could I take him seriously when he had to spank me?" Vince asked. "How would that help me?"
Of course, Vince didn't explain that we had decided that our spankings were going to be nothing more than "spanking games," but part of me was thinking that he just didn't want to tick me off so I wouldn't stop coming over to help him out with those tail warmings. He was playing it up the respecting authority role, but deep down I knew the little guy would have loved to have had a chance to spank my butt.
"No need to explain, Vince," I sighed. "Just ignore it."
"He's just a pussy," Lee said, laughing.
"Yeah, but I still think that Matt needs a proper birthday spanking, Lee," Gavin said, rather _c_o_c_k_y. He knew I would KILL him if he revealed our secret, so he was just toying with me. - ugh! All of these secrets.
"What are you thinking?" Lee asked him.
"We could all take turns." Gavin was always thinking.
"Do five swats each!" Lee suggested.
"Nah," Gavin chuckled. "That's not how his Daddy use to do it, right Matty?"
"You're pushing it, dude," I said, glaring at him. Man, he had become really unbearable since the start of the school year. There had to be something else going on instead of just being jealous of me and Vince - but what?
"Mr. Grey doesn't give Matt one spank for each birth year, but rather he gives Matt..."
"Gavin...!" I was getting pissed.
"He spanks Matt, bare bottom, one MINUTE for every year!" Gavin started laughing. "Isn't that wild?"
"No way!" Lee said. "So, that would be fifteen minutes!"
"If he still spanked me," I said, shooting a really angry look back at Gavin. "He hasn't since I was a little kid."
"What better time to revive an old family tradition than with all of your dearest friends?" Gavin said.
"Because it's not going to happen," I said, very bluntly. "And IF it ever did, Dad always respected me enough to give me the birthday spanking ALONE!"
"Oh, come on, Matt," Lee said, slapping me on the butt. "We are just teasing. NOW who's the one who is all sensitive?"
I nodded my head and laughed - he was right. I was letting Gavin get to me, and there really wasn't any good reason to. We changed the subject back to the movie and paint ball, but soon the four of us had to separate and go on our own ways home. Lee and Vince both said they would come over together about six.
"Were you ever going to tell me about you and Vincent?" Gavin asked, once we were alone.
"No," I said. "That was something between just us."
"But I thought that I was your best friend?"
"You are, dude," I said. "But you wouldn't like it if I told him some deep, dark secret about you, now would you."
"I don't have any deep, dark secrets."
"But if you did," I pointed out. "You wouldn't want me telling him."
"Of course not, I guess."
"Look at it this way, Gav. If I were telling you that stuff, then you would basically know that I can't be trusted with a confidence."
"Uh - huh."
"And how could you expect to trust me with some deep dark secret, if I were to go around blabbing about everyone else's deep, dark secrets."
"But I don't have a deep, dark secret," he repeated.
"I know."
"Good."
"You're a good boy, for the most part."
Gavin was quiet for a few moments, then he asked, "So, are you pretty upset? About the teasing?"
"A little," I said. "You know I don't want Lee finding out about us...about THAT secret. He's suspicious enough on his own."
"Really?"
"Well, I don't know," I sighed. "He's a tough read. He's always talking about how his friend Tom and Tom's brother and..."
"The guy from camp?"
"Yeah, and I think it's Lee's way of telling that he knows about us, the way he keeps talking about it, but I guess I'm being paranoid. I guess there really could be a 'Tom.'"
Gavin laughed. "So, Lee's still in contact with Tom?"
"Yeah, he let me borrow another set of e-mails from him," I said, pointing to my bag. I haven't had a chance to read any of them yet."
Gavin nodded his head. "Think I can read them when you are done?" he finally asked.
"That's the last thing I need!"
"What?"
"You getting any more ideas!"
"About what?" he asked, coyly.
"You know," I said, as we started walking up to my front door.
"Sorry about that with the guys," he said again. "I was being a dick, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Blame it on puberty, I guess," he laughed.
"Yeah, right!" I laughed back - the last time I saw his privates, he was still sporting some downy peach fuzz...but that had been months and months ago...hmmmmm...?
"Matt," he said, softly.
"Yeah."
"I still get to give you a birthday spanking, right?" he asked in such a solemn tone, you would have thought he was asking me if I would give him the right to live.
"Is that all you ever think about?" I said, shaking my head. "Spanking my ass?"
"NO!" he said. "Sometimes I think about other stuff, like Final Fantasy VIII!" He then burst out laughing.
"Ha - ha." I didn't find this funny.
"Hey! I've gotten better. It's not as often," he pointed out. "It's been two weeks since the last spanking! Remember when you forgot to bring your books home?"
"Yeah," I grumbled - how could I forget? That was also the day Dad told me I would be babysitting Vince.
"Well, I just think that you owe me," he said, clearing his throat. "After my birthday spanking, that is."
I stopped as we were about ready to enter the house. I just sighed and looked at him. "I suppose, but only when it's just the two of us."
"And just like the one your Daddy gave me?"
I shook my head.
"I guess."
"Now, THAT is THE BOMB!"
To read what wonderfully naughty stuff Matt hasn't read (or what he DOESN'T want Gavin to read!!), check out the terrific "Camp Tails" series over in Y. Lee Coyote's MMSA Stories archive - specifically the majority of "Part Two."